Stainless Brake lines

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

Going to attack the brakes today on ol treebeard... The old ones are literally 2 foot pieces rust welded to the frame...lol... Looking at stainless brake line... Seems like the way to go as far as longevity goes... Anyone work with it before? How does it bend? Flare? Cut? Am i going to end up trashing my brake tools?I've seen the "pre formed" sets..but the snow comes fast, and I hope to drive this thing home before thanksgiving...

[special-K]

I order pre-formed from Inline Tube. They ship fast and the pieces fit perfect. Not sure at the moment if they offer stainless or if that's what I got. But, the originals weren't stainless and they last. Use DOT5 and the steel will last linger yet

[farmallboy15]

I ordered preformed stainless from "the right stuff" Stainless looks nicer and will last longer but the metal is a lot harder. That affects any tweaking of the lines and getting them to seal in the fittings. I would do it again.

Do not try to make your own lines out of stainless unless you have the pricey hydraulic tube flarer. If you want stainless get the kit.

Since I converted to disc front in my 70 I got the 71-72 lines and the front to rear is different. I had to chop some off and the cheap flarer will not bend the stainless. I had to take it to a factory that makes lines and they put it into one of their CNC machines to give me a flare again...

[bill3rail]

listening in for information. I ordered stainless lines for my front disc conversion, and hope to learn a little before I jump into it.

Bill

[farmallboy15]

Just remember with stainless you need to torque down the fittings then back them off and repeat to get the flares to seat nice. Then one final crank down with a flare nut wrench. Also, I have the extended ORD stainless soft lines on both the 70 and 82 and absolutely love them.

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

What's a "stainless soft line" ? Different grade of stainless easier to work with? Or are they referring to finish? Like matte or low gloss?

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

Never mind.... Blonde moment..... Just saw "soft stainless" and got excited...lol....

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

Pricing kits I realized that I have a lot of upgrades to do before committing to stainless... Gotta keep an eye on the finished product... Stainless lines to powerless brakes would soon be on the parts board... Lol... Just going to do it in steel to get er in the garage, then do the stainless when everything else is in place... But.... If anyone has any insight to the original question...id still love to hear it... Still leaning towards making my own as I seldom agree with GM engineers...even if they're right....

[LockDoc]

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I used the newer NICOPP brake lines (nickel+Copper+Iron) on three of my projects. Really easy to bend and they will not rust. CNC 325 is 3/16" and CNC 425 is 1/4". I bought mine on e-Bay:

Here is the description:

NiCopp® is a nickel-copper alloy brake tubing that meets SAE Standard J1047 and ISO 4038, meeting all international and U.S. requirements for brake tubing. This alloy is approximately 9.2% nickel, 1.4% iron, 0.8% manganese, and 88.6% copper. Under the UNS system, this alloy is designated as UNS C70600. NiCopp® therefore has the strength and structural integrity of steel lines, but with the added benefit of being much more corrosion resistant. NiCopp® is also easier to bend and form than steel tubing. Nickel-copper, commonly referred to as '90-10 copper', has been used on several European vehicle brake systems since the 1970's, including: Volvo, Audi, Porsche, and Aston Martin.

NiCopp® has been used on hydraulic/fluid transfer systems on vehicles where steel lines and tubing are commonly used. This includes brake, fuel and transmission systems. NiCopp® is considered the super-premium brand in brake lines and should be considered where the underbody of the vehicle is subjected to the harshest environments, where the longest life-span for lines is required, and/or where direct OEM replacement is desired.

• NiCopp® Does Not Rust or Corrode
• DOT Approved for Hydraulic Brake Systems
• Bends 58% Easier than Steel Tubing
• Finished Lines Available for Domestic & Import
• Black Oxide Fittings 2X Corrosion Resistance

NiCopp® lines and tubing meet the following specifications:

SAEJ1047
ISO 4038
SAEJ1650
DIN 74234
BS2871

Best price I could find at the time was on eBay. You can actually coil it around a 1" wooden dowel by hand without kinking it. It also flares easy with a regular double flaring tool and there are coated flare nuts available. It comes in all sizes if you look on e-Bay. Some of the auto parts stores carry it but it is quite a bit more $.

There are look-alikes out there but I can't vouch for the quality of them. I have always used the NiCopp brand.

