How to fabricate brake lines for a vintage race car

Update by Tim Suddard to the Elva Mk VI project car
Feb 25, 2025 | Elva, Restoration, Vintage Race Car, Elva Mk VI

Photography by Tim Suddard

This was going to be tough. We had no original parts to copy. We had no shop manual. We had no diagrams.

What we did have was a whole bunch of parts left over from our Sprite project car. As our Sprite was built in 1960 and our Elva was presumably built in late 1961 as a 1962 model and the two cars were both of British decent, we assumed that anything from a Sprite would be if close enough, if not identical, to be called period correct.

The first thing we did was map out what we would need. We had two front discs and two rear drum brakes. We had two master cylinders, which meant that this car would need a dual braking system. The front brakes would go to one master cylinder and the rears to another.

The other British cars that we have restored over the decades have used bronze T-fittings to mate together 3/16-inch brake lines. One of these T’s would need a traditional British brake light pressure switch.

We cleaned up a couple of these bronze T’s with a wire brush wheel and started laying out our brake line system.

While brake fluid doesn’t care much if one line is longer than the other, we wanted to make these lines as balanced as possible side to side and to look like factory had done them.

We also needed to keep the brake lines away from heat and danger–things like moving suspension arms.

We keep a collection of new and very good used lines from leftover projects in a box in the back of the shop. Going through this stash, we found most of what we needed. We only had to buy one new rear line from a local auto parts store.

We straightened all the lines that we would use and then started at the master cylinder and worked our way out to the wheels. When we cut a line, we cleaned up the end and created the required 45-degree bubble flare with a Mastercool Inc. (No. 71475) universal hydraulic flaring tool set.

Having a really good flaring kit is essential for this type of work. You will also need a pipe bending tool. Any hardware store should have this kind of tool, and make sure it can accommodate 3/16-inch tubing.

The final tool you will need is a tubing cutter. Again, any hardware store will have one. While you can use a cutoff wheel, a cutter designed for tubing will leave a nicer cut, which makes flaring easier.

[8 secrets to bending and flaring pro-quality brake lines]

Starting up front, we routed, bent and cut lines to end where the brake hoses mount on the frame.

Once we had our T-fitting situated, we welded a ¼-inch mounting bolt to the frame. We will come in later and clip the lines down to the frame rail or floor, depending one where the line runs.

We ran one line down the left side of the frame for the rear brakes. We are keeping as much weight on the car on the left side as the driver sits on the right.

We may add a brake bias knob later, although we do have bias adjustability built into the pedal assembly.

We ended this step by running lines to our rear brake hoses. While we assume the rear brakes will use the same female ends as the front, we have not sourced rear brake hoses as we do not have the rear brakes quite done yet.