To my other GT6 pages
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
To my other GT6 pages