Need a brake line flaring tool
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 73
Likes: 8
I have that flaring tool and bought it from Eastwood, when the first started selling it, at their promo price of $150, I wished I would have waited and shopped around, there were several places where you could buy it for $99, for the identical one. This is a great tool to do lines in the vise, it's useless as a portable tool. To the guy having issues with the mastercool flaring set, it has to be you, not the tool, I've had mine for at least 10 or more years and have done over a thousand flare with it and never had a bad one.
I had the issues with the master cool on stainless, the double 45° did not work well nor did the quick disconnect fuel line flare. It seemed weak, not strong enough to complete the flare.
I like the tube cutters, they cut square. I will use a drill bit or step drill to clean out and debur the inside of the tube after cutting, that makes things go smoother.
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 73
Likes: 8
It wasn't mine, a good friend lent it to me so I could check it out. I did not want to damage it. I would have bought one for myself if it worked better. I saw it for sale through Classic Tube I believe, and they claimed it could do stainless. Looking into it and Mastercool themselves dose not make that claim.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 56
Likes: 3
Thought i should give a update. In my quest to be a cheap *** i bought a titan tools 51535 3/16 flaring tool off of amazon. It was very easy to use and made great look flares. The flares it made looked better then the ones on the lines that came with the SJM kit. So because that tool worked out great i decided to buy the Titan Tools 51515 1/4 flaring tool for the rear line. Now while this tool worked great on the lines that came from SJM the lines on the car was a different story. The outside diameter of the lines on the car must be a little smaller and the tool would not hold the lines. Now i did manage to figure out a way to make it work, not idea but i managed.
I'm guessing it's because you tried to use an SAE tool on a metric tube, such as 1/4 inch versus 6 mm.
3rd gen Camaro has been 6 mm line to rear brakes since the mid-1980's. I'm not so well versed about the 4th gen though.
The aftermarket, including SJM, almost exclusively uses inch size tubing because it's less expensive. And almost all the tube nuts you buy from the store are also made for inch size tubing.
If you try to slip an OE tube nut for 6 mm line onto a 1/4" line, then you'll see it's too tight. But those sizes are close enough that you can drill out the center of the 6 mm tube nut and use it on 1/4" line. And likewise, you could use 6 mm line with a 1/4" tube nut and still make an adequate seal with the flare.
The aftermarket, including SJM, almost exclusively uses inch size tubing because it's less expensive. And almost all the tube nuts you buy from the store are also made for inch size tubing.
If you try to slip an OE tube nut for 6 mm line onto a 1/4" line, then you'll see it's too tight. But those sizes are close enough that you can drill out the center of the 6 mm tube nut and use it on 1/4" line. And likewise, you could use 6 mm line with a 1/4" tube nut and still make an adequate seal with the flare.
The fuel quick disconnect definitely doesn't look as nice as an OE crimp, that's for sure, but all the crimp does is retain the fitting so it doesn't back off. Sealing is o-ring to tube. Trouble with sealing is probably because the tube is out of round, or tearing of the o-ring during assembly. Lead-in chamfer, diameter, roundness, and surface finish are critical to an o-ring seal. You want a 37° lead-in chamfer on the tube ends where the o-ring slips on to avoid tearing. And the rollers of a tube cutter compresses the surface and can cause a leak. That's why I use a band saw for those kind of cuts. Got to have a pristine surface finish for an o-ring seal.
Also, buying tube in bulk and straightening using a 5 roller set (like Jegs sells) makes the tube out of round. Manufacturing facilities have gobs of rollers to straighten a tube and we can't come close to duplicating those kind of results at home. So personally, I only use factory finished, straight tubing if there is going to be an o-ring seal.
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Verdad Gallardo Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 73
Likes: 8
Yeah, I will admit I struggle with SAE double flare. But that's just me, I'm not good at making those. Never have been good at it. And you need a pretty soft touch or you'll over compress it with the hydraulic tool. If the flare is over compressed then it won't have enough yield left to make a seal when assembled.
The fuel quick disconnect definitely doesn't look as nice as an OE crimp, that's for sure, but all the crimp does is retain the fitting so it doesn't back off. Sealing is o-ring to tube. Trouble with sealing is probably because the tube is out of round, or tearing of the o-ring during assembly. Lead-in chamfer, diameter, roundness, and surface finish are critical to an o-ring seal. You want a 37° lead-in chamfer on the tube ends where the o-ring slips on to avoid tearing. And the rollers of a tube cutter compresses the surface and can cause a leak. That's why I use a band saw for those kind of cuts. Got to have a pristine surface finish for an o-ring seal.
Also, buying tube in bulk and straightening using a 5 roller set (like Jegs sells) makes the tube out of round. Manufacturing facilities have gobs of rollers to straighten a tube and we can't come close to duplicating those kind of results at home. So personally, I only use factory finished, straight tubing if there is going to be an o-ring seal.
The fuel quick disconnect definitely doesn't look as nice as an OE crimp, that's for sure, but all the crimp does is retain the fitting so it doesn't back off. Sealing is o-ring to tube. Trouble with sealing is probably because the tube is out of round, or tearing of the o-ring during assembly. Lead-in chamfer, diameter, roundness, and surface finish are critical to an o-ring seal. You want a 37° lead-in chamfer on the tube ends where the o-ring slips on to avoid tearing. And the rollers of a tube cutter compresses the surface and can cause a leak. That's why I use a band saw for those kind of cuts. Got to have a pristine surface finish for an o-ring seal.
Also, buying tube in bulk and straightening using a 5 roller set (like Jegs sells) makes the tube out of round. Manufacturing facilities have gobs of rollers to straighten a tube and we can't come close to duplicating those kind of results at home. So personally, I only use factory finished, straight tubing if there is going to be an o-ring seal.
The quick disconnect fuel flare is the same as a the flare on a power steering line with the rubber O ring. On the fuel line it is there to retain the fitting as you mentioned. On the power steering it seats the O ring and makes the seal as well as a stop to keep the tube from slipping out of the tube nut. When I tried the Mastercool tool it was unacceptable, I could pull the fuel line retainer off by hand without much force. In the same instance if it was to be for a power steering type of application it would have allowed the O ring to stretch and roll over the flare. Just not as sharp and precise as the factory or the old Matco tool which could replicate it on stainless. I do buy bulk tubing and I do use a 5 roller straightener and I do have success with the fuel line flare after utilizing the roller straightener. I will admit that I had an issue with the tube collapsing from what could have been an out of round condition from the roller or factory. It was the last piece of a previous roll of tubing, went to a new roll and no problem after that.