Well said Grigg, that was exactly what I was referring to. The brass is considerably softer than the SS and it is almost always deformed by the mild steel lines so the SS would be much harder on the fittings. If a flare is just a little bit off center or cocked and you try to R&R it, your probably going to end up with a leak.
I pulled all the steel lines off my '50 this past winter and there was only a tiny bit of surface rust in a few places. touch it on the wire brush and you never would have known it was there. I did replace them all and all the brass just as a matter of safety. Point here is that after 57 years they really were still serviceable.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
