Custom made brake lines

[SomeGuy25thZ]

Who has made their own brake lines by purchasing brake tubing? Is 3/16" tubing the right size to use? I am thinking of getting a kit online for 3/16" stainless tubing. Some kits come with a 20-30 ft. coil while other come with 6 ft lengths with the ends already flared for you. this could be good because ends are ready to go but there will be many connections in the brake system hence many locations for leaks. What have you guys done with custom brake lines? I will have stainless braided lines at the calipers but am thinking of trying to make stainless tube lines from the master cylinder to the rear and across the front k-member. Any do's/dont's suggestions, pics? this is going to be a first so any help would be appreciated. thanks

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[wvabreeze]

Not trying to talk you out of it,but. By the time you buy a quality flaring tool set,tubing cutter and bender you won't spend much more for a set of premade lines. Stainless is harder to work with also. Remember if you get the tubing bent just right and cut to the proper length then screw up the flair you may have some expensive waste. I have a decent flare set,bender,cutter and have made several of my own lines and I am in the process of looking for a good set of lines to buy.Not to mention you may end up with tools that might never be used again.
I will also add though that it could be a good learning experience. I would by some cheap line to practice on though. All the auto chain stores have tubing by the piece. Good luck.

[//<86TA>\\]

i agree, you will most likely need a hydraulic flaring tool to flare the stainless line, that a few hundred dollars.

3/16 will work, but the correct size is 4.75mm. The flare is a bubble flare, not a double flare or inverted flare.

Honestly, i would see if you can afford to just buy new pre bent stainless lines. They are quite reasonably priced considering the amount of work involved and they have the correct fittings and flares.

I have bent my own lines, but they were short use and i used regualr steel line. I have all the flaring tools, but only the manual ones. They work, but take a little getting used to. They do not work with stainless.

[SomeGuy25thZ]

the only problem with pre-bent lines are that they are always for factory setups. I have a spohn k-member and the pre bent lines most likely will not follow the k-member like i would want. Other option would be to just run a straight solid tube to the rear under the car and just run the entire front setup with stainless braided lines. But then I fear the brakes may get too much of a "spongy" feeling.

I think I may be able to just bend my lines then take them to a shop to just flare the ends and put on fittings. That will probably be the best bet.

www.inlinetube.com has a bunch of good stuff and also www.eastwood.com. Eastwood has videos showing them using their flare tool to flare stainless lines and it looks fairly easy but the tool is expensive.

[//<86TA>\\]

yeah, you are right, you would have to bend up the lines for the tubular k-member if you wanted them to fit tightly. Dont use flex line for the entire run, the pedal will be spongy