Thread: Series 2a Brake lines

Note. Good access for a 1/2" garden hose can be obtained by removing the two rubber grommets on the Rear Cross Member which are directly in line with the chassis rails. Bung as much hose in there as you like & work it back & forth. After turning on the tap first, obviously.

Ed. Not sure if these holes were original now I think about it or were drilled by PO, however it can be done if one is so inclined.

JOB DONE.

Originally Posted by gromit

I'm sure John will comment soon but in the meantime....

Pure copper brake pipes are not legal in Australia.
One reason is that if a length of pipe can vibrate the copper work hardens & can crack.

Copper alloy is OK (Kunifer).

Local requirements may allow copper so you'd have to check. I'm sure in the UK it used to be OK but I'd always used Kunifer, the main advantage there was corrosion resistance because of the rocksalt used to de-ice the roads.


Colin

Thanks, Colin -
Looking at the brake lines, they have a slightly different color, so I'm thinking they may be some alloy - they are copper-ish. I'll check with the people who did the installation. Thanks for the explanation.
-Mike

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Copper brake lines are illegal in all Australian states and territories because one of the properties of copper is that, subject to vibration, it will work harden and is very likely to crack.

For obvious reasons this is absolutely not what you want to have happen.

While I have never encountered it in brake lines, in my early days of motoring involvement, I remember that my father's motorbike (a "New Imperial" from the 1920s) and the family cars (Ford T, Reo, and Swift) all had copper fuel lines, with no flexible hoses (used a coiled section instead), and on a couple of occasions the fuel pipe cracked, one in the middle of the Hay Plains, necessitating building a fire to heat a makeshift soldering iron to make temporary repairs. On other occasions he removed sections of fuel pipe to anneal them as a preventative measure.

There are copper alloys that do not work harden, and brake tubing is available in these. This tubing is marked along its full length with the type of tube, and should be available from brake specialists.

Thanks, John -
Oh - good idea. I'll look for the markings.
-Mike