Thread: Plumbing the chassis

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yes the steel will rust from inside and out. you could combat this by replacing your brake fluid once a year or at least every 2 years as you should... Even if you use SS lines its very important to change the fluid regularly...... I think they offer some synthetic brake fluid also.

I guess I just have too much faith in OEMs using steel. I'm having a hard time in general distinguishing overkill/waste of money from the essentials. If stainless is that much better that's what I'll do...stainless, single flare, AN fittings, right?

IMO steel is fine..... With yearly maintenence you will be fine for years and years. Like I said even with SS you need to replace the fluid regularly the brake fluid will still attract water causeing brake fade over a period of time.

You can use CS and of course it's your choice. My reasoning for SS was twofold, The first being survivability from all conditions and a lower maintenance factor. The second is appearance on my TCI Stage 3 chassis which has mostly chrome and stainless components.

With the first reason, fluid changes can be extended another year or so with an extremely high grade brake fluid - I'm using ATE Super Blue Racing Class 4 fluid which has a very high boiling point and has a very low water absorption rate. I will not use silicone fluid even though it does not absorb much, if any air borne moisture. It has some compressibility which leaves you with a less then solid brake pedal. You will hear some with argument that go like this: " I've used silicone brake fluid for xx years in my Turmoil Mega 9 and never had any problem". He's often right - but that spongy pedal in some cars leads to less then satisfactory braking performance.

OEMs use CS brake lines and Class 3 brake fluid for a simple reason - cost. I've replaced many brake lines on daily drivers - and in my area, that can be in as little as 5-6 years. The highway departments use salt on the roads for winter ice removal - it doesn't go away in the summer - it's driven into the road surface and sits there just waiting for that nice bare steel to rust away.

If you are doing brake lines on a street rod, that is the one place not to have less then the best available.

DOT marked flex hoses will pass your state inspection. If you have a sharp inspector that catches this omission, he my fail you - which means tow it/drive it back home, install new DOT flex lines, new fluid, add a bunch of time and costs then return for another inspection.

OK Dave/IC2, I have checked with a local shop building drag race cars and they use regular steel lines, probably because their lifetime is measured in terms of a racing season or less. Locally I will have to look around more in the local industries supporting the nearby airport to find a 37 degree flaring tool for AN fittings other than the one at the Cobra shop which does the double flare. So are you saying you used SAE fittings with a 45 degree flare on stainless tubing? If so I am sort of stuck with the AN fittings and still looking for a single 37 degree flaring tool. So can you define what you have as:

1. stainless tubing?
2. single 45 degree flare?
3. SAE fittings?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

OK Dave/IC2, I have checked with a local shop building drag race cars and they use regular steel lines, probably because their lifetime is measured in terms of a racing season or less. Locally I will have to look around more in the local industries supporting the nearby airport to find a 37 degree flaring tool for AN fittings other than the one at the Cobra shop which does the double flare. So are you saying you used SAE fittings with a 45 degree flare on stainless tubing? If so I am sort of stuck with the AN fittings and still looking for a single 37 degree flaring tool. So can you define what you have as:

1. stainless tubing? YES
2. single 45 degree flare? NO - Single 37* flare
3. SAE fittings? NO - AN, mostly -3

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
Hope I didn't confuse you too much . The only SAE fittings on the car brake system are adapters to AN at the master cylinder, residual valves and proportioning valve. My fuel system is also completely SS with all AN-6 fittings