I have another thread going, "Bleeding Brakes?!". During the thrash to get my brakes working properly, I tore out all the brake lines and re-ran them with Copper-Nickel brake lines. I had never used the stuff before. Bends nice and flairs nice. Kinda hard to keep straight, it is so soft though. Looks real nice. too. My question is what will it look like in a couple of years? Will it turn green? Or a brown like old copper? Could a guy possibly clear coat it before installation? Would that really help preserve it looking nice? Some of you guys must have older copper-nickel installations. What's it look like now?
Mine is about 2 years old. It’s starting to look a little green in some areas and dull looking in other areas.
I find, in dry parts it just turns a dull brown. Quite pretty, like old bronze. As with most copper alloys, it buffs up easily.
I use it exclusively, as mentioned it is easy to work with and very seldom does a properly formed flare leak. If it is treated with a satin clear finish it should look the same for years to come. I also use it for fuel lines.
I’ve used tons of it that is in pretty harsh environments. I’ll see if I can get some pics. And on my last resto project I covered it with the stainless spring wrap to match what the OEM did. It looks pretty nice.
I used it on the drag coupe, Buffed it out a little, still looks great but this car rarely sees any harsh weather.
I use nicopp lines on everthing. Its so nice to work with. My diesel ot pickup has had nicopp lines in it for like 8 years. I drive it through salt and slush. The brake lines are a dull brown but not at all green. More like a flat bronze
NiCopp is all I’ll use now. Good stuff, easy to work with, and it doesn’t rust. That’s less a problem for the nice car than for my DD rusty truck in northern Illinois where they deploy tons of salt on the roads. It gets kinda dull, but doesn’t turn green in my experience. Just stays copper colored. You could probably polish the stuff with Brasso or maybe Flitz if you wanted to. Can’t say I’m that ambitious about detailing, but I’m sure it’s been done. Just this morning I read a post on GJ from a guy that spent yesterday polishing his stock steel brake calipers and ceramic coating them so they’ll stay shiny.
The Stop Shop seller on Amazon is where I get coils. They have the SS spring cover as well, protects from road debris damage. For smaller pieces, AutoZone has straight sticks, various lengths. The counter kid rarely knows what I’m talking about, but they’ll let me behind the counter to go find what I want.
I just made 16 flairs for the whole new system. I was amazed at how easily they formed compared to the steel lines I am used to. The only one I had to cut off was because I forgot to put the damn fitting on! I think because they are softer they seal better also.
Did my coupe in nicopp. Hands down the nicest to work with. I bought the straitening tool from Eastwood when I bought their flaring tool. Makes it nice and straight for sure. I bought a roll of steel fence wire and use it to form up a template of the brake line I am going to make then I bend up the line after flaring the ends. Simple but effective
That stuff is actually made of the alloy CuNiFer as in Copper, Nickel, Iron (see periodic table). And as everyone has stated easily formable and will outlast anything on car!
I was able to find some on straight pieces, so I used one to fix a bad line at my master. It definitely flares easier over steel.
CuNiFer - all the corrosion resistance of stainless, but with none of the work-hardening that makes SS flaring tough, and reliable sealing iffy. A bud got a name brand SS preformed brake line kit for his Vette. Some sections are larger than 3/16" up by the MC. Even what should have been minor alignment-tweaking of the bends required disturbingly high effort, and much spring-back. A couple of joints leaked badly, and were tough to get to seal.
Why would you use anything but cupronicke, i don’t care if it ages i just want reliable brakes. Hope steel or S/S doesn’t leak ,cursing when it naturally does .
I have never had a problem bending or flaring the steel stuff, and like it for it's looks and rigidity, no need to straighten it.
I use stainless steel for all my car's brake lines, and fuel lines, and exhaust pipes. I hate working with it, it isn't easy but nothing cool seldom is. I use an Eastwood flaring tool mounted in my vice and I do have to use a cheater length of pipe on the handle for increased leverage. Besides looking cool polished I get a good upper body workout.
I never had any problems using steel lines either. I had just heard about the copper-nickel and thought I would give it a try. It does form easily, but it is so soft that once I get it straight, by the time I get it bent and flared, it isn't straight anymore. And the straightening process is a pain. I wasn't about to spend 100 bucks or more for a straightening tool for one job. My longest piece was 32", so I just straightened it rolling it on the welding table and tapping straight with a dead blow. Actually, with the time I spent straightening and re-straightening, I probably could have done the job much quicker with straight sticks of steel tubing, like I always did in the past. If you have good flairing and bending tools, the softer c-n is not really an advantage. The only real advantage I can see to using the copper-nickel is its durability. No rust. I did take some 0000 steel wool and quickly polished the new lines. Gives it an almost chrome appearence. It looks really nice... for now.
I used it on my 32 Tudor survivor car and just finished doing my 41 pickup with it. I like it’s ease of flaring and bending, but it’s also easy to inadvertently nick the surface. I like the copper look. I buy straight lengths locally from Advance Auto Parts, and if I need to, can straighten it in my bench vice lined with a towel, without scratching it.
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