I am currently fitting out my car with brake lines. Forming the bends in the right place is proving problematical. At the moment I am making up a series of single bends in old brake pipe and pinning them together with welding rod to make a model which I can copy for the real thing. This works but is very tedious suggestions on a better method would be appreciated.

I use opened out wire coat-hangers as it's easy to bend and strung it together with duct tape.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe

Have you got a proper bending tool? Makes life easier as you can guage better how much pipe is taken up with the bend.

Just bumping this up incase there is any other experience that can be shared - I've got a 'proper' pipe bending tool, which is helping with forming nice curves without any kinks. In terms of making the overall piece (all of which have multiple curves/direction changes in them) i'm currently using the 'wire coat hanger' approach for individual sections, but they're not so easy to come by these days!

I used twin and earth as its solid core and holds it shape, also insulation stops scratching of chassis etc.
Once I had the basic shape I offered up the lines and bent by hand to finalise. But to be fair I didn't have many complicated shapes to bend around.


StrikerFrontLines


StrikerRearLines

[Edited on 21-9-22 by loggyboy]

Probably i've made it a lot worse for myself by having the transmission tunnel panels on, and the engine/gearbox/diff all in place.

My approach is that this means i definitely will fit pipework around the items that have a fixed location - but to be fair it is making it hard to get the shapes in order to run 1 piece fuel and brake lines down the transmission tunnel from the engine bay all the way into the boot...

Yes, I had my box/prop/Diff in loosely and was in and out a few times at that stage to ensure things didnt clash, but allow easier access.

I use a liner from a 3mt MIG torch to mock up the longer brake pipe runs to calculate the required lengths then cut the pipe accordingly, I use a small pipe bender if needed for larger bends and a pair of Pipeaid pliers for tighter bends

I don't know whether I made things harder for myself because I used Kunifer instead of copper. That stuff needed a tool to get decent curves. It was only a cheap pipe bender from screwfix though.

Coat hangers were my tool of choice for planning the route, we've built up quite a collection over the years and they're great for route planning, going fishing in trunking and behind cavity walls etc.

On my MK Indy I worked slowly by hand forming the hard brake and fuel lines by hand. Holding them in place with cable ties as I went and then going back with P clips and rivets. The lines weren't perfect, but they worked without fault (no leaks) and no rubbing or clashes. Yes it took time, but it was a satisfying job to do.

Where it changed from a hard to flexi pipe I made metal brakets using Ally strip rivetted to the chassis.


Front brake pipe routing


Rear upright brake pipe routin


fuel tank + pick up connection


Rescued attachment 031219-07.jpg

[Edited on 22/9/22 by nick205]

Right angle drill chuck attachment

You might also find one of these really useful to get into tight spots for drilling holes in chassis rails.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165254577654?epid=1060635467&hash=item2679f0bdf6:g:nvoAAOSwc4thyefg&amda ta=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8MHBF77tDdyz0NAXNr56uFIXvX29zM2b5vLxLKE88ec7LEZva2ym3jSFKVFAzymT0c%2F3Qc0BPi7m%2F1kX6obSnmZAjpfgjrbyR6QSa62Ns7q8hDoz2xNqtp10ylBh0M2tC qiyCbpogqNUCt2bX1tpDMFRIP%2FarrcTdG55TPhpLhPxvlPS0OQ1ZMtC9W%2BEzZrg4h6x5kf1qzS2BdoPrQIBx6UboBAfTE5Zcudyjod2f7ZYV4YFXi6GYlxpOx2kDxjn2XOUu6eagHFNiVmgSVZ mQgm3Qqrq%2BymOdTmQyoJBE1qE%2B56Kg%2Fs8RVTnePxL5eeB2g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMhKS1xOxg


radca-nick205

[Edited on 22/9/22 by nick205]