Projects 26 T Roadster Pick Up build Thread

Use sunglasses Fred

 

This build will go down as a Canadian classic and you can always do with a little extra bling up there to brighten up some of those cold days...
Nice work.

 

Hell yeah it did !!!
Nice job Larry

 

One step forward and 3 steps back. I'm not happy with the quality of my flares and I'm afraid most of the flares I've made with my Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool are going to end up leaking.

So, I've decided that I'm going to re-do every piece of tubing I've done so far.

After a bunch of experimenting I think I've finally learned the trick to make a perfect flare.
I discovered that you can definitely screw up the flare by cranking down with too much pressure on the last step forming the 45 angle of the double flare.

There's an art to it to be sure.
On top of that the instructions that came with the tool are pretty much useless.
Any videos you can find are also vague and useless.

On the bonus side, I've got a lot of scrap tubing to practice on.
No pictures of the carnage
The bulkhead fittings and brake hoses are fine though

 

Brake lines is one place you definitely want them done right!

 

I use a bit of light oil or a drop of brake fluid to lube the tool to tube when making mine.
Good luck with the redo. JW

 

.....and don't forget to put the fitting on the line before the flaring commences (don't ask me how come I constantly preach this little tidbit.....)

Bobby

 

I’m done. I gave up trying to get repeatable consistent good quality flares with the Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool.

I believe it’s a good tool however there’s no way to determine how much pressure to apply for the 2 stages of the hydraulic flaring procedure.

Supposedly you can “feel “ how much pressure you are using when squeezing the handle but it’s too hit and miss for me

I’m tired of ruining tubing, the ni-cop isn’t cheap.
So I have ordered an Eastwood pro flaring tool and will have it by Thursday.

It looks to me like a pretty fool proof tool.
I like Eastwood products having good luck with previous purchases.

The Mastecool will be offered for sale.

https://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html

 

Larry I just used a cheapy princess auto flaring tool and had almost no leaks and the one or two that did leak the first time I loosened them off and retightened and they were good after that and none of them looked perfect.

 

I use a basic KD tool. The ball flare can only go as far as it can and the double flaring part just wind in till it goes tight. I also had a couple of minor leaks but as K13 did above, that worked for me too. JW

 

Maybe I’m a little stressed out and worried about it more than I need to be but I’m not comfortable with what I’ve been producing.

I’ve used the hand flaring tools and I remember having sore hands for days afterwards.

Looking at the flares on the pre made lengths of tubing (factory flares) I could see that I wasn’t even close to having nice flares.

I’m hoping for better things with the Eastwood tool.
Not to mention that I have a thing for fancy tools

 

Edited [QUOTE="Blue One, I'm not happy with the quality of my flares and I'm afraid most of the flares I've made with my Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool are going to end up leaking. /QUOTE]

I usually love your attention to detail, but let me make sure I am clear clear here. It sounds like you did not even try to pressure up the brake system. You just think they might leak, so you'd rather buy another tool and redo the whole system, rather than try it out to see if they leak?

(My experience was exactly like K13's, right down to the tool used.)

 

I see you posted while I was. Mine were definitely not pretty, but I got them to work.

 

I have a relatively cheap Craftsman flaring tool. My experience is that it is 90% prep and 10% tool. As long as the tubing doesn't slip while you're flaring it, that's about all that can go wrong on the tool side of hand flaring. I cut the tubing with a hacksaw (no heat to harden it, no tube cutter to roll the edges in). Then, I make sure the tube is square on the end with a file. I also bevel the edges inside and outside to help the tool work. Lube the die, don't forget the tube nut before you cinch 'er down. I haven't used a hydraulic one before so I have no idea. Either way, best of luck. Don't let it beat you!


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I will say that the NiCopp stuff had a different learning curve than steel stuff. "Less is more" on the hand flaring side of things.


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You say that like its a bad thing....LOL

 

Thanks guys, I won't let this beat me. I didn't pressure it up with brake fluid as I was afraid of the paint damage and mess trying to replace what I couldn't stop leaking.
The Eastwood tool looks like it will be my solution.
I don't like the hand tools and the flares I was making didn't even come close to looking right.
I'd rather get it right now rather than later.

Redoing the small percentage of the system I have done up to now is a small price for peace of mind

Besides if you’ve followed my build at all you know this isn’t the first thing I’ve changed or redone

Yes, I'm detail oriented, how can you tell

 

If it’s worth doing once, it’s worth buying an exspensive tool to do it twice haha. Let me know how you like the new tool

 

One might even say that you can be OCD at times! And that isn't always bad.

 

My friend has the Eastman tool at his shop, made a ton of flares on steel tube; but we found on the Ni-cop that the tube cutter was crushing the ends slightly and the flares weren't come out consistently. Sharp new tube cutter and lighter pressure made a world of difference. Think I read on here that a fine cut-off wheel followed by a light filing, like with stainless line, works good too.

 

Blue, I'm confident you'll get through this. BUT.... while the Nicopp brake line is more expensive, it's much easier to flare. Auto Zone sells it in various lengths. Perhaps, before you buy a new tool, you could buy a length of Nicopp and see how it turns out. Then, if still doesn't flare the way you like, buy the Eastwood.

 

Thanks Fred, I've been using the ni-cop tubing all the way through so far (I'm on my second 25' roll ) and just can't seem to get good flares with the hydraulic unit.
I'm going to try flaring a little piece of steel line before I sell the Mastercool, but it's listed for sale either way.

When the Eastwood tool gets here tomorrow I'm going to try a few different things with it in terms of cutting and cleaning the ends of the tube before flaring to see if I can get flares as nice as what you get on factory flares when you buy pre-made lengths of tubing.

I suspect that the Eastwood flaring dies are actually a slightly different design than the dies in the Mastercool kit and if so then the difference will lead to better flares. I'll know more when I have the tool.
Larry

 

Cool! I'm confident you'll get things worked out.

 

Larry not sure if you are aware but Canadian Tire sells the standard lengths of prefitted brake line in ni-cop as well.

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Yes I saw that I’ve bought a couple of them in 3/8” for my fuel line, and will buy a couple of 5/16” ones for the fuel lines to my carbs.

I don’t need 25’ rolls in those sizes
For my 3/16” brake lines I thought it would be more economical to buy a roll of tubing
Or so I thought

 

Well, today I picked up my Eastwood flaring tool.
All I can say is wow
I unpacked it and headed to the garage to make a test flare.

I’m amazed, I don’t think I’ve ever made as perfect a flare with any tool before this.

And it couldn’t get any easier.
Cut and ream the tubing inside and out

Set the die in place and pull the handle on the zero setting to set the tube depth in the die

Tighten down the tubing die and turn to step 1
Pull the handle as far as it goes.

(Not hard and no fiddling with big wing nuts or other finicky crap that comes with the usual hand flaring tools)

Turn the selector to step 2 , pull the handle again.

Perfect flare.

This is gonna be good

I can already see that it was money well spent.

 

Bravo! You're on fire now!

 

Glad that the new tool works so good, now get those brake lines done so you can go onto the next step and get that RPU on the road!

 

That looks great. Here's to hoping that they hold pressure as well as they look (and I'm pretty sure that they will).

 

Woohooo!!