Nighthawk

Okay, need some tips with this. Just bought my new brake line and realized that some of the pre-made universal steel line sections don't have the right fittings. I have a 1/4" line from the master cylinder to the manifold and another 1/4" line from the manifold to the rear hose. Unfortunately, the holes in the brake manifold for those lines are much too large and on top of that they are different sizes. So I have two 1/4" lines plugging into the manifold and each originally plugged into a different sized hole and both of those holes are two big for the universal fitting. The advance auto guy had no clue how to get the lines to fit and couldn't find any converters. Any one else understand what I'm saying or had similar problems. I've attached some pictures. Sorry, my explaination of the problem is pretty bad. Never done a brake job before.
Jake

MDchanic

Not very strange at all, and it is illustrative of the poor quality of auto parts help these days.

GM (and many other manufacturers) used different nut sizes on its brake tubing to make it harder for the guys on the assembly line to put them together wrong.
You can be excused for not knowing this, as you've never done a brake job before, but anyone who had ever done one (such as, you would hope, the parts counter guy) should know this.

You need to get larger nuts for those fittings.

There are three different nut sizes for ¼" tubing:

• 7/16 x 24 is the "standard" size
• 1/2 x 20 is the middle size, and
• 9/16 x 18 is the largest size.

I'm not sure which of the two larger sizes you have, but a quick trip to the auto parts store should settle it.

At Advance Auto, where you were, these are the standard nuts,


these are the 1/2 x 20 nuts:


and these are the 9/16 x 18 nuts:


The half-inch nuts and the 9/16" nuts are also available in bags of ten, which, in the case of the 9/16 nuts, is actually cheaper than buying just one.
I'm sure you could get them cheaper somewhere else, such as from RockAuto or Amazon.

All you need to do is cut off the tubing flare, swap nuts, and re-flare with a 45° inverted flare tool (which you need to buy if you don't have one).

Good luck!

- Eric

joe_padavano

While less desirable due to the added potential leak points, you can also keep the current brake lines and just buy adapter fittings. These are often called "master cylinder adapters" and NAPA usually stocks them, as do other auto parts stores. Speedway Motors also sells them.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/IFM-to...ters,6458.html

MDchanic

Very true, Joe, but, well, as the young whippersnappers today say, that's so kludgy.

- Eric

Nighthawk

Aaah, that makes things easier to understand. I'll check at NAPA and either get the converserter pieces or buy my own flaring tool.
Thanks guys

KDV

Just a friendly reminder that brake lines are double-flared, so be sure to get the right flaring tool.