LockDoc

[CUSTOM/10]

I have always bent my own SS lines. Bending is no problem, if you make a wrong bend trying to correct it isn't easy. Cutting is no problem. Flaring is the hard part, even with some of the soft SS. A good hydrolic flaring tool makes it much easier. Some times the SS will split when flared. If I have SS that's splitting I found annealing it helps. Heat the end to be flared with a torch just enough until it starts to turn blue ( Not Red ) then flare it.

There is also copper-nickel that I've heard is much easier to work with, but I have never used it.
Hope this helps some !

Gary

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Dagr8npwrfloz

Never mind.... Blonde moment..... Just saw "soft stainless" and got excited...lol....

Not a blonde moment. He said "line" when he should have said "hose".

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

That copper line looks like a good alternative to the expense of stainless. What do you use for attachment to the frame or axle? Are there any issues using dissimilar metals with copper? Or perhaps that is what the nickel is for? Or must you resort to plastic? I've seen galvanized eat right through copper sheet, and run into issues on still coils threaded into iron couplers...

[dfwright]

I used the NiCopp tubing on mine as well. Very easy to use and flare.

[special-K]

Copper is very sensitive to mixed metals. It is also very soft causing it to fatigue easily

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

I guess I should have said "NiCopp" . looking over the alloy data at lunch here and it seems they've made a "stainless" copper.... Almost exactly the same [additives] as stainless steel. It's missing the biggest part (chromium) but with copper being much less corrosive than iron they probably didn't need it.... Says its pulling the same numbers in stress tests as soft steel... Wish I liked the color... Lol.... Something about that bright white of stainless...

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Dagr8npwrfloz

That copper line looks like a good alternative to the expense of stainless. What do you use for attachment to the frame or axle? Are there any issues using dissimilar metals with copper? Or perhaps that is what the nickel is for? Or must you resort to plastic? I've seen galvanized eat right through copper sheet, and run into issues on still coils threaded into iron couplers...

I just used the lined metal tubing clamps. Not sure if they have a plastic or vinyl covering on them.

LockDoc

[GRX]

x2 on stainless being difficult to work with and needing heavy duty tooling. I am now a big fan of the nickle/copper alloy tubing. And yes the alloy metals greatly change the metal's properties as opposed to pure copper.

[Jrainman]

Nico copper is the way to go , but remember Stainless is flared with the old style 45 degree flaring tool and the nico needs to be flared with the 37degree flaring tool ( the type that is a rolled like flare .

[Rod Run]

This is what I got to flare stainless. It was money well spent and in some ways, make flaring stainless lines easier than flaring normal lines the traditional way

http://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html?fee=7&fep=2834?fee=5&fep=4990&SRCCODE=1SE1528&creative=10255941587&device=c&matchtype={Mat chType}

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Jrainman

Nico copper is the way to go , but remember Stainless is flared with the old style 45 degree flaring tool and the nico needs to be flared with the 37degree flaring tool ( the type that is a rolled like flare .

I have flared all of my NiCopp lines with my 40 year old double flaring tool with no problems. That stuff is soft enough that it will conform to whatever fitting you are using when it is tightened up..... What do you mean "rolled like a flare"?

LockDoc

[Rod Run]

Just noticed that my last link didn't work. Hopefully this one does

http://search.eastwood.com/search?p=...core&view=grid

[Dagr8npwrfloz]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

I have flared all of my NiCopp lines with my 40 year old double flaring tool with no problems. That stuff is soft enough that it will conform to whatever fitting you are using when it is tightened up..... What do you mean "rolled like a flare"?

LockDoc

I assumed he meant a bubble flair? Or double flair? I guess I'm not sure what they're called either...lol.. Never heard of different degree flares though... Astro van to Aston Martin...would all get the same flair in my garage.. .I got a cool ww2 surplus flaring tool. Goes up to 1-3/4" or something ridiculous..

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Dagr8npwrfloz

I assumed he meant a bubble flair? Or double flair? I guess I'm not sure what they're called either...lol.. Never heard of different degree flares though... Astro van to Aston Martin...would all get the same flair in my garage.. .I got a cool ww2 surplus flaring tool. Goes up to 1-3/4" or something ridiculous..

Just make sure that your flaring tool will do double flares. All brake lines need to be double flared....

LockDoc

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Dagr8npwrfloz

I assumed he meant a bubble flair? Or double flair? I guess I'm not sure what they're called either...lol.. Never heard of different degree flares though... Astro van to Aston Martin...would all get the same flair in my garage.. .I got a cool ww2 surplus flaring tool. Goes up to 1-3/4" or something ridiculous..

AN fittings are at 37 degrees