10 replies to this topic

[joet999]

MOT tester said that all brake lines where corroded,

 

Has anyone used the cut and shape your own kits such as:

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3f2554d44f

 

Is the money saved over pre cut and ended kits worth the grief and time (I have plenty of time by the way and have fitted brake lines on bikes before which use mostly flex hose but not cars with copper pipe)

 

cheers joe

 

 

[lrostoke]

never used a kit, but always make my own pipes, practise on some scrap bits first to get the different flares correct.

 

not so sure the fittings are metric like that kit, I just took some old fittings a local auto place and matched them, brought a bag of male and female.

 

The flarer in the kit looks like mine though, seems to do the job well

[robminibcy]

If you very lightly sand the brake lines you may find that they are not that corroded and just look bad. Looking through my cars mot history there have been a few fails due to this but I know they were not changed before it passed again. They have now all been changed during the gradual restoration but it may save you some time and cash for the time being. And when I changed mine I brought a kit from minispares that included all the pipes ready cut and flared. Made life much easier than buying parts seperatly. Not sure though what financial differance it would make.

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

i got all the pipes and fittings and borrowed a tool from my neighbour, didnt cost all that much and i found the whole job pretty easy. Just try keep your old pipes in one piece to use as a template

[dklawson]

Tubing benders are also available to form gentle curves.  They are not expensive and are a good investment.  If you don't want to add the cost of a tubing bender, at least form your bends by wrapping the tubing around something curved as a form.  Do not try to make the curves using your hands alone... at least not until you are familiar with how the tubing behaves.

[joet999]

That is a 3/8 kit with option of making it metric. I will get under there with one of the wife's Brillo pads and see if I can shine them up. I didn't think it would be that hard but it's worth an ask. Some things sound easy but then turn out to be a royal pain.

Cheers all

[Carlos W]

Just replace them! They're a safety critical part! 

[joet999]

that's a fair point.

[Ethel]

If they are steel and corroded brown then the plating's gone and they will need replacing soon enough, if they are white they may clean up a bit. It's still a gamble, they are likely to be worst where it's difficult to inspect properly. Your Mini will have a mix of UNF & Metric fittings, learn how to tell the difference, but buy unf ends off the interweb if it's a choice, you'll find metrics easily locally.

 

Someone is bound to say you need kunifer tubing, there's no denying it's better than copper.

[dklawson]

I'll be the "someone".  Buy Kunifer (cupro-nickel) tubing.  

 

I have seen cars where a replacement Kunifer pipe was installed at the same time as standard steel pipes.  After a few years of exposure to road salt the Kunifer pipes had a patina but no significant corrosion.  Almost all Mini specific pre-formed brake pipes available over here are Kunifer.

[joet999]

Well that is a surprise, the stuff to have turns out to be reasonably priced. Looks like I need

1x m12
2x m10
And a hand full of imperial ones.

Cheers for the help all.