Time To Bend Some Tubing

[BRL]

And I've never done it.

Right now I have too much rubber fuel line going to the transmission cooler and carburetor and they're getting old and brittle...not good.

Also it's a tight squeeze to get the rubber trans. lines through the radiator support to the cooler, so it's time to route metal lines with grommets for peace of mind.

I've heard that you can bend metal coat hanger wire as a template and try to copy that with tubing.

I can live with small pieces of rubber line to connect the metal ones but not this much.

Going to buy the tools as they're not too costly.

If you have any helpful hints or ideas it would be appreciated.

ETA:...yea I know it's filthy...spring cleaning project. HA!

[HO455]

Buy extra tubing! Be patient. Get a bender that does more than 90* bends, 180* is ideal. One reason to buy a more expensive bender is you can bend thicker tubing and most of them allow for a shorter distance between the tubing end and the start of the bend. I prefer the style pictured below for small lines like brake lines as the small head allows your bends to be closer to each other. (I have never tried the coil spring variety of benders) Find out how thick the wall thickness the bender will bend steel tubing, unless your doing stainless then you will have to step up as the cheap benders won't do it. I have found it difficult to make practice bends with coat hangers as it is a much smaller diameter. I prefer to use chunks of copper wire in the correct diameter. You can usually get wire drops from an electrical contractor for nothing. As far as material, nickel copper is the easiest to work with but, spendy compared to steel. I would avoid aluminum on your tranny lines as some transmissions can put over a hundred psi and that exceeds most aluminum line ratings. Flaring tools can be frustrating if the clamp won't stay put. Better quality, better clamping. Use oil on the mandrills when flaring and on the treads of the clamp wing nuts. Oh and be patient.

https://static.summitracing.com/glob...00501_w_ml.jpg

P.S. l like the tool box.

[sick472]

I don't know why but I can't see your photos, there are just squares with "X"'s.

Anyhow, The coat hanger trick will work very well for laying out short runs. Combined with a marker and/or tape and a good eye you can accomplish a lot. Use heavy fence wire if you need a complicated long run.

If you decide that stainless tubing would be really cool, check out the prices for a high-end flaring tools because the cheaper flaring tools for regular steel line will NOT leave you happy. You will have to redo the lot of it just to keep it from leaking. Stainless is a whole other deal and those tools get real pricey. Don't ask me how I learned that lesson! If you buy the good tools, stainless becomes much easier, but you'll be out a few hundred dollars to get the right flaring tools.

The biggest learning curve to running your own lines is keeping the intended bends that need to be made to the straight piece right in your head as you size the line up and then move to the bench to do the bending. This is where a wire mock-up really helps. It is also tricky to get the bend to start and stop right where you want it, so only bend half of the bend at a time until you get the hang of the tools. This way you can finish the bend a littler earlier or later depending on the fit you need. Straightening a bend out can easily ruin your tubing.

Do not paint yourself into a corner, so to speak, by merely starting your bends at one end and working your way down the line to the opposite end. Often you will find that bends in the middle have to be made first so that the bending tool can be used to make the next bend in line. This is a little hard to explain without waving may hands and making faces, but bends that are close together may have to be done in an particular order for the bending and flaring tools to be applied. This can really be an issue if you are bending a line that is partially installed on the vehicle because you may find that the vehicle itself gets in the way on using the tools. Sometimes, in order to get the line in position you will have to put some of the bends in the tubing, then install it partially on the truck, then make final bends and adjustment.

You can see how "wrapping your head around the project" could be difficult...think out the route, pick the order in which the bends need to be made, then make a bend, prefit the line near where it needs to live, and continue to the next bend.

I don't intend to make it sound scary. It's actually quite fun as long as you tink it through twice before bending. Otherwise the project may "wrap itself" around your wallet with the purchase of more tubing.

[Swar]

If you do it in copper, you can pretty much shape it with your bare hands. I did some of my fuel line in it.

[BRL]

Originally Posted by HO455

Buy extra tubing! Be patient. Get a bender that does more than 90* bends, 180* is ideal. One reason to buy a more expensive bender is you can bend thicker tubing and most of them allow for a shorter distance between the tubing end and the start of the bend...Oh and be patient...P.S. l like the tool box.

Thank you for the advice, I'm going to NAPA, and the manger on the phone said he likes his middle priced kit. (but then again he probably knows what He's doing)

I'm not going to try to get real fancy with this project, (for good reason) but I'll buy their best kit and take my chances. (still only around $25)

Patience..oh oh.

Glad you like the tool boxes, they come in handy out there sometimes.

Originally Posted by sick472

... I don't intend to make it sound scary...

...too late.

.

Originally Posted by sick472

..It's actually quite fun as long as you think it through twice before bending. Otherwise the project may "wrap itself" around your wallet with the purchase of more tubing.

Double Oh oh.

Appreciate the helpful advice you guys, I probably won't be posting any pictures of the final results.

Thanks Again.

[BRL]

Originally Posted by Swar

If you do it in copper, you can pretty much shape it with your bare hands. I did some of my fuel line in it.

