Brake line material.

alastairq

in2deep wrote: »

Cheap ones can make a poor end especialy on a double flare.

Alastairq have i seen you on the PC site.??;)

oh most probably...but not of late....frying too many fish at the moment

tomstickland

Quick question about flaring - I bought the Clarke kit from Machine Mart and used to put single flares on the end of the correct diameter Kurnifer pipe (3/16th I think). All the unions have done up tight, but I'm not going to be able to pressure test it until the whole car is back together. So I'm just checking that I put the correct flares on.

cyclonebri1

tomstickland wrote: »

Quick question about flaring - I bought the Clarke kit from Machine Mart and used to put single flares on the end of the correct diameter Kurnifer pipe (3/16th I think). All the unions have done up tight, but I'm not going to be able to pressure test it until the whole car is back together. So I'm just checking that I put the correct flares on.

You need to replace the old pipe with a new one with the same flare, either single or double, as it originally had. It's all down to the type of fittings used, not your preference for one or the others. Check them carefully before use,;)

tomstickland

I know that it's not a matter of preference.

The original pipes were factory formed and had very deep "arrowheads" formed on the end of the pipe - about 2mm deep even at the edges. There's no way that the flaring kit was going to replicate that.

I've put it all back together now and tested it and no leaks.

cyclonebri1

Not quite sure what you mean by that but the only 2 types of flare produced by hand held units are the single flare, where the end is formed into a barrel so that one side is pressed into the concave part of the fitting by the nut.

The other, the double flare is basically the same but as a second process the open end of the pipe is then turned in on itself effectively doubling the wall thickness and forming a concave end that seals against convex ended fittings. As long as what you have done is very similar to the original you should be ok but do check carefully,;)

tomstickland

I've checked on the BMW E30 forum and others have done it the way I have and had no problems.

cyclonebri1

:question: :question: :question: :question: Sorry Tom, you've lost me. Could be that the arrow head head you mention is just a compression mark left on the pipe after manufacture, this would be flatened out during fitting. You can find both single and double flared ends on the same car tho. Only trying to help.

tomstickland

There's no way that a flaring kit could ever replicate the shape of the original pipes.
The basic pipe is about 5mm diameter. At the ends, the original BMW pipes step out to about 12mm diameter. This is a straight bore for about 2mm down the pipe, it is then tapered in. ie: in cross section the end of the pipe is like a thick arrowhead.

The Kurnifer pipe is about 5mm diameter, and the flared portion splays out to about 7mm diameter. ie: very different shape from the original pipes.

However, plenty of people have used the same materials and kit as me and have had no problems.

anewman

So is the Clarke flaring kit adequate to use with kunifer pipe?

Searching the net there's plenty of people with bad things to say about the Clarke flaring kit. Most people seem to recommend a Sykes Pickavant flaremaster kit, but the cheapest I can find one for is £103. But £20 for the Clarke one would be better if it gets the job done.

Just about to replace my master cylinder, so may as well replace any brake pipes that don't look too happy at the same time, rather than wait till MOT time and have to bleed the brakes again.

I once paid a garage £30 to replace a short brake pipe :eek:

cyclonebri1

The Clarke one is fine, mines donkeys years old and for the occaisional use it gets is more than adequate.
Of course the Sykes is a far better professional bit of kit, but it's all about justification, the simpler types are just a bit more fiddly;)