Some of the modifications I made to the chassis to allow clearance for the transmission and the headpipes required that some of the existing brake lines be repositioned for clearance. Additionally, the rubber boot on the 16 yr old – brand new – master cylinder had rotted away, I decided that I did not want to trust it, so I ordered a new one from Speedway. I also took the opportunity to upgrade it to a two stage vacuum booster. I also ordered a few new AN fittings and some 3/16″ stainless brake lines. 1st off, the two stage booster was about 1/4″ to 3/8″ too long. There was no way it could fit without modifying the chassis, so I sent it back for the single stage version.
While I was waiting I started making the replacement lines which quickly ground to a halt. To save some money, I bought the brake line from Speedway’s Garage Sale page. Supposedly all that was wrong with it was that the box was damaged and there was a small kink in one of the coils. I quickly found out that instead of being double annealed like it should be so that you can flare it, it was full hardness. My flaring tool could barely make a dent in it. I tried heating the end of tubing until it was cherry red then let it slow cool to room temperature. If anything it was harder, so I went googling and found that you get better results if you do a cold water quench. That seemed to fix the hardness issue and I was able to get good consistent 37° flares.
While waiting for the new master cylinder assembly, I decided to polish all the brake lines and the clips that secure them to the frame. It took forever… but I finally got them fairly shiny. I guess I now will have to do the same with the stainless air lines.
The brake cylinder and booster arrived and I installed it along with the powder coated brake pedal. I had also ordered a set of Wilwood emergency brake cables which need to be routed and a Lokar handle that will be mounted when I get the body back on.
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Finishing Up the Brakes
Next up the Emergency Brake cables and polishing/installing the air lines. Then it will be time to put the engine and tranny back in!