I have purchased a complete pre-bent stainless steel brake lines kit for a 1959 Chevy Stepside from Classic Parts and wondered if there is a trick to installing them over the oem steel lines? What are the Pros and Cons? Thanks
The "Pro" is they don't ever rust out. The "Con" is the price. The lines will outlive you. I priced pre-bent lines for my '55 first series and decided to bend them myself. I have enough experience with the bender and flaring tool and regular steel lines can be cut to size to fit at a fraction of the cost of the pre-bent kits. I just measured up my old lines and purchased the straight replacements with the fittings on them. Some are a little long and will need to be trimmed and flared. Total cost of $20.00. Likewise with the main fuel line. The prices for the pre-bent lines for these items is more than a little dear considering the price of the straight tubing and the l;evel of expertise needed to bend them. You should try it. There shouldn't be any problems installing the lines at all, very straightforward. A nice idea is taping the ends with painters tape until the line is actually in place and ready to bolt up. This will prevent you getting any crud into the line as you wiggle it around and feed it under the body and frame. Always (did I say always?), always use a line wrench around the fitting. Never (never ever) use an open end wrench on the line fitting.
Thanks Chiro, The complaint I have heard is that stainless is hard to get seated on the brass T fittings and Banjo fitting without leaking? Is there any secret to making this work better or just luck? thanks for the tip about painters tape. Your right I payed to much for them but water under the bridge now Just need to make them work.
The correct wrench is called a " Flare Nut Wrench " and is a 6 point , almost closed end wrench . Next time you can buy the pre bent tubing from Inline Tubing Co. that's where all the vendors buy them . Just be sure to have the nut properly threaded before laying a wrench to it and they'll seal just fine ~ most folks give the nut a turn or two and think the threads are good to go when in fact they're cross threaded so when you wind it up with the Flare Nut Wrench , it leaks . NO TAPE may be used on brake lines ! .
