Brake Pipe Flaring, what's the knack?!!!

[Black Bug]

Wow, another new skill to master and drive me insane - fantastic - I certainly wasn't expecting it to be such a royal pain.

Armed with a new kit, not hugely disimilar to this one:

And a big roll of 3/16" Kunifer pipe, I thought I'd make up some crossover pipes for the new Brembo calipers. So I had a few practice goes on some off cuts, and managed to produce some really quite bizarre looking wonky blobs. That was off course after I figured you need to apply about 50 tons of clamping force to keep the pipe from being pushed through the holder.

So what's the word? Best results I got was from doing 2 or 3 passes, shifting the pipe slightly further out from the clamp each time. Talk about labour intensive though. If I started off with too much pipe sticking out then the flare would just bend off to one side - grrrr, damn lack of accompanying instructions

Cheers,
Rob

 

[neil300zx]

Hi
It does'nt look to dissimilar to my refrigeration flaring tool i think the trick is to apply a little heat to the pipe before trying to flare it this usally does the trick with copper tube but whether you can heat the brake pipes i dont know perhaps give it a try, or maybe use copper tube!

PS a little tip tighten the front wing nut first this is the one where it opens up then tighten the rear one and use the tommy bar to through the wing nut to give it that extra little bit

I hope i've helped

Regards

 

[pmac]

Bin existing crap kit and buy proper item from Frost Restoration for around £90.
Or get someone with said kit to make them for you for around £3 to £5 a go.
Bin Kunifer roll, cos its two hard to bend into nice smooth curves and return angles. Use copper and coat with Clear laquer if you want em shiny or Waxoyl if you dont. Never waste hours of your own precious time on little jobs that a professional can do for you in a few minutes.My local motorshop does em "while you wait"
Well you did ask!!!!!!!

 

[Rob Gaskin]

I've done mine and it's just practice. As you say the protruding length has to be correct and make sure the pipe is cut square and de-burred. I used copper ok, don't heat it! There are two opeartions to get the correct shape, one tool flares and another doubles the pipe over. Remember to fit the nut before you flare. Also bend copper pipe around objects e.g. hammer handles etc to avoid kinks.

As Pete says it is a lot less hassle (and safer) to use professionals but you need to know lengths beforehand. I tend to want to do jobs myself, but we all have limitations, mine are computers and plastering!

 

[zbloke]

Instructions

A bit grubby but its had alot of use

Tim

 

[moggy240]

i used a Sykes Pickavant brake kit that you mount on a vice and has a bar that you pull round and two minutes later both ends are done ready to fit(much better than those hand held kits) and i did all my car with Kunifer pipe and i quite enjoyed once i got the knack,but as PMAC said it is hard stuff but i think i have done a good job of geting mine straight,it just takes time but i think it is far better than copper when all said and done

 

[Arkwright]

all good advice but you've bought the tool so carry on with it. Preparation is everything. The only extra bit I can add is practice how to make your ends and extend the pipe slightly more than the shoulder of the adapter, this makes the single flare slightly larger, don't screw down too tightly when making the double flare as you can distort it. Also it is worthwhile using new unions as if the old ones have been overtightened the heads will have belled out and may lead to crossthreading when you force them back in.

 

[Black Bug]

Thanks guys, great info, it's all starting to make a bit of sense now. Think I'll try making some more pipes today as I'm now not convinced that the flares I did yesterday are up to the job.

Good news is that 90% of the brake piping on my Z is in good nick so I won't have to do too much more of this flaring joy

Cheers,
Rob