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Brake Lines

Posted in Brakes

The original brake lines are made of metal, which has the tendency to get rusty as time passes by... To overcome this phenomenon, we decided to replace all brake lines by hand made copper ones. You can do this yourself and is not as hard as it seems, your shopping list will consist of:

  • 2 Roles of 4,75 mm copper brake line (approximately 10 m)
  • 14 Gland nuts, size M10 (end nuts to connect the brake lines to the cylinder)
  • Pipe cutter (note the small diameter)
  • A small, sharp knife to remove the copper remains from cutting the brake lines
  • A die set to make the tapered end

So what is all of this going to cost me? Although I lost my receipts from buying the brake line and gland nuts, I remember it being awfully cheap. The copper brake lines were about 1 Euro per meter and the gland nuts are cents rather than Euros. The die set is a different thing though, a semi-professional set will cost you about 90 Euros, which is a lot of money for using it 14 times, let's make it 20 times including some practice rounds... I'd suggest to go out and ask around, every self-respecting garage should have a die set which you can potentially borrow.  In my experience, cake and coffee seem to do the trick if not bring out the alcoholic beverages...

Now, before you run off making your own brake lines, have a read through the below tips from first hand experience:

  1. Make sure that the end of the brake line sticks out 3 mm of the die set clamp, no more, no less.
  2. Clean out all copper remains on the inside of the brake line using a small knife.
  3. Stick the pin of the 4,75 mm die into the brake line.
  4. Install the press and tighten slowly.
  5. When the die moves into the wrong angle, adjust by using a rubber hammer, knocking the sides of the clamp carefully.
  6. Some of the brake line will have to be installed prior to putting the gland nuts on as otherwise it will not fit through the holes in the chassis.
  7. Install rubber grommets in the holes where the brake line is installed through the chassis.
  8. Maybe a bit too much, but please make sure that you insert BOTH the gland nuts on the brake line before you make the tapered end on the other end of the brake line!