What is the life of brakeline tubing? Has anyone found in necessary to replace? Iwas reading in Porters book on restorations to replace with copper tubing and use silicone brake fluid and never have to worry again. Anyone gone to this bother?

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Just replaced all my brake lines and hoses as a precaution. I have had brake lines fail at the junction on several cars so I always do if the age is unknown.

Did you use mini/moke specific piping or buy a roll and bend and flange your own?

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

There is a guy who rolls his own near where I live. So I just took out the old ones and he remade me new. Everything went in perfectly. Much cheaper and quicker than buying Moke original.

Copper is illegal for brake lines here in Oz.
Reason- if goes hard and brittle when old, can crack with vibration.

The ones the brake places make and sell here are copper plated steel.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I dont know this Porter book but if its British then they have horror stories about rust (salt to dissolve ice and snow on roads) and their car inspection people get thingy about brake lines.

Here in Australia, you (almost) never see corroded metal lines. Its not really an issue and if you have one rusted the inspector is likely to point it out and say "by next year year replace it". Rubber brake hoses are a bit different as they do perish, swell and block.

Use common sense on the metal lines - if they need replacig then replace them but its not the same issue it is in Britain.

Its probably more important to bleed the brakes every six months sure you have fresh unburnt brake fluid in the calipers and wheel cylinders.

Corroded brake lines are very common here in Queensland
We now use brake pipe tubing that is painted in a green corrosion resistant coating similar to most european cars
This tubing seems to be harder to bend than the older copper coated bundy tubing

Okay I will accept that - but why ?? whats different ???

The basic premise is that the hydraulic system must be intact and if its not then fix it.


I lived in Britain for a few years and the MOT inspectors seemed to focus on metal brake lines - more worries about that than rusty floors.

Here (NSW) our inspectors definately stick the car up on a hoist and look but its not a major focus - not commonly a noticable problem

Humidity I guess. Brake fluid is hyrdoscopic (attracts moisture) so I could understand it causing a problem. I suppose if it is an issue I could look at silicone brake fluid - exy but not hydoscopic and won't cause rust - doesnt damage paintwork either

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

silicone based brake fluid (DOT5) may not attract water but it still gets inside the system by condensation and as it is not absorbed by the fluid it forms drops or bubbles and corrode the brake system

BTW it's illegal to use in road-going cars over here

_________________
Rover 214 atm ....