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October 7, 2019

Chassis Plumbing

[Click the pics for a better view]

About the last thing to do on this chassis before I  put it back on the ground was to run the brake hydraulic lines and what fuel lines that I could.  I drug out the old lines and it was pretty obvious I'd be starting from scratch.  The stock steel lines were very rusty, and many of the fittings twisted off during disassembly.




I decided to start by mounting the new flex hoses at each corner.  This meant I had to find the brackets for the front.  They were pretty rusty, but cleaned up well.  Angle brackets were replated, while the twisty ones were just powder coated.




The front and rear T fittings were in the same bag, so they got cleaned up, too.




The hoses didn't come with the jam nuts and washers like I expected, so I had to supply them myself.




First up on the hard lines was the little loops that feed the front calipers from the hoses.  I used a copper-nickel tubing sold specifically for brake lines.  It is very strong, yet won't corrode, and bends easily by hand.




I find that tubing shapes come out a lot better and smoother if I start with straight tubing.  That little doo-dad straightens the tube.




An hour later.  All of the male fittings in this system go with bubble flares on the ends of the tubes, while all of the female fittings go with standard double flares.  I was able to re-use almost all of the female fittings, but the male ones are new.




Another half hour:




The rest of the system was more of the same.  For complicated shapes, making a wire pattern helps.  This is the tube that goes between the left and right sides at the front.




The left front:




One of the rears:




The tube that feeds the back of the car, plus part of the fuel line:




This was all I could do at this point.  All the loose ends have to connect or attach somewhere on the body, which won't be in place for probably another year.  Also, I couldn't finalize the rear flex hoses since the suspension is hanging so low.

I enjoyed this job.  I was able to maintain a leisurely pace without much drama or stress.  Cost was just for the tubing, hoses, and some fittings--probably less than $100.

Comments to Ed at elhollin1@yahoo.com

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