It’s me again. After seeing the drip at the rear of the master cylinder I was going to try and tighten up the fittings. Nothing moved with reasonable pressure but I started looking and all the tees are brass and all the connectors are steel. Seems like that is a problem. It should have been plumbed with all brass seems like.
Anyway I was looking for some advice from you older bolters whether I should fix just the leak or go back and change out the steel fittings for brass.
Thanks for the help.
Doug
Last edited by T-Doug; 09/13/20239:40 PM.
1954 Chevy 3100 One problem solved doesn’t seem to shorten the list Montgomery, AL In Project Journals
The brass and steel fittings aren't the problem. In fact if you use brass hex fittings and don't use a proper line wrench (box style with a cutout to pass over the tubing) you'll wind up rounding off the hex on brass fittings. You just need to make sure that the flares are proper double flares and get them tight enough. Everything needs to be clean as well so the tubing seats properly in the fitting. You may have to replace some of the tubing to get leaks to stop.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Looking at you pictures, I'd replace the lines. Your fittings are pretty rusty and two of the lines have been cut and joined with unions. That's four more potential leak points that you have to worry about.
You can buy ready made pre-bent steel lines from Inline Tube or make your own with cupra-nickle or steel.
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
Try loosening that fitting a quarter turn and then tighten it good'n tight quickly. Won't quit? Inspect the flare for cracks.
~~ Jethro 1954 3100 Back to Life In the Dity Gallery 1951 3100 (gone) / 1956 4400 (still in the neighborhood) / 1957 6400 with dump body (retired) / 1959 3100 panel (in the woods junked) / 1978 Custom Deluxe K10 / 1993 S-10 4.3 / 2004 Chevy Crew Cab / 1945 John Deere H / 1952 John Deere B / 1966 John Deere 2510 / 1967 John Deere 1020
It looks like you're missing a copper washer on the banjo bolt...anytime you take that fitting apart it's wise to replace the two washers with new, they are available at your local parts store...take the old one with you to get the correct size.
Like Jethro said, when tightening up flare line fittings you want to pull them up tight, then back it off about 1/4 of a turn than slam it tight again. You'll notice the wrench moves further each time you do this. It might take three or four times of doing this until the wrench ends up at the same spot each try, then you know the flare is fully seated.
Mike B
Mike Boteler
1956 Chevy 3100 Resto Rod 1952 Willys M38 Army Jeep 1983 Jeep CJ7 Laredo 1984 Jeep CJ7 +++++ Silver Spring, MD
