Eastwood brake tools
 

I haven't taken advantage of this part of the forum yet so here goes....
I recently formed all new brake lines for my Exocet. Since the kit came with a roll of the nickel copper tubing I had to try to form them from a coil. After about the third time trying to get the coil straight I went on line and bought the Eastwood 3/16" brake line straightening tool. As silly as it seams to have to buy one of these I have to say that I was actually impressed. The coil comes out of the tool poker straight! If you have tried to bend it and goofed you can bring it back to straight with just a couple passes through it again. The only drawback id that it can't be split to go over an existing flare.

That said I was able to form the rear line to the T block and then run it all the way to the firewall bulkhead fitting my father made in one piece! All of the other lines are straight and clean as well.

Now for the hard part... I spent nearly an afternoon trying to make clean double flares with one of the parallel clamp and tapered vice things. Even with clean straight, de-burred ends and greasing the dies the damn things were off every time. Finally I looked up Eastwood again.

Their flaring tool that clamps into your bench vice is a joy to use. All you have to do is make sure you put the collar on before you flare and you will be hard pressed to screw this job up again. The flares come out like they were machine made.... because they are! loosely clamp the tube in place and pull the handle in Position 0 to square up the tube and set it to the proper length. Tighten the clamp and you are ready to go. Turn the turret to position 1 and pull the handle again to make the first half of the flare. Turn to position 2 and pull the handle one last time and you are done. It takes longer to read how than it does to actually form a flare!

If you don't believe me go to you tube and see for yourself!

Now before you bitch about price.... coiled tube is far less expensive than preformed tube off the shelf. Even with preformed you still need to flare it if it needs to be cut so you are right back to square one. The time saved is well worth the expense. And lastly if you are in a local club, see if they will invest in one for everyone to use.... we got a Motive Pressure Bleeder that way!

There is also a smaller flare tool from Eastwood that I have yet to try. It is for repairs on the vehicle. The dies are similar to the turret but must be screwed into the tool with a wrench. My nephew is buying that one.... hey, I can't be the tool room for the world can I?

Check out my build thread if you want to see how well these things work. For me they were well worth the cost.

I bought one of the forming tools from Eastwood Eastwood Brake Line Forming Tool Pliers - Brake Line Bender - Brake Tubing Forming Pliers & have been impressed with the quality & function of it. I ordered it through Jegs with free shipping Eastwood 49074, Eastwood Brake Line Forming Tool Pliers | Eastwood just have them do the on-line price match.