front brake lines

[RICH MUISE]

Mark....wow, I would have been surprised also. I guess plastics have come a long way, but I don't think I could get my head wrapped around the idea of plastic brake lines....or even a steel tubing that isn't seamless for that matter.
Gary...got a line on a used Rigid double 45* flaring tool that looks to be in good shape...thanks for the advise.

[gasman826]

I looked into stainless but not using it.  I have a Ridgid 37 degree osillating flaring tool that does a super flare on stainless.  Stainless uses a nut and type of ferrell.  I think you will find that the Ridgid flaring tool does not mark up the line as much as the less expensive tools.

AN brake lines are plastic with stainless mesh on the outside to protect the plastic.  Several hydraulic systems use plastic high pressure lines. 

[RICH MUISE]

The one I'm bidding on is a 45 double flare.  I went over to my friend's resto shop today to see what they were using. They have rigid equiptment, both the manual and the hydraulic, all their's are the double flare 45*. I brought a section of the nicopp tubing with me, and they ran a flare with the manual tool..came out beautiful. He remarked how noticeably easy it was to flare.
The original stainless lines kit I got from inline tube had 45 double flares (in fact, that's all they do), so I didn't want to start mixing flare types. Inline tube has their stainless tubing manufactured annealed to their specs so it can be double flared without cracking. Interesting notes: inline uses over 2 million feet of brake line tubing annually, which is why they can have it mfg'd. to their specs. All production cars thru history have been done using the 45* double flare.
The 37 degree (AN37, Army, Navy) is aircraft spec, military, etc., but used extensively in NASCAR, drag racers, etc.

[RICH MUISE]

update....last week...bidding on the used Rigid was getting higher than I wanted to pay for a tool I won't use that much, so before bidding was over I went to Auto Zone to look at their loaner..it had been barely used. 30. returnable deposit as a loaner, or they told me I could just keep it if I liked it and wanted to buy it. Can't go wrong there. Anyway, not being worn out, this cheapy flaring tool worked great on the NiCopp tubing. Very easy flaring, nice crisp flares with no cracking or splitting.
Got my front lines done easily. This tubing bends very easily, and can be pulled into tight areas with just finger pressure. Almost bends a little too easily..hard to keep from bending areas that you want straight! A nice side benifit...one pass on the buffing wheel before bending and this stuff polishes up like stainless...but so much easier it's ridiculous. It is corrosion proof also. The only downside I can see to this tubing is price, @ 50 bucks/25 foot coil for the 3/16 from Jegs. There are cheaper sources.