another 54 chevy brake question

after replacing everything, except the steel lines, i found out that i am going to need to replace them. i found a pre bent set at national chevy association website for $113.00 and wanted to get some thoughts on the price or maybe someone knows a cheaper place.... thanks

 

Buy a bender and a flaring tool and DIY!

 

I bought this kit as well. Since I went with a dual master cylinder, it didn't work actually. So I actually bought long and short length of pre-flared tubing with the fittings and just used some unions to pipe everything up. Much easier that way.

 

so...as far as a kit & price this one from national chevy assoc is ok deal?

 

Why wouldn't you just go to the parts store, buy the prefab lines, bend them yourself, and spend 1/5th the price?

 

I have shit luck making my own lines up, the flares leak too often for my liking and I do have aa decent flaring tool set, maybe I need to practice more.

I've been using the pre-made ones I get at the parts store. They start at 12" I think and are available in 10" increments up to 60".

I figure out what I need in sections, get the lines and unions. Then I take out the old ones and slowly form the new ones to match. I bend them around pieces of pipe I hold in my bench vise for the most part.

If the $113 kit has what you need in it and there are no other changes involved, it may be a good deal. You'd probably spend at least $60 in parts and have all that labor to do and possibly throw a couple out in the learning process.

Bob

 

Unless you're taking it to "54 Chevies at Carlisle" trying to win Best of Show, I'd say that a fistful of tubing and fittings from the nearest NAPA would do the job. It doesn't even have a proportioning valve--a simpler system you'll never find.

 

this is why i am asking the question rusty.....first time/car for me. from what i understand the steel lines they sell are supposed to match what was there from the factory, so its just remove & replace.
and, no heathen, this car wont make it to best of show....probably ever....i am just trying to make a dependable driver out of it

 

So you measure out roughly what you need, buy it in sections, buy unions, try and get the steel line, you need to use a little more care bending it but rarely do you ever need a bender unless you need to make a real sharp turn with it, you can do the whole thing for like $20-$30. That black crap they sell now bends even easier, but I find you need to make a couple good hard stops and tighten the union connections again, the pressure seems to compress the flare more than you can by hand and then it leaks.

I've done so many cars with that stuff it's not funny, late models, 80s cars, and most famously when my one beater developed a leak at a place I couldn't get to, I just re-replaced those two sections of line only to find the connection in the lines I'd first installed was just a bit loose - so I re-used those takeoff lines to try to get brakes on my '50 Chevy. I think two 40" or 48" sections got me from the master to both front wheels -