Brake Line Cut n Re-route

Yes UK motoring could be seen as lax and scary and Australia strict and restrictive but thats over generalising as the roads and driving conditions are quite different. Look at the road toll figures - copper brake lines are not a problem over there. Perhaps the yearly MOT has something to do with that.


I would hope that there are better options than steel now only because I am waging war on rust. Cover steel lines with salty gunk for 6 months and they will be close to failure! I think it would be shoddy and lax if steel brake lines were put on a car for sale in scandanavia or any country that salts the roads. Same if you intend to drive on beaches. I would still buy a car if it had steel brake lines but given the choice I'm not sure that I would choose to install them on my land rover.

My point is, it could take just as long to fail a properly installed copper brake line from work hardening as it takes to break a steel line from rubbing, stress fracture or rust. Only routine inspections make them safe. I wouldn't choose copper even if it was legal over here because of the concerns but I think copper nickle may be the better choice over steel.

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Originally Posted by manic

... - copper brake lines are not a problem over there.

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Says who???

This image shows what caused sudden brake failure on a morris in the UK.

I take my landies on the beach regularly, but I rust proof them properly...

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

Says who???

This image shows what caused sudden brake failure on a morris in the UK.

I take my landies on the beach regularly, but I rust proof them properly...

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Says I, I should have added IME. I'd never come across it but there you go an old morris with work hardened copper failure. Good find. How old were the lines? I'm sure there are many catastrophic steel line failures documented also... there is a standard for copper brake pipe in the UK, rated for pressure and there is a maximum allowed distance between each anchor so that it doesn't vibrate and work harden. If properly done they can outlast the car, if the UK wasnt capable of fitting them to last they wouldn't be so popular over there.

But anyway, kinda off topic now - I'll go for copper nickle alloy unless I find it to be stupid expensive compared to steel.

I put copper lines on my Landie during its mid-90s rebuild, (there was no Internet then to tell me better!), and then a few years later on I went to undo a nut from a brake hose - and the pipe sheared with about half-a-turn of the spanner. So it's all steel now.

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Originally Posted by Davo

I put copper lines on my Landie during its mid-90s rebuild, (there was no Internet then to tell me better!), and then a few years later on I went to undo a nut from a brake hose - and the pipe sheared with about half-a-turn of the spanner. So it's all steel now.

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Yeah you must be careful undoing and doing up brake pipe unions, copper especially...

Australia have good reason to make them illegal here because of the dry unsalted roads steel is much safer and because of intense vibrations on corrugated roads work hardening is a lot more of a threat. But in the UK a correctly installed copper line will likely last longer than a steel one , so over there you have could argue that steel lines are inferior to copper.

Well, then I took my Landie to Canada and it saw more salt than a chip factory. Even the galv on the chassis was badly damaged. The copper was fine, but even so, having it falling apart was something of a downside.

I've seen something on the Internet about stainless pipes and I'd probably use that over there. Also, someone over there was selling monel lines. I bought some and, typically, one end was wrong and I couldn't flare it with my gear. I just used steel when I rebuilt it to bring back here. (It's a long, long story.)

I'd be inclined to use steel here for beach work and coat it and clean it a lot, but keeping anything going that's on the beach a lot is a tough one. A factory chassis will rust from the inside out in about the time it takes to go through a Sunday newspaper.