bending brake lines need experienced opinion

[Swank]

Morning,
First time tackling hard lines here.

Not sure that im happy with the bends I'm getting.  Don't want to be overly retentive, but also dont want to end up in the weeds.

Couple of the sharper bends are not kinked, but the tube is also not perfectly round anymore. Very slightly flattened. 

I took a close up of the worse offender.

Is this something i should be concerned with and re-work,  or am i being too cautious and should keep rolling as is?

[lalessi1]

The bends look pretty good to me, I wouldn't worry about it personally. I would depend on a consensus of responses though. I bent mine with tools that don't look as good as yours.

[djfordmanjack]

Eugene, your bends look super cool. no kinking at all. it is normal that they flatten a little. I have fabricated new hardlines for about 20 cars or so. In my mind you're good to go !

if you want softer bends you should go for a set of small brake tube bending pliers with kind of a roll. they are cheap

[RICH MUISE]

Look great to me also. Ambitious project. Most of my lines were ss from Inline Tube, at least from the firewall back. Is that NiCopp you're using??

[Swank]

Thanks everyone.  Greatly appreciated.

That's what is excellent about this site.  The wealth of first hand knowledge from all of yall.   I can find almost everything on how something fits together on the internet, but the real world solutions provided by everyone here that you cant find in a book is invaluable. Stuff like, ...is this brake line kinked?, ...how do i actually get a stuck distributor out of a yblock?, ...why wont my sway bar go back in?, ...and put a piece of cheesecloth on the upper hose to keep rust out of the radiator.
Anyways, best 57 site.

Yes, this is NiCopp.  It is easy to bend, was afraid it might have been too easy to bend.  I got the one line in before it got raining too much.  Being the only line i've ran, i dont have a comparison, but the double flares were not an issue (as far as i know).  The hold down tabs did line up real nice too.  I have a couple of small benders, i moved to the larger one after the smaller one made the bends i was questioning.

Again, thanks for the comments and direction.  I'm on my way.

[RICH MUISE]

Looks great. That NiCopp is a fantastic product. So many guys swear they'll never use anything else again, except for the show car guys that want the polished stainless. I hear ya on the almost too easy to bend. When I got my coils, I'd cut off a bit more than I needed then went thru the straightening. Waste of time, ya almost can't carry it in a long piece without it's own weight bending it a little.

[djfordmanjack]

your plumbing is tidy and your frame frontend cleanup job is second to none! great job !

[thomasso]

Used some NiCo the other day for a 3/8 fuel return line when installing a Holley injection system.  Cant get as tight bends as with steel as it will kink even with good benders, actually twists and kinks too easily. And its expensive.

[CobraJoe]

  ...add in the fact that it turns green with New England salty roads.....

[djfordmanjack]

better green than rusty, Joe ! I use NiCo ( KuNiFer as its called over here) on all my daily drivers and winter cars. the greenish  stuff is only on the surface and can easily be wiped off with a rag and protective oil/ wax.
the small passenger car 3/16" diam is easy to bend without kinking but it might be more difficult with bigger tubing like 3/8. haven't tried that. I usually use ss for fuel lines.

[SkylinerRon]

I bent some 3/16 brake line by removing the cotton from a Q tip and inserting the plastic rod into the tubing so it won't flatten when bending.

Ron.

[Swank]

Thats a good idea with the q-tip stick.

Fuel stuff is on my short list.  Someone broke off the line right behind the suspension arm and had run a rubber line all the way to the pump. It's got a couple kinda rusty areas also. ...aaand, my tank looks like this.  Glad i dropped it, it looked fairly decent from the bottom.

So, would SS line be better for fuel than NiCopp?  There's a few pretty tight bends i'm thinking i'll have to make.  Like jumping the frame near the wheelwell, coming up from the pump, etc.

Is NiCopp's flexibility worth maybe not being able to make as tight of bends?

[lalessi1]

I have a tank... sent you a PM.

[RICH MUISE]

Not discussed is the difficulty in getting a good consistent flare on ss without high dollar flaring tools. The ease of getting a good flare with inexpensive tools alone makes the NiCopp favorable over ss.
I haven't tried this, but for at least the 3/16, maybe a length of wire fed into the tube might help alot in keeping the tubing from flattening out.
I used the 3/8 nicopp for my fuel lines, supply and return, with an ethanol resistant rubber hose on all ends.
Your tank is toast, but keep the sending unit for parts even if it is bad also (probably is). When I installed my tanks inc sending unit in my new tank, their flange would not work on my tank, so I had to cut a flange off a sending unit that did fit and weld it to the Tank's inc unit.

[thomasso]

Whats wrong with good old steel line as used since the beginning of gasoline powered cars.  i don't think any of you will live long enough to see it rust out.  Bends tight as original and flares well.