Brake pipes

[holywood3645]

What do you think, Buy them or make them.....any advice. US suppliers?
Thanks
James

[type36lotus]

I bought mine in bulk and then cut/bent them myself. The tubing
bending tool and cutter are inexpensive; the flaring tool was a little
costly. If you are good at eyeing your originals you can make the
copies in a leisurely day. I have had no leaks or other issues with
mine.

Mike 66 S3 Coupe'

--- In ***@***.***, "holywood3645" <jamesjordan@h...>
wrote:

[Frank Howard]

James,

I agree with Mike. Making them up yourself is not too difficult. And as far
as copying the originals is concerned, I probably copied nothing from the
original factory layout when I redid my brake pipes. On my car, I believe the
factory installed the brake pipes for a RH steering car but my car left the
factory with LH steering. The pipes for the tandem system terminated on the right
side of the engine bay near the rear carb. Then couplings were added on and
they both made a U-turn and were routed back around the front of the engine to
the left side where they were hooked up to the master cylinder. I wasn't
about to copy that layout. There were actually three brake lines on top of the
vacuum frame member.

Also, the factory placed the line to the rear very low. I found that there
are holes in the top of the bulkheads for the backbone and some of them even
had grommets in them already. My rear brake line now runs through the left hand
holes in the top of the bulkheads and the fuel line runs through the right
hand holes. The result is that both lines are high up in the chassis, far away
from the ground. Much safer in my opinion.

Buy the pipe at any auto parts store, then buy a pipe bender and a double
flaring tool. They also make a special wrench that contacts 5 of the six sides
of the fittings if you want to go all out.

Good luck!

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota

[lotuselan2]

And every car left the factory different anyway!



Ken

'69 Lotus Elan +2 with BDR

_____

From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.*** Behalf
Of ***@***.***
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:05 PM
To: ***@***.***; ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] Re: Brake pipes



James,

I agree with Mike. Making them up yourself is not too difficult. And as
far
as copying the originals is concerned, I probably copied nothing from the
original factory layout when I redid my brake pipes. On my car, I believe
the
factory installed the brake pipes for a RH steering car but my car left the
factory with LH steering. The pipes for the tandem system terminated on the
right
side of the engine bay near the rear carb. Then couplings were added on and

they both made a U-turn and were routed back around the front of the engine
to
the left side where they were hooked up to the master cylinder. I wasn't
about to copy that layout. There were actually three brake lines on top of
the
vacuum frame member.

Also, the factory placed the line to the rear very low. I found that there
are holes in the top of the bulkheads for the backbone and some of them even

had grommets in them already. My rear brake line now runs through the left
hand
holes in the top of the bulkheads and the fuel line runs through the right
hand holes. The result is that both lines are high up in the chassis, far
away
from the ground. Much safer in my opinion.

Buy the pipe at any auto parts store, then buy a pipe bender and a double
flaring tool. They also make a special wrench that contacts 5 of the six
sides
of the fittings if you want to go all out.

Good luck!

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota









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[nebogipfel]

--- In ***@***.***, "holywood3645" <jamesjordan@h...> wrote:

pipes comes up.

By all means make your own pipes, it is not at all difficult ..... But
if you intend to use pure copper pipe take care not to put too much
pressure on the tool during the flaring process. Copper work hardens
and fractures really easily - I have seen them fail in service where
the flared end has just broken off! For the same reason make sure the
pipe is well secured along it's length to minimise movement due to
vibration.

Much better in my opinion to use copper/nickel alloy pipe (the best
known brand being Kunifer) It does work harden but is much tougher
than pure copper and is still resistant to corrosion

John