Re[2]: Steel-braided brake lines

[Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>]

On Wed, 9 Oct 2002 08:22:08 -0700 (PDT) James Montebello <jamesm@domain.elided> wrote:

> There are a tremendous number of places to get Earl's parts.  Behrents
> and Summit Racing are only two, off the top of my head.
> 
> As for using braided lines on a road car, there's one thing to be careful
> of.  The commonly-available 'racing' hose is relatively unprotected.
> The braid gets dirty, and that dirt works its way into the weave, which
> wears the soft inner Teflon tube, which ultimately fails, usually where
> the hose enters the fitting.  Braided lines should, therefore, be changed
> regularly, and examined frequently.  Not much of a problem on a racing
> car, a bother on a road car.

i generally wrap the braided line with the clear plastic spiral stuff
that's intended for electrical wiring. i find it very effective at
protecting the braided brake line.

additionally, there is one further important issue to be aware of --
standard Earl's (or Aeroquip, for that matter) stuff has 37 degree aircraft
flares. Alfas are fitted with 45 degree automotive flares. these should
only be intermixed with suitable adapters in place. fortunately, those are
available from Earl's. i am told by folks who didn't know better (until i
talked with them) that most of the time if you crank down really hard with
the wrench, the 45<->37 degree flares will kind of work ok for a little
while. needless to say, this isn't good practice.

in theory, a kit specifically intended for a car would come with the
correct adapters or the correct type of hose end. i wouldn't know, i
usually just convert the entire car to aircraft flares and just use
adapters at the calipers and master cylinder.

richard
--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty@domain.elided
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
              Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security
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