[Will I. Finish]

I have read that they are easy to bend, I believe someone may have said bendable by hand? Wanted to know if anyone has used this type of line and if in fact it is really easy to bend and work with and if there are any draw backs.
Thanks..Carl Also are these the correct fittings - Metric Brake Line Invert Flare Fittings for 3/16" Tube. 10 x 1 mm (Pack of 10)

 

[heliman]

I would recommend going with stainless, Some people say it's hard to work with, but I totally disagree with that. I did the whole car in one day and bent everything by hand.

 

[LynnB]

When restoring my Z/28, I went all stainless; but they were pre-bent. I have zero experience bending to fit.

When I needed just one brake line in the front of my 49 Studebaker, I used the copper nickel, and that line was super easy to bend. I have not heard of any down side. Does someone make pre-bent stainless brake lines for the Opel GT?

 

[Will I. Finish]

When restoring my Z/28, I went all stainless; but they were pre-bent. I have zero experience bending to fit.

When I needed just one brake line in the front of my 49 Studebaker, I used the copper nickel, and that line was super easy to bend. I have not heard of any down side. Does someone make pre-bent stainless brake lines for the Opel GT?

Lynn,
I believe that OGTS makes them cut to length but not pre-bent they includes all of the connectors and yes there are steel, can't recall if they are stainless or not, think they are, would be kind of hard to ship pre-bent. Anyway, I have been doing more studying on the cooper nickel lines and they seem to make sense due to the amount of pressure they can handle and the fact that the material is basically rust free. The fact that you can actually bend it by hand is also attractive however Heilman said he could bend the stainless steel by hand, I guess I am not eating my Wheaties as I was unable to do that. I would love to have the stainless steel for aesthetics but found steel just to hard to bend with the engine, etc, all in place. Thinking the cooper/nickel will be easier to bend and get it in place. Using stainless for the main line to the back of the car and the rear wheels I don't believe would pose a major issue as everything is easily accessible, its those two front wheels that are going to be difficult and I am looking for a way to level the playing field. My brake lines actually appear to be in pretty good shape, no visible rust on the outside, but don't know what is going on regarding the inside, so this project at the moment is not a priority but feel like since I replaced the master cylinder and the brake booster that it may be prudent to go ahead and either replace the calipers-or rebuild, replace the brake lines, and the rubber hoses as well. In the scheme of things brakes are pretty important, if everything works correctly and they don't, well..........................Thanks, Carl

 

[rrossjr]

Carl,
This is the tubing bender I used when I redid the corvair front brake lines with 3/16" ss. I was able to get the old one off relatively intact and use it as a template.
Be sure to doublecheck before flaring the lines.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

I've bought OGTS's brake line set for my new car, like I did for my GTX car, and I'll be straightening them out, then rebending them for the car, with a pair of plier-like tubing benders. First time doing such a thing. The GTX had it's lines stripped before I got it, so had to guess where to put the bends as I went along. Start at the heels and work your way back to the MC is the basic rule. Luckily, I was able to strip off my new car's lines with minimal bending, so I should be able to copy the old and prebend the new lines in my basement before installing. On a totally stripped car. Man, it would be really hard to bend and install new front lines with the engine in the car. I don't envy your task.

 

[LynnB]

Great picture Ron. I just saw that one posted on another site I frequent last week.

 

[Manta Rallier]

Yes, Carl, I have used the copper/nickel brake line and it is as easy to bend as you have read. I am not aware of any drawbacks. A lot easier to fit in than standard brake line.

 

[G.v.Mainberg]

Copper/Nickel (aka "Kunifer", at least in Germany), is the way to go. Do't worry about bending them, the cheapest bending tool from Harbor Freight will do the job with ease. Stainless steel lines are much harder to bend. Trust me, I know

Dieter

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I think brake line bending tools are one of the things that parts stores will lend you with a deposit. But yeah, I bought my set of cheapos for when I do my bending game.

 

[opelnut10]

I think brake line bending tools are one of the things that parts stores will lend you with a deposit. But yeah, I bought my set of cheapos for when I do my bending game.

