DIY: Double Flare Lines

[Mister_Perkins]

Get yourself a Double flare tool from Advanced Auto ($30-$40.00).

Should look similar to this:


Keep note of what each piece is called. If you forget refer to this picture

First grab your line you want to connect up / repair. Its useful to know what size the line you are flaring is:

As you can see, there are different sizes for different applications. Most Brake lines are 3/16" and that's what I will show you in this DIY. The same steps apply for bigger flares as well:


Loosen the nuts on the line vise and push your line through the opening, and grab your 3/16" flare nipple and place it stub side up. The base of the nipple should be flush with the top of your brake line:


As you can see from the picture, the brake line shown is actually not flat. You want your brake lines to be as flat as possible so the nipple will sit flush and flare it evenly


Now tighten the nuts on the line vise with a 1/2" Box end wrench and place the stub side of the nipple inside the brake line. Grab your flare tool and slide it over the vise and secure it to the indent on the flare nipple:

Note: In this picture I am showing the indent on the flare nipple


Using the 1/2" Box end wrench you used to tighten the line vise to the line you want to flare, Tighten down your flare tool until your nipple is flush with your vise:



Note: If you don't have your vise tight enough, you will have to loosen and re-do the first steps of lining the nipple up to the brake line

Now that its flush, remove your flaring tool, pull the nipple out of your brake line and slide the Flare tool back onto the line vise.

Tighten the flare tool once again.

Note: DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN!! If you over tighten on this step, you risk splitting your brake line at the flare and you will have to cut off your messed up flare and re-try all the steps!





Remove the flare tool, Loosen your brake vise and remove. PRESTO. You have a double-flared brake line!


Note: Before flaring the other side of your line, make sure that you install your fittings that you will be attaching to your brake / fuel system. If you forget to put your fittings over the line and flare the opposite side, you will have to cut / insert fittings / re-flare the line. MAKE SURE TO INSTALL YOUR FITTINGS!


This tool can also be used for fuel lines as well


Pictures of what final should look Like:



The picture above lists a Bubble flare. You create this with the double flare tool as well, but you do not do the last step of running the flare tool back into it. You put the nipple on the brake line and run it in and thats it.

[jtex2717]

I think you should put a pic of what its supposed to look like once flared. Also post a pic of the diff between a double and a single flare and maybe even a bubble flare.. Thanks

[N/A Camry Sleeper]

Do you think this would work on titanium tubing?

[Mister_Perkins]

I'm not sure, titanium is much harder than steel. I would think if they made Unflared titanium tubing it would probably work. I've installed stainless steel lines before on a vehicle, but never titanium

[N/A Camry Sleeper]

I guess I'll have to give it a try sometime - excellent post! When I upgrade to the carbon brake system I would like to run entirely new tubing since it's really difficult to clean old brake lines out COMPLETELY when switching over from Dot 3 to Dot 4 or higher brake fluid

[Mister_Perkins]

To make it look professional, I would suggest getting some tubing line benders like the following picture. Instead of trying to bend the lines with your hands, or around a bottle (lol) you can use these tools and set the degree of bend and make it look really clean and nice



http://www.harborfreight.com/tubing-bender-3755.html

[N/A Camry Sleeper]

Harbor Freight rocks! Now that I have an actual workspace I can actually get some real work done! Found these on Ebay just now - 15 meters of tubing could do two cars, possibly:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Titanium-tube-tu...item255e516959

Could you post a DIY of tube bending? THat would be awesome as well!

[Mister_Perkins]

Originally Posted by N/A Camry Sleeper

Harbor Freight rocks! Now that I have an actual workspace I can actually get some real work done! Found these on Ebay just now - 15 meters of tubing could do two cars, possibly:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Titanium-tube-tubes-tubing-6mm-OD-15-x-103-cm-length-/160496183641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255e51 6959

Could you post a DIY of tube bending? THat would be awesome as well!

Yeah I could do that for sure

And that tubing your looking at is too wide a diameter you will more than likely have problems. Standard 3/16" Brake line is 0.1875" converted to 4.76mm. The tubing your looking at is 1.24mm larger than the 3/16". You may have a pressure problem since the master cylinder is set up for .1875". It might work, but it might have too much volume to make a proper amount of pressure to each brake cylinder

think of it this way.... the Inside Diameter of that titanium tubing is slightly smaller than the outside diameter of standard brake line

[N/A Camry Sleeper]

So when you say use .1875" brake line is that the inside or outside diameter?

Oh I see - I get it now...

[LynchburgCSI]

This.... is epic. Sticky time.