The best brake lines for your classic car.            Copper nickel brake line kits

                                         

Summary:

Steel brake lines.

Pro:    Cheap and easy to find
original

Con:   Hard to bend and flare
RUST

Stainless steel brake lines.

Pro:   Never rust

Con:  Very hard to bend
poor flare seals -weeping brake lines
Very expensive
Can damage brake components

Copper nickel alloy brake lines:

Pro: Easy to bend
Never rust
Excellent flare seal
Moderate price

Con: ? nice golden copper color


Copper nickel brake lines are superior to any other type of brake line you can
use in your classic car.  The regular steel lines found in most cars are functional
but they rust. Stainless steel brake lines are particularly ill suited for use in a
classic car and should be avoided. Read on to find out why.

Every Austin Healey restoration requires a new set of brake lines. The original
lines in your Austin Healey were plain steel tubing with plated tube nuts ( the
tube nut is the brake fitting at the end). There are brass junction blocks found in
the engine bay and on the rear axle.

You have three choices with brake lines : Steel, stainless steel, and copper
nickel alloy.

There are several primary concerns with what type of brake line you choose to put in
your car. First the brake lines must not leak under high pressure. Next we would like
the lines to last as long as possible so that they not leak or burst under pressure. The
other thing we would like brake lines to do is to do is look good in your show car. The
reason some people choose stainless steel lines is due to The last reason. Wrong.

Why wrong you ask? Stainless is great you say. Stainless steel never rusts and it is so
cool looking. Well, the other thing about stainless is that it is hard, very hard, harder
than steel or copper alloys. If you use stainless steel lines they will be the hardest metal
in your brake system. Herein lies the problem. Brake lines rely on the flare at the end
of the tube to make the pressure seal. The tube nuts clamp down on the line and
crushes the male and female parts of the flare together. Stainless flares are so hard that
they have very little give, resulting in a weak seal. In your Austin Healey the other side
of the flare is either brass, aluminum or steel. In an ideal world all flares are perfect
there is little problem, however most of the time there is either some slight or gross
damage to the original brass junction block flares or the aluminum flare surfaces. Even
new components have machining groves in the flare seal.













Stainless steel line does not conform well to these defects to  make a good flare seal.
The mechanic ( you ) tightens the line to keep it from leaking. If it is still leaking more
tightening is required and suddenly it happens, stripped threads. This means the
destruction of your precious $50 5 way brass junction block or your $150 re sleeved
master cylinder. I have seen all kinds of damage to the brass junction block flares and
master cylinder flares as a result of using stainless steel and over torquing the tube nuts.

Plain steel brake lines are softer than stainless, so they are better able to seal, but they
rust. Car companies have tried all sorts of coatings to keep them from rusting. Most
Car companies use plain steel lines because the material is cheap. There is no other
reason. After 10-15 years of rusting steel lines can suddenly fail in a panic stop, just
when brake line pressure reaches its peak. Yes, it has happened to me. It is a crime.








                    
                











The copper nickel alloy line which are in these brake line kits was developed by Volvo
to increase the safety of their cars. We are the beneficiaries. The line is harder than
pure copper due to the alloy component, but still nice and soft for flares. It makes a
superior flare seal because copper alloy line squishes to make an excellent seal. Sealing
can be achieved without over tightening the tube nuts and stripping out the threads.
Copper nickel line does not rust and can be polished quickly with 0000 steel wool.
You can form the line with your hands. Beautiful 90 plus degree bends can be made
with out special tube benders. This line is made in England and is DOT approved for
the US market.  

Some brake line kits have brass tube nuts. Although this seems like a good idea at first,
in practice the brass nuts cause problems. The mechanic often tries to tighten the tube
nut if the line is weeping. Brass tube nuts have a tendency to do two things: the hex
flats round off the nut and the nut can mushroom at the end in contact with the flare.
The mushrooming causes great difficult in removing the line from the brake part. In
more serious cases the mushroom develops a split and causes nut failure.  Plated steel
tube nuts are used in the AustinHealeywood brake line kits to avoid the problems with
brass nuts.

Nothing is more frustrating than leaking brake lines.
(except a rebuilt engine that will not start)


                             
                       For copper nickel brake line kits click here.
Special British tube nut and bubble
flared copper nickel line.
Double inverted brake flare. Note tube is free of marks.  Non marring flare tool is
used to flare the copper nickel brake  tubing.
Austin Healey 3000 front brass union with copper nickel lines
Always use this copper nickel alloy brake line in your car. Never use pure
copper line like you can find in the hardware store.
Please read the warning at the bottom
of this page
Very tight 180 degree bends are formed easily with a simple tight radius
bending tool. The oil pressure line below was formed by simply wrapping it
around a pipe! Note that there is no deformation of the line.
Please be aware of how dangerous brake cleaner fluid can be. Never light it on fire or use it
to clean an area to be welded as it can decompose into deadly phosgene gas as well as the
corrosive gas Hydrogen cloride. See my Youtube video here.