Brakes. They are arguably the most important aspect of any vehicle, performance or otherwise, but they are systems that do age, get damaged, or require upgrades, and YOU can do it.
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
Toni Copp of @BrakeQuip runs us through some of the basics when it comes to why brake hard lines are used instead of just running flex lines, like braided brake hose, throughout an entire vehicle, along with some of the common sizes and flaring options.
Toni also runs through what anyone interested in working on their own brake lines should have in their tool kit, and as always it includes making sure you use quality materials and quality, proven tools. That doesn't always just mean the most expensive ones you can find either, do your diligence.
Recommended tools for a job done once and done right:
- Quality flaring tool
- Straightener (that won't mar or damage your lines)
- Applicable benders (90 & 180 degrees are common)
- Stopper kit
- Line that is coiled and long to save on freight and the need for joiners
Brakes. They are arguably the most important aspect of any vehicle, performance or otherwise, but they are systems that do age, get damaged, or require upgrades, and YOU can do it.
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
Toni Copp of @BrakeQuip runs us through some of the basics when it comes to why brake hard lines are used instead of just running flex lines, like braided brake hose, throughout an entire vehicle, along with some of the common sizes and flaring options.
Toni also runs through what anyone interested in working on their own brake lines should have in their tool kit, and as always it includes making sure you use quality materials and quality, proven tools. That doesn't always just mean the most expensive ones you can find either, do your diligence.
Recommended tools for a job done once and done right:
- Quality flaring tool
- Straightener (that won't mar or damage your lines)
- Applicable benders (90 & 180 degrees are common)
- Stopper kit
- Line that is coiled and long to save on freight and the need for joiners
Fabricating hard lines for your vehicle isn't something that you need to go to a professional shop to achieve. You can do it at home with some basic tools by yourself. We're here with Tony from Brakequip to talk about it.
Speaker 2:Welcome to High Performance Academy's tuned in field report podcast series. In these special midweek episodes, we look back through our archives to find the best conversations we've had through years worth of attending the best automotive events across the globe. We've pulled the audio from these tech filled interviews with some of the industry's most well known figures and presented it in podcast format for you to enjoy as a quick hit of insider knowledge.
Speaker 1:So why in particular would we want to choose going with hard lines? What's the benefit of that over soft lines or rated lines for the vehicle?
Speaker 3:It comes down to presentation and expansion. Expansion is going to be your safety point. The longer the hose if you're using a flex line it's going to expand and you're going to have a spongy brake pedal and that's going to come into a safety issue.
Speaker 1:And then routing like rated lines, flexible lines, throughout the car. What's the issue there?
Speaker 3:You're going to have us add a lot of brackets and support systems to make it really flow and look clean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the hard lines are really a clean, tidy way of doing it and if you're using a long length, that's avoiding the potential joints which can result in leaks. Correct what's the most common material we see brake lines in and maybe the sizing as well.
Speaker 3:So traditionally coming off of your vehicle is going to be a steel line We've found in the industry. It's better to switch over to a copper nickel. It's going to give you better properties for corrosion resistance and it's a lot easier to work with when you're bending and flaring it.
Speaker 1:Right. So yeah, a bit more ductile than the steel and amyl corrosion resistance. Do we also see stainless steel used for brake lines?
Speaker 3:Yep, we have a special annealed stainless that is easier for you to be able to flare as well, and those are for different applications, so stainless is going to be a performance as well as if you're smerging it in a saltwater application. So, trailers, we seem to find that on a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's a marine environment. The copper nickel not so good in that.
Speaker 3:It is, but you want that extra layer protection where copper, nickel is better in your northern states, where you're going to see a lot of salt sprays and stuff like that coming off the road.
Speaker 1:With the the sizing, you mentioned three six-temps. Was that right for the most?
Speaker 3:common kind of size for brake lines. Your most common size is going to be three sixteenths, and then you're going to end up putting a 45 degree flare on that.
Speaker 1:And if we're going to move into bigger lines for other liquids like fuel or water oil for cooling turbos or something like that, do we use the same kind of tools to work with those lines?
Speaker 3:Everything up to a transmission. You would transmission as a little bit of a different style of flare, so you would match your angle or your degree with whether it's a double bubble, den type flare, and then you'd put your setting and go from there Right. So we mentioned a few flare types there a 45 degree den it's the most common thing that we see on vehicles, most common is going to be your 45 double flare and that's going to be on your three sixteenths line.
Speaker 1:In terms of the den, would we see that on any automotive applications?
Speaker 3:Yes, you'd see that going into more of your European cars.
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Speaker 1:In terms of actually working with the raw material. What type of state do you buy it, and then what type of tools do you need to then convert that into the break lines for?
Speaker 3:your vehicle. So we found it's best if you buy it in a coil one that cuts down on your shipping cost and also you're able to get a continuous length. So whether it's 25 feet or 100, it's going to cut down on where you have all of your joiners and your connection pieces. It's going to reduce leaks, so you can use some of our we have a couple of different vendors get the angles that you're trying to accomplish. We have straighteners that you'll feed the line through and the straightener will do 100 feet or 25 feet. It's just a continuous length.
Speaker 1:So the process kind of start to finish there You're starting with your coil of material and then straighten it, slide on the fittings of, bend it and then flare it Is that kind of the basic process.
Speaker 3:Basically, yes, you want to make sure, definitely before you flare it, that you've identified what tube nut style that you're going for and then go ahead and make sure that all your seats are going to match up and flare it and get those, those fittings on the line before you line is important, all right, so is this something that really a normal person could do in their home workshop, as long as they have the right tools?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. As long as you have a quality tubing and you're using quality tools, you can do this. A lot of people tend to use homemade tools or fixes from a local repair shop that maybe is not as quality, and then they reduce their flare and then they don't have the right seating and if it's not seating properly it's going to leak and you're going to start over.
Speaker 1:Right and in terms of like, that sounds like a common mistake. People may choosing the wrong tools for the job in the first place. Is there any other common things that you see people doing that lead to issues in the future?
Speaker 3:Cutting costs. If you're not using a quality tubing, you're going to be working twice as hard and you're not going to get those nice bends. You're going to have marred up tubing and when you're marring it up, you're reducing its life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so do it once, do it right, kind of thing. Yeah, and then, in terms of, like, the basic package of tools we touched on this a little bit before, but just again, what are the basic tools that someone needs to get started and make hard lines for their vehicle?
Speaker 3:Obviously you need a good flaring tool. You want to start out with the 45 degree that's going to make sure that you can do all of the brake applications. You want to get a good quality straightener that's not going to damage your tooling or anything like that as you're uncoiling when you get it in. Then you want to go ahead and get a couple of benders whether you're going to 180 degrees or a tight 90, some straighteners that you can fix those mistakes as you go through, and maybe some stopper kits to keep things from leaking along the way. But we have all of that.
Speaker 1:So if people did want to find out more about your products or potentially purchase them, where can they?
Speaker 3:go. They can go to breakquipcom and find everything we have online.
Speaker 1:Awesome, thank you very much for your time.
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