My situation: So, I'm gonna be running new brake lines here pretty soon. I decided to pull everything out and re-start from scratch prior to painting my engine bay. My progress: I have painted the bay. My set-up: Manual front discs from a '74 4-door Mav and the appropriate master cylinder to accompany them. 8-inch rear with stock drums out back. My question: Do the lines going to the two front discs need to be the same length, over-all? My reason for asking: One of the old stock lines was coiled around several times just after exiting the master and then headed off to its designated wheel. I don't know why. My gratitude: Thank you.
They do not need to be the same length. The reason the one was "coiled" is because, I am guessing, that line was replaced with a new brake line from the parts store and it was easier to coil it than to cut it.
My 71 had the original lines and they were coiled, I replaced them with out the coil and was worried that it would be ok... I thought the coils helped relieve stress on the lines...
Yep, that's more than likely what the coils are for. Some have them, some don't, don't know why. But they do come coiled from the factory at times. My E 350 has both lines coiled, Maverick has one coiled, one straight.
Exactly. The body is mounted on rubber, which is ofcourse where your master cylinder is attached. If the lines go directly from body to frame, the lines will fatigue as things flex. Here is a quick google return about it: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-parts/brake-line-bends-loops.htm
Awesome. Yeah... the lines were completely original (until I got my grubby hands on them), one straight and one coiled. However, isn't the stress issue the reason the line goes from steel to rubber close to the termination at the calipers? Maybe twice the precaution? Or, perhaps, that's strictly for the wheel movement? Anyways, so, what you're saying is the lines don't have to be the same length, but I should leave some type of "flex" in the actual routing tension. Gotcha. Thx.
