new brake lines up front

Topic: new brake lines up front (Read 1221 times) previous topic - next topic

new brake lines up front

December 10, 2007, 02:16:05 PM

I'm curious if anyone has ever replaced all the brake lines in the front end, from the master on down.

After I pulled the 3.8, I saw where the exhaust manny was rubbing the line on the pass. side, and has worn it quite a bit. Also I have a hole lower down in that area as well that caused problems when I drove it last.

So my question is: has anyone ever replaced ALL the hard lines in and around the engine bay, and k-member area, and is it something I should attempt?
I do know how to use a flaring tool, it's the bending part that i've no experience with. I heard once about using sand to keep from kinking the line.

Thanks guys!

new brake lines up front

Reply #1 – December 10, 2007, 03:10:58 PM

If you use a wheel type bender it's not hard.The sand trick is for short tight bends the tube bender can't make.

new brake lines up front

Reply #2 – December 10, 2007, 03:42:24 PM

I just finished replacing EVERY hardline on the '80 a few weeks ago. The biggest PITA was getting around the booster like the original lines did.
I used a combination of a bender and wrapping the tube around pieces of pipe or even sockets. Even on a couple of the tight bends, I just bent the tubing around something round, didn't bother with the sand.
It's not that hard. Not fun at times, but not hard.

new brake lines up front

Reply #3 – December 11, 2007, 05:29:47 AM

Yeah, it's something I'd feel better about doing, knowing that one hole was already there probably before I bought the car...and I don't want to take a chance on there being more holes.
Thanks guys :D

new brake lines up front

Reply #4 – December 12, 2007, 09:08:30 AM

I know at work we have some new Brake line that has a coating on it so you can bend it without any kinks. I played with it I even tried to kink it, it didn't work out so well for me. The stuff we have has a brownish black coating on it.

new brake lines up front

Reply #5 – December 12, 2007, 11:09:07 AM

One thing you'll run into is that the replacement tubes aren't any longer than 5-6' (at least what I ran into), so you'll need to have some inverted flare unions on had to join lines together.

new brake lines up front

Reply #6 – December 13, 2007, 05:24:23 AM

I seen 25'+50' rolls that come in a kit with fittings,super easy to bend.It's not so cheap though.
I've been replacing lines that I just replaced 2 or 3 years ago on trucks at work,I don't think the quality of the replacement steel lines is that good. then again they are all plow trucks.

new brake lines up front

Reply #7 – December 13, 2007, 02:13:08 PM

Yeah, I'd noticed that while longer pieces of brake line are less common, they're more expensive.
But if I'm putting in new brake lines, cost ain't gonna be the deciding factor.
These cars never shoulda had the 10" fronts anyhow...