Do's and donts to brake line bending?

[Sti_Guy]

Doing my first complete brake line job, and before I got to far into it i wanted to ask you guys if there were any do's and donts I needed to look out for. I started by using aluminum tube thats the same size as the stainless I plan on doing the system in because Its so easy to change stuff around. SO keep in mind these are just mock up material.

So far here is the progress, the ABS pump has proven to be the most challenging as you can see.






2nd Try

Went back at it some more trying to get it to look better, learned something with the Offset 45 bends. I think this is how it will end up, the two lines that dissapear are for the rear brakes im sure those will become a PITA to figure out also, but atleast they are hidden. The top 3 lines travel back over to the Master Port1&2 and FL caliper. I didnt connect all of those since im waiting on some custom machined brackets to hold the lines in place.

[JRouche]

WOW!! Thats all I can say. You take the fab work to the Nth degree. Its guys like you that give some of us a feeling of "crap, I didnt put enough effort into it"

Very nice pre-fab work. So I gotta ask, did you go so far as to flare the lines LOL Yer crazy detail orientated. Nice work and there isnt anything that I see thats a problem. But what the heck do I know, after seeing your work.

Bending lines has always been a problem for me. If its electrical conduit, brake lines or exhaust tubing, it always baffles me. You have it down.

So I have to ask. I see the black lines, like a sharpie pen line. Thats yer reference? For overall length of the tube or the center of the radius. Where do you place the tube in the bender in relation to that line. Is it placed on the center of the die?

Anyway, nice tubing work and it looks good. The forward tube off the MC looks a lil high. LOL Ok, Im just nit picking Looks great. JR

[Sti_Guy]

Originally Posted by JRouche

WOW!! Thats all I can say. You take the fab work to the Nth degree. Its guys like you that give some of us a feeling of "crap, I didn't put enough effort into it"

Very nice pre-fab work. So I gotta ask, did you go so far as to flare the lines LOL Yer crazy detail orientated. Nice work and there isnt anything that I see thats a problem. But what the heck do I know, after seeing your work.

Bending lines has always been a problem for me. If its electrical conduit, brake lines or exhaust tubing, it always baffles me. You have it down.

So I have to ask. I see the black lines, like a sharpie pen line. Thats yer reference? For overall length of the tube or the center of the radius. Where do you place the tube in the bender in relation to that line. Is it placed on the center of the die?

Anyway, nice tubing work and it looks good. The forward tube off the MC looks a lil high. LOL Ok, Im just nit picking Looks great. JR

Thanks for the compliments, this is about my 2nd attempt at doing brake lines, I found for me I needed to just stay focused and try to take my time. Glad i got tooled up to do tube work, 8 benders later! It also forced me to inventory what benders did what, and had what bend radius, it’s nice having 2that do the same size tubing but are different radiuses. I had to make sure i didn’t "fudge" anything by hand because I’m sure the stainless won’t be as forgiving. Honestly if the ABS wasn’t part of the electronic diff's in the tranny i might have just went without it. I tried to find someone to do this job but after 3 people flaked 2 had no clue what they were doing I decided it was just time to do it myself. We will see how it all turns out once the new Mast cool parts come in, and the billet line clamps. Yeah the sharpie lines are my Center of Bend and start of bend lines to get lined up with the markings in the benders.

[Aintqik]

Its always bonehead stuff for me, like forgetting to put the flare nut back on BEFORE I flare the tube lol.

[ItDoRun]

Originally Posted by Aintqik

Its always bonehead stuff for me, like forgetting to put the flare nut back on BEFORE I flare the tube lol.

Been there done that!