I will be making brand new brake lines throughout the whole car and it started with the rear subframe today. Brake line tube aka "Bundy Tube" is mainly sold in large rolls but I found that when I tried to straighten it by hand, it was still quite wavy. I came across a commercially available brake line straightener (http://www.brakequip.com/tools_tube_straight.html) but it was over $300!! It looked like a pretty simple design so I decided to make my own...
It involved some sliding door rollers from my local hardware store and using those. I knocked out the press fit pins and bought some small bolts to mount them on some scrap angle iron I had.
I spaced the rollers' centres at 25mm apart (a distance that I just plucked out of the air - same as the diameter of the rollers) and spaced the two rows of rollers so that the tube would only JUST fit between the rows and force it to straighten it.
While rolling the tube back & forth through the rollers while slowly rotating it, the rollers force the tube to straighten out and after a few minutes of work, the result is quite impressive for an outlay of $40. It's not perfectly straight, but it's pretty damn good. I used the cheaper plastic rollers for this one and for the small amount of work it will be doing, I saw no point in buying the metal ones (twice the price).
So I made new lines for the rear radius arms and subframe for now. DIY brake lines is easy (and MUCH cheaper than getting eg. a mobile service to do it) and all you need is a few tools - a pipe cutter (do NOT be tempted to use a hacksaw - you want the cut to be clean for when the pipe flaring is done) and a pipe bender. I got mine from eBay for $30 for both tools and they do the job well. You can buy the flaring tools for double flaring the tube ends, but for piece of mind I will be getting a local brake shop to do those professionally.
First lines I made was two for the radius arms.
Then the two for in the rear subframe. I am replacing the standard "T" union with an adjustable bias valve. I made a small bracket to mount the valve and then finished the two lines.
Note that when making lines, you should allow make them approx 3mm longer on either end to allow for when the ends are flared. Depending on the tool used to make the flares, you also have to make sure there is enough room (once the union/fitting is slid on) for the tool to clamp onto the brake line - brake some shops require up to 45mm length!
It involved some sliding door rollers from my local hardware store and using those. I knocked out the press fit pins and bought some small bolts to mount them on some scrap angle iron I had.
I spaced the rollers' centres at 25mm apart (a distance that I just plucked out of the air - same as the diameter of the rollers) and spaced the two rows of rollers so that the tube would only JUST fit between the rows and force it to straighten it.
While rolling the tube back & forth through the rollers while slowly rotating it, the rollers force the tube to straighten out and after a few minutes of work, the result is quite impressive for an outlay of $40. It's not perfectly straight, but it's pretty damn good. I used the cheaper plastic rollers for this one and for the small amount of work it will be doing, I saw no point in buying the metal ones (twice the price).
So I made new lines for the rear radius arms and subframe for now. DIY brake lines is easy (and MUCH cheaper than getting eg. a mobile service to do it) and all you need is a few tools - a pipe cutter (do NOT be tempted to use a hacksaw - you want the cut to be clean for when the pipe flaring is done) and a pipe bender. I got mine from eBay for $30 for both tools and they do the job well. You can buy the flaring tools for double flaring the tube ends, but for piece of mind I will be getting a local brake shop to do those professionally.
First lines I made was two for the radius arms.
Then the two for in the rear subframe. I am replacing the standard "T" union with an adjustable bias valve. I made a small bracket to mount the valve and then finished the two lines.
Note that when making lines, you should allow make them approx 3mm longer on either end to allow for when the ends are flared. Depending on the tool used to make the flares, you also have to make sure there is enough room (once the union/fitting is slid on) for the tool to clamp onto the brake line - brake some shops require up to 45mm length!
Comments
Post a Comment