Renewed Brake Lines

Background:

As the original brake lines were cut with a hacksaw for some weird reason they needed replacing. I could of purchased the steel pipes at a cost but I didn’t know the state of the car up to that point. I decided that I should buy the copper brake pipes that I could bend and shape myself into place. I had no idea where these pipes went apart from the odd photo and the manuals. I purchased the pipe benders which I have reviewed under the Tools section, or click here for the quick link. I also purchased a Blue Point double flaring tool to create the fixings, click here for the review quick link. I also purchased a brake pipe swagging tool click here for the review quick link.

Parts & Tools:

1 x Coil of Copper brake pipe 3/16ths 10 meters

1 x 7/16th brake spanner

10 x Brake flare connections

1 x Brake pipe bending tool

1 x Blue point Double flaring tool TF5A

Process:

Basically I quickly fitted the brake booster before the treatment and followed the manuals where to run the lines. I started at the front and cut a lot more pipe that I needed to. The connections were added to the pipe and then routed to the bracket where the flexi pipe then took over to go to the wheels. I have added extra bends to the lines in order to allow me to create the flares and then re-do them if I make a mess of it of the flange was not quite right and shows a leak. This also gives me room to move the pipes about if I have to. The main reservoir connection went to splitter and this was a purchased item. The pipe had to be bent a little in order for it to fit correctly, but there was plenty of room for that due to the coil design. This was a Scott Drake part from my friend Adam at Mustang Maniac. I then ran the line from the splitter to the back transmission bracket where again the flexi hose took over. the final part of the connection to the rear cylinders was again made longer with a loop in order to allow for errors and adjustment as the case maybe. I used approx nine meters of pipework for the whole thing. The brake pipe bending was used for the more tighter bends and the more gentler bends were done by hand. There is not really much I can add on how it was done, apart from I had to look at a lot of photos and try and follow the route I could see. Maybe there is a person out there who will look under my hood and take a sudden intake of breath because because it doesn’t run the original route. I think it’s pretty damn close and I am happy with it. So here are the pictures, unfortunately most of the work was done before this blog sprang into life. But it will give you an idea. If i think of anything else in the mean time I will update the page. It was a long slow process of offering up the line, bend a bit, offer it up again, bend a bit more. That’s how it was all the way through it. I took my time over the whole weekend to complete it.

Conclusion:

Yeah it would have been nice to see the steel in place, but I think the copper doesn’t look to bad. I will re-bend the pipes a little to make them neater under the splitter, that is only a five minute job. Other than that it went well considering it was my first go at re-brake lining a car. A couple of things I would differently, like make the flares first before getting them on the car. I learned this from the front work. I soon adopted the flares first when i done the rear lines. Overall I enjoyed the job and it’s something you can see straight away.