Shane512

Shane512

Member
Has anyone used the automec brake pipe kit?
My chassis will be delivered early July and I want to ensure I have everything available to jump on it as soon as it comes. I want to fit new brake pipes to the new chassis and saw these kits from Automec and just want other members experience of fitting them, quality of product etc.
 
Buy a roll of 3/16" Kunifer copper/nickle tube,some nuts and a flaring tool.Do it yourself after a few practice flares,that way you can make the pipes fit exactly how you want. I've fitted 2 Automec kits,one to a 80" Series one and also to a 4.2 E-Type. Neither fitted exactly, needed small mods to fit,but the flares etc were well formed.
 
eightinavee said:
Buy a roll of 3/16" Kunifer copper/nickle tube,some nuts and a flaring tool.Do it yourself after a few practice flares,that way you can make the pipes fit exactly how you want. I've fitted 2 Automec kits,one to a 80" Series one and also to a 4.2 E-Type. Neither fitted exactly, needed small mods to fit,but the flares etc were well formed.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by small mods? I’m not sure I’ll have the time to be able to manufacture all the brake pipes myself which is why I was looking at the kit that was ready cut, unioned and flared.
 
Some were too long,so I had to shorten them and re-flare. Making a brake pipe takes just a few minutes,I really can't see much point in the kits when you can do so much better yourself. Part of that is to use stainless steel fittings rather than the brass one in the Automec kits.
 
I got an automec kit when I rebuilt mine, had to swap 2 ends on front flexis and make another pipe cos one from master cylinder to prv was too short.
 
Geting them straight is the hardest bit and you can buy pipe straighteners for not a lot off of ebay etc
Making your own is a great skill to have if you run older cars.
 
I've completely gone off pre-made brake pipes. I'd much rather make my own these days. You have much more choice over routing and fittings and make the bends as smooth as possible. It doesn't take significantly longer to make your own. A moment or two to cut the pipe with one of those cutters with a little wheel in it, and a few minutes to clamp the tool on and screw the mandrel in to make the pip on the end is often more efficient than trying to make somebody else's guesstimate of what's needed fit.
 
Amazing responses. I’ve decided to make my own brake pipes for my rebuild based on what people have said. I’ve found a decent tool online for £30, does anyone have the amount of consumables I would need to completely do a 90 300TDi chassis with brake pipes? What length of tube I would need, the amount of connectors and clips I would need? It’s going on to a new Richards chassis and I’ve heard that I may need to use the TDCi clips as the holes come too big for the TDi fixings.
 
Shane512 said:
Amazing responses. I’ve decided to make my own brake pipes for my rebuild based on what people have said. I’ve found a decent tool online for £30, does anyone have the amount of consumables I would need to completely do a 90 300TDi chassis with brake pipes? What length of tube I would need, the amount of connectors and clips I would need? It’s going on to a new Richards chassis and I’ve heard that I may need to use the TDCi clips as the holes come too big for the TDi fixings.
Click to expand...
Not sure how much pipe or fittings you'll need. I used the kit just to save time, not money. Though by the time you've bought all the parts and the tools it'll probably be similar. If I hadn't wanted to save time, I would have made my own too.
I fitted my Landy on a Richards Chassis and there were no holes in it for the brake pipe clips. I had to make my own, surface mounted clips, and araldited them to the chassis.
 
Hi, i get the brake pipe for my tdi 130 rear from automec, why they used double flare type and no bubble at the end to the connector?
33B4AC28-4119-4FEC-8713-CE4D80F8DC14.jpeg
 
I love the way old threads get resurrected and answered as if it had been posted only yesterday! :)

I bought an Automec kit for my 90 and fitted it to my new Richards chassis earlier this year.
Everything fitted fine apart from a single pipe which ran from the master cylinder down to the block mounted on the pedal-box, that one was about 1CM too short.

With regards to mounting the pipe-clips, I didn't have any worries about drilling the chassis because I then cleaned, etched, painted & Waxoyled the holes to keep corrosion at bay (same goes for the fuel-line clips). One tip though is to bend the pipes first and then drill the holes where they are needed, not fit the clips and then try to get the pipe to fit (of course if you are re-piping an existing chassis then this tip doesn't apply).
 
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