Brake line cleanup

[swflaz]

I've got a handle on cleaning up almost everything in my engine compartment as part of my refurb job on my 72 Z except those lousey looking brake lines. Anyone successfully clean them up? I've seen threads about sanding, steel wool, and Caswell plating kits. I'd really like to do a replate. Anyone tried it on brake lines? I imagine the long skinny nature of the lines would create some problems. Any other good ideas? Desperately seeking help.

[dkd021]

Are you talking about the metal lines in the engine compartment? What about the fuel lines? Would you leave those as they are?

But to give you my opinion, if you're only doing the brake line & the line from the clutch master to the clutch slave, that's pretty easy.

I would find you a decent plater in your area. Take the lines out & media blast them with a pretty fine media. Cover the ends & also make sure the ends will move freely to go back into place. Then clean them with some kind of water based cleaner.

If you get them replated, they'll look like night & day. I would think that sanding them or using steel wool would potentially show scratches that otherwise wouldn't be seen because of the gunk.

[240jetjoc]

Once the lines are removed from your car, you can try some muriatic acid, diluted one to one with water, and applied with steel wool and lots of elbow grease. Besides cleaning the lines, the acid will eat away the steel wool, too. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection! As each line is completed, be sure to flush it inside and out with fresh, clean water (several times to stop the acid from continuing to react with the steel lines). Then blow out each line with compressed air and allow them to dry. Then, I flushed each line with WD40 and blew that out with compressed air. After that, I wiped each of my lines with some light oil on a rag. That was several months ago and my brake/gas lines still look nearly new. Be careful not to get the acid on your skin - it can cause a nasty burn. Ask me how I know that! Use this opportunity to check each line for excessive corrosion or other damage which might require line replacement for safety.

All of the above is based on my personal experience. If anyone has had negative results with my method, please jump in. Good luck, and be careful.

[Six_Shooter]

Am I the only one that thinks it would be easier and probably cheaper, not to mention safer to replace the lines with new ones?

[kenz240z]

I cleaned the brake lines on my Z with steel wool and brake cleaner. Once nice & clean I refinished them with Eastwood's golden cad paint kit (http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=722&itemType=PRODUCT). First you spray the part with the gold paint, then apply random thin coats of the red & green paints. It looks almost like a cadmium plated part when done.

[dkd021]

Am I the only one that thinks it would be easier and probably cheaper, not to mention safer to replace the lines with new ones?

My experience purchasing newly made ones wasn't/isn't a good experience. Mine didn't fit worth a darn. And cheaper? Not in my opinion. I got my car-length fuel lines & all my brake lines plated for $100. If memory serves, the brake line kit from CT will run you at least $200 plus shipping.

[justinr54321]

My experience purchasing newly made ones wasn't/isn't a good experience. Mine didn't fit worth a darn. And cheaper? Not in my opinion. I got my car-length fuel lines & all my brake lines plated for $100. If memory serves, the brake line kit from CT will run you at least $200 plus shipping.

The brake line kit from CT is $225 plus s&h for the stainless steel ones, or 189 for the OEM ones. I don't remember how much the one for the clutch line is. And the fuel lines, 3 in total, range from 100 to 145 for stainless, and 89 to 125 for OEM. Total for all the lines in stainless was 749 plus 40 for s&h. I personally reccommend spending the extra for stainless steel because they will hold up to corrosion better, and last longer than OEM.

Here is the link for CT.

http://www.classictube.com/search.asp

It is not cheaper for replace lines that are looking bad, however, if they're as old as the car are, and showing signs of corrosion, it would be safer to replace them. Just make sure you get the right ones, or you can buy sections of straight tubing from either an auto parts shop or a hydraulics shop and bend them to the OEM style, using a good bending tool, and don't skimp on this tool either.

There isn't any other bad feeling than having your brakes fail on you because you skimped on something with the system while you are on the freeway doing 75 MPH. (A friend did this in an old Nova in CA, and talk about crapping your pants. Thank God his E-brake was working)!

[Z train]

Once the lines are removed from your car, you can try some muriatic acid, diluted one to one with water, and applied with steel wool and lots of elbow grease. Besides cleaning the lines, the acid will eat away the steel wool, too. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection! As each line is completed, be sure to flush it inside and out with fresh, clean water (several times to stop the acid from continuing to react with the steel lines). Then blow out each line with compressed air and allow them to dry. Then, I flushed each line with WD40 and blew that out with compressed air. After that, I wiped each of my lines with some light oil on a rag. That was several months ago and my brake/gas lines still look nearly new. Be careful not to get the acid on your skin - it can cause a nasty burn. Ask me how I know that! Use this opportunity to check each line for excessive corrosion or other damage which might require line replacement for safety.

All of the above is based on my personal experience. If anyone has had negative results with my method, please jump in. Good luck, and be careful.

I'll go along with this up to the part of useing WD-40 INSIDE the lines.You shouldn't use anything that could contaminate the brake fluid.

dkd021-not to hi-jack but explain your avatar please.

[swflaz]

Thanks for all the good cleaning/plating ideas everyone. Just discovered the classic tubing option today and am now leaning in that direction after thinking about line deterioration after 34 years. Hope I have better luck with fit than Justin apparently did. Yes, I am doing the fuel lines as well.

[justinr54321]

Hope I have better luck with fit than Justin apparently did.

I have yet to do mine, for I'm just pricing everything for now because of the need to save up for the parts I need. However, good luck in what ever you decide, and let us know the results.

Also, if you're going to replace the fuel lines, I reccomend checking the inside of your fuel tank for rust, and if there is any, either take it in to a radiator shop that cleans and restores them with Red Kote or Por 15, do it yourself, or yu can send it in some place to have it done. Do a search here for either fuel tank restore/repair or Red Kote, and it will give a few threads of where you can send it in.

Justin

[dkd021]

dkd021-not to hi-jack but explain your avatar please.

It's a picture I took of two donkeys fighting for food when my daughter & I went to a local petting zoo.

[swflaz]

Justin, thanks for the fuel tank suggestion. I've already sent it out for cleaning and coating. There was minimal rust. The guy put some pieces of chain inside and rattled them around for a while to knock loose any rust paticles then coated the inside with a product simply called Tank Liner. He says he's been using it for 15 years and hasn't had any call backs. Cost was $75 which I considered to be a bargain. I'll let everyone know how the brake lines from classic tube work out in my case. They're about 4 weeks out from shipping.