My dad's fixing up his 83 Rampage and the steel brake lines that run from the master cylinder to the rear brakes are shot. Repops are non-existant so he'll have to make some. I've got a summit brand double flaring kit he can borrow but I've never tried it on brakes, highest pressure I've ever done is some lines for an efi fuel system.

Anything special he needs to know before going out and buying his line and fittings and pulling out my tube bender? Do brake lines just use regular steel tubing like the stuff you can buy at Napa? Hopefully they or someone else in town can supply the correct fittings as well. Any tips or tricks to pass along?

Practice the flaring on a couple spare lengths of lines. You don't want to have to cut and shorten a perfectly bent line you spent hours perfectly.

Yes the stuff at NAPA will work fine

I just did mine on my dart. Cheap ole Harbor Frieght double flaring tool. I used brake lines from Advance Auto, that have "armor coating" on the outside. Basically just painted.

Worked great and looks great.....no tricks! I just bleed them and no leaks or pressure breakdowns at all.

I'd buy several of the prefabbed lenghts of brake line at your parts house that are already flared w a sliding fitting on each end & with several of the double female brass connectors I've rarely had to cut one &(double) flare it & 3/16 brake line you can bend it by hand without a bender with care just dont make too tight of a radius & if you have to then use the bender. If you do have to cut/flare as said practice on a few pieces of scrap line, your old ones for instance. These inverted flare fittings seal at the flare(as you know) rather than the threads like NPT so you want the flare to be good. Make the flare dia the same size as the cone on the inside that it is going to seat against, not larger,not smaller with a smooth surface thats why a few practice attempts is a good idea.

I did mine on my road race car, with just a summit tubing kit. But , if someone can help him measure the actual route of the lines, and get pre-flared lines to bend into place, I would think that would be the way to go.

If you do it with the coated lines be sure to clean the coating off of the area that will form the flare. I've seen lines leak at the fittings because of this.

I do all my own lines. You can buy a 25' roll of 3/16 steel line, which is way plenty. Fittings are pretty cheap, but I re-use mine unless they are rusty and all wopperjawed.

There is a guy on ebay selling a preflared brakeline assortment ranging in length from 6" to 50" for about $50 delivered. With the exception of the front/rear line, I was able to fabricate all of the rest of the lines using this kit. I hate flaring, so this kit was worth it. See: chrysleroldtimeparts. Since the lengths are fixed, use a coat hanger or bailing wire of the same length and fit it to the application before bending the line.

Any parts store will have decent line you can bend. Make sure you get the double flair right....

I use a 1/4" drive 5/16, 11/32 or 3/8 socket held in a vise as a bender/dowel. Works great. Just move slowly along the radius of the bend.

This is kinds O/T, but who makes a descent double flairing tool? I bought one from the parts store and it wasnt worth a turd.

on thing often overlooked when flaring ends is deburring. when you cut the line with the pipe cutter it leaves a big bur along the I.D. of the tube. take a tapered carbide bit (can't remember the correct name this this tool) and just knock the bur off. ever since i have started doing this i have never had a double flare leak

i agree , good idea to debur.

Also the quality of the flair tool can make a difference in the finished flair.

I wore out my 30 year old one recently and had to buy 4 of them in order to find one that flaired properley

And it ended up being the cheapest one.

One of the best tools I have ever bought is my mastercool hydraulic flaring tool. It wasn't cheap (search ebay) but man I can make a brake line in no time and they never leak. LOL, It is probably a no no or something but I use a drill bit to de burr, and I like the tubing bending pliers from Eastwood......