I have some and I'll give it a try.

Thank you.

[BRL]

One more question if you don't mind, do you guys run the cooler lines through the radiator first, (3 core) and then the cooler, (I do) or through the cooler and then the radiator?

Reason I ask is I have a gauge in my cluster and the thing barely registers any movement, unless I'm towing a trailer, and then not much.

I've heard it both ways, and that the fluid likes to be around 180° F or so.

[sick472]

The path should be from the tranny to the radiator then to the cooler and back to the tranny.

The tranny cooler should be in front of the radiator (if that's not obvious). This means it will likely be the most efficient in cooling the fluid. So the radiator drops it potentially down to the coolant temp then the tranny cooler takes it down even further.

AND make sure your temp gage sensor is in the tranny pan or at least in the tranny fluid line that carries the fluid from the tranny to the radiator.

[Swar]

I like the tach mod, haven't seen that before. Mine's mounted there on the column, but I want to do something like that.

[CC69Rat]

I use the heavy wire you use to hang dropped ceilings. You can get a big roll of it at Home Depot for less than $10.

Shape the wire so it's really close to what you want your hard lines to look like. Its easy enough to make a new one if you mess up.. and once you get it like you want it, measure the templates and go buy your hard lines. Patience is key.. think twice before you commit to the bend, you'll be really surprised with your end results. Measure the 'flats' between your bends. I use what I call the short sides. I.E inside corner if the bend because thats where youre going to sit your bender to start the bend. make a mark, double check the angle and fire away

[lutronjim]

x2 on the tach. What brand is it?

[BRL]

Originally Posted by lutronjim

x2 on the tach. What brand is it?

Long ago a guy at work gave me the tach. and I have no idea what brand it is, sorry.

It was one of the types that had your typical housing and I took the guts out of the housing and placed it in the dash.

One day I'd like to try that same process with a Sun Supertach II just for that kind of vintage look.

Something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sun-Tach-Su...5al5yU&vxp=mtr

[davepl]

I did my whole truck in stainless. The only rubber are the brake hoses and the cab-to-frame pieces that are there from original.

It's hard to bend and you'll have a few bruises but it sure looks nice.

I have the Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool, and don't think I could have done this job without it. It's also sold by Snapon and others under their own name.

[Problems]

Originally Posted by davepl

I did my whole truck in stainless. The only rubber are the brake hoses and the cab-to-frame pieces that are there from original.

It's hard to bend and you'll have a few bruises but it sure looks nice.

I have the Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool, and don't think I could have done this job without it. It's also sold by Snapon and others under their own name.

I just did my ‘69 firebird in 100% stainless fuel, brake, and trans lines. I used the Eastwood pro brake flaring tool and it worked fine. You need to put some muscle in it for sure. It’s still not cheap, but $100 less than the mastercool tool.

The PO did my whole truck in copper-nickel, I like the look of stainless but not enough to redo them.

[SlowGreen71]

Originally Posted by BRL

Thank you for the advice, I'm going to NAPA, and the manger on the phone said he likes his middle priced kit. (but then again he probably knows what He's doing)

I'm not going to try to get real fancy with this project, (for good reason) but I'll buy their best kit and take my chances. (still only around $25)

Patience..oh oh.

Glad you like the tool boxes, they come in handy out there sometimes.



...too late.





.

Double Oh oh.
Appreciate the helpful advice you guys, I probably won't be posting any pictures of the final results.

Thanks Again.

I wouldn't bother with the napa bender. I picked that up along with some coated steel 3/8 line for my swap. It didn't take long and the napa bender itself was bent beyond use. Now, I don't believe in buying cheap generic tools. That being said I went to harbor frieght after reading online of people having good success with their 7 dollar 180 degree bender. It's actually sturdy enough and have been pleased with the results.

https://m.harborfreight.com/tubing-b...not%20provided

[mike16]

plan on getting lots of practice. thats what it will take to do a really proffessional level job. dont go cheap on flaring tools and benders. there are several styles of benders out there and some are percieved as a cheapo solution to bending pipe. but buy the best get a few of each style and practice. each type of bender has its uses. so dont thing you only need one style over another.

and in the mean time. those rubber hoses are only good for two years maybe at best.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by sick472

The path should be from the tranny to the radiator then to the cooler and back to the tranny.

The tranny cooler should be in front of the radiator (if that's not obvious). This means it will likely be the most efficient in cooling the fluid. So the radiator drops it potentially down to the coolant temp then the tranny cooler takes it down even further.

your path is right on, rad first. but the radiator mounted cooler is tremendously more efficient than the one out in the wind, unless the external one is very very large. the contact of fluid to coolant (through the cooler) is always more efficient than convection of fluid to air (through the plates), and convection is also subject to things like ambient temp and humidity. think of it this way, the cooler in the rad tank has the entire surface of the rad to do convection with. hard to beat that.


edit: I forgot why I started to reply. I just got an eastwood bender from jegs and it made short work of my power steering line which was long enough but bent 90 degrees the wrong way. I recommend it