Mudge Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Well, doing a spring swap and steel brake line swap at the same time. The stock lines were so frozen in place, I ended up twisting the HARD LINE right off at one end, on the drivers side As you can expect this is pretty freaking crappy, its not a daily driver at least but I'm trying to have it ready by this next saturday for a bit of left and right turn fun. Anyone know the fitting sizes I will need? Brake line ID or OD? I've never swapped hard line in my life so this is going to be fun argh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 19, 2003 Author Share Posted January 19, 2003 Thanks Len Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 Small update, while the drivers side brake line was kind of a goofup, the pass side definately will not come off without tearing everything up. I am using a set of vice grips on the small side, and a 19mm on the brake hose, and it just wont budge, after several apps/waiting periods with penetrating oil. This side will be even worse since it reaches all the way across the engine compartment, this makes me fear that the rear lines may go out too. Moreover, part of the nut on the replacement lines that thread into the "soft lines" (braided steel in my case) has about a whole 1/8th inch where there is NO thread at all, and will thusly NOT thread into the freaking brake lines. So I had to spend some time with a cutting wheel to cut off this unthreaded portion, without damaging the line of course, so that I could even use the fargin things. The replacement line turns out to be a 3/16" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Yup,my experience has been to replace ALL the lines, hard and soft when the lines are rusted like that! Sucks... I had to buy flare tools and tubing benders for brake line years back, and I just order all new stuff and plumb it when I start on a new project! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 I'm using ready to go brake lines, minus the bends of course. I am litterally breaking myself getting these things off, the ones I can twist off up close near the caliper area are not so bad, the passenger side line is of course the first PITA one to get too, since its at the firewall. I'm 6'2" 232, and I carried my F54 shortblock up 4 flights of stairs to my apartment, so its not a strenght issue. These things are frozen SOLID. I have a 10mm brake wrench (whatever its called), that just spins, no damage to the wrench at all. It is very hard to get a set of locking pliers on the thing, even with fuel lines out of the way, and still I cannot get enough purchase on there to do anything but spin spin spin, and still that sucker is not moving. I have been soaking it now for 2 days, probably near 20 applications just today, of penetrating oil. My dad said the same thing, if its like that replace them all. I should have expected it, if I knew more about brake lines, on old cars, oops. I am/was still hoping to swap the rear before this saturday, which of course means I'm going to have a heck of a time there, if not worse, which could be trouble schedule wise, ouch What a bear of a job this is. I mentioned to Len the brake line wierdness, with no thread on about 1/8" of the 'nut' that goes into the lines, this time I found one that was threaded the whole way through, should have looked better last time but didn't know to expect that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fly yellow Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 i found that if you heat it up with a torch they will be much easier to remove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 True, common sense there, maybe I should break down and buy one. Expand the metal, break the internal rust seal I have a paint stripper gun that might work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 Your either going to laugh, or cringe at this one! Since this is near the fuel area, I would not recommend it to those in an enclosed area, or someone who is afraid of possible explosions, because there is the potential for it. I remembered that about 10 years ago I was given 2 halloween candles, they are long and have an exposed tip. I took both of these candles (after finding them) and heated up the area as best I could for a couple solid minutes, maybe 3-4 dunno, and got my locking pliers on there as fast as I could without busting a knuckle, after a couple workings back and forth it broke free! Thanks for the suggestion, very boneheaded that it didn't occur to me! I need to buy myself a real torch now Now I get to go bend the line and finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Yeah, heat is the way to go. A paint stripper probably would have worked too. But I read in a recent hot rod that dripping wax on the hot parts also helps ease the break. I have never tried it but sounds trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 2 candles sounds very redneck/ghetto doesn't it LoL, but it worked. I'll buy a cheapie butane/propane whatever torch sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utvolman99 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I am going through the same thing right now on my 73. Only I am just trying to get all the lines out of the way in the engine compartment so that I can clean up some surface rust and paint. I dont understand how a line wrench can strip the fitting so easily. They are pretty cheap wrenches (autozone) but they should still do the trick. I have no knowledge when it comes to running brake lines. How important is it that the new line is exactly the same length as the old one? I would think that the porportioning valve is set up a little different to compensate for the longer line to the passenger side? Any help would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 It really pays to get GOOD line wrenches. I have a set of auto zone line wrenches that would strip th fittings more often than not. I finally sprung for a set of craftsman wrenches, now I only strip about 20% of them. Obviously you will NEVER be able to get ALL of them w/out stripping a few, so I`m satisfied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I've got one of these bad boys - easily pulled mud- and rust-encrusted calipers from the junkyard, without rounding off the fittings. One trick is to tighten the fitting a few degrees before loosening, just to get the threads moving Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I`ve got a set of those too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Originally posted by utvolman99:How important is it that the new line is exactly the same length as the old one? Not important, only in terms of finding a place to put the line, the fluid still is displaced the same amount and compresses hardly at all. I didn't strip any threads, and thats what I worried about more than anything. I did that to the bleeders on my 69 Firebird calipers, those just tore right off. I just round off the actual bite surface area itself, even with vice grips, the heat is what did it. I could not tighten, nor loosen, they were definately frozen. I can squeeze a set of vice grips pretty hard I think, and I really dont think I could have done much better without the heat, and again I'd fear ripping the threads out or breaking a nut off inside the threads because that, would be a true project killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest silverbullet Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 What works for me when I have that problem is to get a very cheap six sided combo end wrench(you might need two sometimes) then take a bench grinder or some type of hand held grinder and grind an opening through the tip, just enough so you can get it over the line and onto the nut then take some vice grips and clamp down VERY tight, if you have to use two, one on each side(nut)place the end wrenches so they are cloce together so you can use both of your hands and squeeze,I have never had this method fail for me and I also have had some very frozen, rounded off fittings also the reason you will want to use cheap boxed end wrenches is because some of the higher quality line wrenches resist the squeeze to much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.