SS Brake Lines

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:04 pm

I thought I would share this with the community. HotrodVW from the Samba made these custom SS brake lines for me for my Manx II project. I just sent him the lengths I needed and he did the rest for cheaper than it cost to buy the flaring tool. He also does soft lines, braided SS lines, etc. Here is a link to his profile on The Samba: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profil ... le&u=25860

--louis

MyBlueBuggy · Post by **MyBlueBuggy** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:24 pm

I'm interested in how the flares look. How did they turn out?

I bought a bubble flaring tool recently and the cost wasn't too bad. I've been practicing making the bubble flares and it's rather easy. The problem I have is consistency with the flares. I haven't tried any of my flares on my car yet but once I get my flares to look good every time I'm going to shorten the long line that runs the length of the pan. Right now I have that coiled up just under the rear seat. It works but if I ever have a reason to remove the body and clean up the build a bit shortening the brake line is on the list of to-do's.

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:03 pm

The flares look nice. He has a machine that does the flares. He does this kind of work for a living so he has had a lot of practice.

--louis

MyBlueBuggy · Post by **MyBlueBuggy** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:32 am

How do you plan on bending them? I used a small hand held tube bender sized to fit small brake tubing and such. There really aren't too many bends to make and some are better done by hand, however, for the 90 degree bends and such it was very handy having the right tool.

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 2:08 am

I usually bend mine by hand. For tight bends I find something round like a piece of tubing and bend it around that. I like to use a section of heavy wire or even an old coat hanger to mock it up if the piece has a lot of bends in it. That way you can make sure it all fits before trying to bend the expensive stuff.

--louis

Old-Towd · Post by **Old-Towd** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:04 am

Louis it's hard to beat some one that makes flairs for a living. I picked up this USA made SK flair kit ,this flair tool made my older cheaper tool obsolete .

I found that if I used a drop of oil on the head of the tool it made a better flair I also use a drop of oil on the tool threads.

If you look to see what part of the flare mates then it is not so much what the flare looks like as if it is going to seal. I found that even a little emery to take out any imperfections I'm pretty happy with the end results. Not professional but I can almost bet it will work without leaking. I've looked at a lot of aftermarket and VW flares and there's are not that perfect either.