My dad was talking to some guys at work about installing brake lines for my cutlass. One of the guys who also did a cutlass restore told him its impossible to install a new brake line set without taking the body off of the frame. Is this true? Down the line, if I keep the car, we planned to take it off the frame but not right away. And we didn't plan on taking it off the frame just to put in some brake lines.

 

I assume you're mainly talking about the front-to-back line. The rest are all pretty easy to get to. Unfortunately, the factory installed this line to the frame before the body, so at best, it's VERY difficult to do it with the body in place. I've only done it in sections myself (hand-bending parts store sections of line and using a coupler). At a minimum you'd need to drop the trans crossmember and temporarily support the trans with a floor jack. You will probably need to tweak the line somewhat to get it past obstructions then bend it back into place. Not impossible, but not on my list of top ten fun things to do (not to mention the constant rain of rust into your face while you do it).

 

And it doesn't get any easier the older they get. I did what you described on my '46. Not fun.
gutlass69, Maybe the reason the guy told you it was impossible was because he restored his. I heard the judges get real **** about doing things differently than the factory.

 

As said, not an easy job. If you just want the quick fix, put the new one as close to the old one as you can. Don't remove the old one entirely. If you plan to lift the body at a future date, you will still be able to see the factory original to copy from.
Best of luck.

 

thanks for all the responses!