Copper/Nickel is great for making up brake lines, it is easy to bend and it don't rust. The benders are cheap and about fool proof however the place to spend your money is the flairing tools and fittings if you want a first class job that is not going to leak. I don't trust compression fittings and doing patch jobs on brake lines, but I'm old school and believe in doing the job right using the right tools when it comes to brakes, hoses, wiring and such things so as not to get bite with failure in some remote place at the worse time.

 

[terrylewisac]

Copper/Nickel (aka "Kunifer", at least in Germany), is the way to go. Do't worry about bending them, the cheapest bending tool from Harbor Freight will do the job with ease. Stainless steel lines are much harder to bend. Trust me, I know

Dieter

View attachment 433222

A little off topic but I did use the same tool for my copper fuel lines as well, these benders are great

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Don't worry about bending them, the cheapest bending tool from Harbor Freight will do the job with ease.

Dieter

View attachment 433222

Yup, that's the cheap kind I used/will use. They get the job done just fine. I don't recall having to shorten and reflare anything and I was able to store and bunch up any extra tubing in the vicinity of the MC.

 

[heliman]

This probably won't pertain to 99% of the people here. But if you are replacing brake lines and ever plan to upgrade your brakes or master cylinder to non stock parts, Instead of using inverted flare fittings on your lines you might consider using female AN3 fittings, AN adapter fittings are available in any shape or thread you might encounter, so a future brake upgrade would require nothing more then a fitting change instead of having to re-flare or change lines.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Oooo! That's a good tip. Can you show us any pics of those fittings? Do they replace the banjo fittings?

 

[Autoholic]

I look at the issue of SS vs copper nickel in this frame of mind: which one could be easily bent shut by accident or by running into something below the car? If you can bend it by hand, then that means it will take less effort to pinch it closed. Sure, that might never happen anyways but if my objection to a part is simply that it will take more effort on my part... sounds like I'm cutting corners.

The trick to figuring out any hardline bends before putting it on the car, is to use some solid wire to lay it out first. Get some 18 gauge single stranded wire and bend it to the shape you need. Then bend the hardline to match. I haven't used this trick myself yet, but it was too good to forget.

 

[Manta Rallier]

Trust me... as an old rally guy.... most things that hit up under the car that are big enough and that hit in a way that will 'get' a brake line will close up any line type you put under there! Kinda like big rocks getting oil pans....LOL. The only way to really prevent that is to put the lines inside the car. (BTW, brake fluids are flammable... but silicone types appear to be less so.)

As for the AN fittings, if you first connect your new lines with AN end fittings into the stock parts, you will need some AN to standard flare adapters as noted (except for a banjo fitting). These adapters are readily available but take up an inch or so of length, so be sure to put in a bit of an extra loop near the component, so you will have the needed hard line length if/when you put in an ugraded AN connected component.

 

[heliman]

Oooo! That's a good tip. Can you show us any pics of those fittings? Do they replace the banjo fittings?

No they don't replace the Banjo fittings, But just like any other fitting you might need you can get banjo fittings that work with the AN female fittings. Although my clutch line is AN4 you can see the female AN fitting connected to a male Banjo fitting on my clutch master cylinder in the pic I posted earlier in this thread. It's the exact same setup for AN3 fittings.

 

[Autoholic]

Trust me... as an old rally guy.... most things that hit up under the car that are big enough and that hit in a way that will 'get' a brake line will close up any line type you put under there! Kinda like big rocks getting oil pans....LOL.

True, but I'm also thinking of tools. If I can bend it by hand, just my luck I'd drop a wrench that hit the hardline just right and pinched it shut. Or maybe even worse, my OCD will not like wavy lines. If I can bend it by hand, then that means I'll mess it up on accident all the time. Yes, many won't care.

 

[jayhawkjesse33]

True, but I'm also thinking of tools. If I can bend it by hand, just my luck I'd drop a wrench that hit the hardline just right and pinched it shut. Or maybe even worse, my OCD will not like wavy lines. If I can bend it by hand, then that means I'll mess it up on accident all the time. Yes, many won't care.

Just because it can be “bent by hand” doesn’t mean that’s it’s soft and breakable, like pretzel dough. These lines are strong and require effort to bend by hand, they aren’t like pipe cleaners. I used Earl’s Easy Form Hardline Tubing for my EFI lines. While you can “bend it by hand” it is best to use a tube bender as pictured previously. You have to put some serious force behind it to damage it. It’s widely used for a reason and is worth it.