Making Custom Fluid Lines

To make custom brake and fuel line pieces you need a tubing cutter, a tubing bender of some sort, and a flaring tool. The flaring tool (top 2 items shown by red arrows) is an inexpensive one ($6), and is only a single flaring tool which is fine for low pressure fuel lines. For brake lines, however, you need a double flaring tool which will also be covered herein. Even though this flaring tool states it is for aluminum & soft copper, it does a nice job on these small steel lines too. The small item on the right in the photo (blue arrow) is a tubing cutter (under $10). The bottom two items (green & yellow arrows) are tubing benders. The left one (yellow arrow) is a spring bender (under $3 for a set), the right one (green arrow) is a multi-size bender (around $5). Other specialty benders are available at higher cost. Spring benders come in a set with several different sizes -- a 3/16" spring bender will only work with 3/16" tubing, etc.

This is a small tubing cutter which is perfect for brake and fuel lines. To use it, center the tube on the wheels then tighten the thumb screw until the cutting wheel contacts the tube, then continue tightening just a bit more--not too much or you will mash the tube or damage the cutting wheel. Rotate the cutter around the tube several times. Tighten the thumb screw again just a little and rotate the cutter around the tube again several times. Repeat this until the tube is cut through (usually three to four times). You'll know when it is time to retighten the thumb screw when the cutter becomes easier to turn and becomes just a bit looser on the tube. A tubing cutter is far better than a hack saw, and is really essential for this type of work. A hack saw leaves a rough edge which can cause leaks, as well as metal shavings that can get into the line and cause damage later.

To bend a tube with the spring benders, insert the tube into the spring....

....then gently and slowly bend the tube, then slide the spring off the tube. The spring keeps pressure on the sides of the tube which helps to keep it from kinking while it is being bent. It will still kink if you bend too fast or too sharply; however, you can make sharper bends with the spring benders than the bending tool shown below.

To bend with the bending tool, insert the tube into the notch, and bend the tube around the circle. This bender, as mentioned above, is intended to bend multiple sizes of tubing. Smaller tubing can be bent in a tighter radius than larger tubing so this bender will not bend smaller tubing as tight as it could be bent. (Note that I am using scrap tubing here and in the previous two photos that was already bent up some). Benders are available for just about all size tubing which can give tight bends on any size tube, but for most automotive applications the spring benders will usually be adequate.

If you plan to use a spring bender, be sure the tubing is bent to fit before making the flares.

Before making a flare, make sure the fitting is on the tube first, or you will need to cut the flare off and put the fitting on and remake the flare. Also, make sure you have reamed the inside of the tube where the tubing cutter left a ridge--failure to do so may result in leakage due to a less than perfect flare.

Undo both sides of the flaring clamp.

Then insert the tube in the flaring tool with the end sticking out about 1/8" and tighten the clamp bolts.

Then put the flaring press on and slowly tighten.

Then remove the flaring press, and remove the tube.

You will have a beautifully made custom piece to fit your exact need.

Note again, however, that this single flare process is not to be used for brake lines. I show it on small lines mostly because I had the scrap left over and it was easy to demonstrate here, but most fuel lines are much larger. The double flare will be shown next.

The double flaring process is similar to the single except that a different tool is used and it it a two step process.

Again, as with the single flares, before making a double flare, make sure the fitting is on the tube first, or you will need to cut the flare off and put the fitting on and remake the flare. Also, make sure you have reamed the inside of the tube where the tubing cutter left a ridge--failure to do so may result in leakage due to a less than perfect flare.

Insert the tube into the flaring clamp so that it sticks out the same distance (red arrow) as the width of the collar on flaring die (blue arrow), then tighten down the clamp.

Now turn the die around and insert the pin into the tube.

Put the flaring press on and tighten till the black die is firm against the the tube clamp (red arrow in right photo).

Remove the flaring press and the black die and your tube will look like this.

Now put the flaring press directly on the previously made partial flare and slowly tighten the press till the flare is right against the edge of the clamp, as seen in the right photo. Then remove the press.

The left photo shows the new double flare still in the clamp. The right photo shows the finished product. You now have a great looking and functional double flare, suitable for brake lines, power steering lines, transmission cooler lines, fuel lines, etc.

Making

Custom

Fluid Lines

Tools Needed

Making Single Flares

Making Double Flares

This is the end of the

Making Custom Fluid Lines Edition

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Feel free to save this page to your computer for your personal use and future reference--no other use is authorized without prior written permission from me. All illustrations from the 1964 or 1965 Falcon Shop Manuals used pursuant to permission granted by Ford Motor Company. Disclaimer: This site is not intended to instruct or teach anyone in proper or safe methods of working on or maintaining any type of vehicle or use of any tool and the author takes no responsibility for the use of the information contained herein.

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at joe@joesfalcon.com