I am knee deep in a engine/transmission swap. I'm taking a duke/econo manual transmission and putting it in a car that previously had an auto transmission.

I can't get the clutch line out of the donor car - the fitting is frozen to the clutch master cylinder. Has anyone on the PFF ever fabricated a new clutch line? I know that the Fiero Store sells one but I'd like to not spend $150.00 on one if at all possible. I'd be interested to know if you can make one from brake tubing and what kind of fittings you need.

Thanks in advance for your replies and opinions.

[This message has been edited by William Federle (edited 02-08-2007).]

brake line is more than suited for this
use stainless line with double flare ends and you will be just fine
Good luck

Thanks

Chances are if you are making a new line, you will have to cut it to fit. So you're going to need a double flare tool. Preflared lengths won't do you any good. Once you get the hang of doing it it's a cinch. Go to AutoZone and rent it for free instead of buying it. You'll also need a pipe bender, but even the cheapo $5 one will work pretty good. It's hard to use cause they are so small, but they do work.

quote Originally posted by formula400: caution do not use large line you will lose travel in slave.

I don't think that is quite true. Your dealing with moving a volume of fluid. As long as there is no air in the line the size should not matter.
The amount the master puts into the line should exit out the other end into the slave. Now if there is any air in the line then all bets are off.

I messed up and decided to run all new lines on mine run the fat 5/16 line to all points
just to loose the efectiveness of the master cylinder both brake and clutch.
I contacted GM at Burt Chevy the mec. told me that the volume in the lines
was in excess of master cylinders abilities to push enough fluid. he did say it was good idea
but it would absorb more heat and moisture being large. and If I was going to
keep this line in I must reduce the last 12 in to stock size to get back what was lost.

He told me there is flex even in a stanless line with a large line there posses a posibility
there my be even more flex. Most power brake systems operate at 1000 to 3000 psi
and small lines will not carry enough volume tho stronger.

This my be all bull but I would try to stay stock.
I replaced all lines to stock size no problems.

Good luck

Save yourself some time & money. Cut the clutch line in the donor car at the slave, and remove it. I think Rodney sells a replacement flexible hose for cheap. (If you fabricate your own line, you'll have to replace it anyway.) Install the flex hose on the line, reinstall the line, and you're done.

PS: The size of the line doesn't cause loss of travel at the slave; if all the fluid that goes in one end comes out the other end, then nothing changes. What it MIGHT do, however, is make the line more difficult to bleed properly. When you push in the pedal & a helper opens the bleeder at the slave, a volume of fluid equal to the volume pushed out by the master cylinder is expelled. When the helper closes the bleeder & you relax your foot, an equal volume of fluid is drawn in from the reservoir. The line is bled when a volume of fluid equal to the amount contained in the line is expelled. A larger diameter line of equal length will contain more fluid, but everything else should be the same.

[This message has been edited by Jim Gregory (edited 02-08-2007).]

Thanks. I thought of that about 1/2 hour ago. I could just use a tubing cutter and cut it somewhere up in the front compartment and then splice it in the target car with a tubing union.

I had same issue and spent way too much on it theres a company here that does hydraulic lines and fittings as well as pressure fittings and couplings for the oil industry they fabbed me a complete clutch line for 45$ and all the needed were the 2 fittings to screw into the master cyl and the slave, they used stocck sized hard lines for the undercarriage and 2 high compression (3000static psi 5000dynamic load) fittings to join the flex line on and I had a new clutch line.... easy and installs with minimum breakage possibility like the clumbsy me

tubing union will not fly at all
unless it is a double flare type an fitting
it will leak.
even with only 150 200 psi i will leak

I've used many unions before on many different vehicles, and never had a leak. If everything is cut and flared properly, the union doesn't even exist to the system. I have done alot of brake work on my fiero but never any clutch work, seeing that it is and auto. I will be swapping a stick into mine also. So I need to know this, does the clutch line use bubble flares also?

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carpe diem

mine on my 2nd one just needed a good pipe cutter cut tube from the donors slave/master with a straight shot of hard line for a fitting (I'll try to take a picture and show you and these are not the cheap brass ones you get at O'reileys or autozone they ar made to fit specifically for hydraulic lines IE clutch use but are mainly for the oil indurstry pumps and such (this company supplies em) and are forged steel if I remember correctly but they have special instructions on # of turns to seal correctly but they cost a whole $3.06 each and are worth every penny and I will try and get a pic tomorrow as its cold and dark out and I am lazy in that weather.. but its simple enough and you can mount it all and then fit it on to join the line and bleed the slave.

Remember that you are dealing with 6MM metric tubing not 1/4" tubing. They are close but not identical O.D. with the 6mm being a bit smaller. So if you fab a new line of the generally available 1/4" tubing and then use a 1/4" compression fitting to splice it to a 6 mmmetric stub you may or may not get it to hold. A flare union is a better way to do it.

When I did mine I found out the fittings on both the master cylinder and the slave are OBSOLETE thread.

Yeah. So I got a hydaulic line shop in town to fab up a new line that is stainless web over some kind of heat resistant composite stuff. They got stainless adapters and it works like a dream. Get your line size right though.

The really good hydraulic line is pricey, but it is less money than multiple fittings. I found a whole new line with fittings to be in the $100 range in Canadian $, using top notch hydaurlic line, much better quality than stock.

Arn

da** 100$ and yeah the place here has 6mm as well as 1/4" and its great to open a business account for this type of thing as the price went from 85$ USD to around 50$ after taxes and stuff... and it is still good to save threads off of the master and slave cyl as they told me its an old threading and its better to have one thats ready to use than have them machine one of em for you...

sorry no pics I finally gave in to the flu and bronchitis for a day and decided to stay inside rather than out in the 20* weather taking pics while laying on concrete... will have em soon though

Thanks for all the advice. I wasn't considering using compression fittings. I was planning on going with flare type steel fittings. I wasn't sure about the size though so I'm glad to hear that it is close to 1/4".

I just got the engine/manual transmission installed in my car yesterday so now I have to connect the wiring and begin working on the clutch. I'm going to move the entire brake/clutch pedal assembly from the parts car to my car. The holes for the shift and select cable are already there in the firewall, but I have to figure where to run the wires to my aftermarket cruise control - I was running them through the hole for the select cable.

[This message has been edited by William Federle (edited 02-10-2007).]

I have used compression fittings as well and have had no problems
the braded line to the slave can be replaced with a rear brake
flex hose from a Dodge mini van and some metric to standard fittings
I believe.. I did mine about 3 years ago and dont remember lol

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87 Fiero GT 5sp with Vortec L35 4300 Turbocharged V6
Bully Stage 2 clutch
Syclone intake manifold and engine management with Moates adapter and chip burner
Air/water intercooler and Devil's Own progressive water/alky injection
50lb injectors, 3 bar map sensor, Walboro fuel pump and Jabasco Intercooler pump
LM1 wideband on custom manifolds and 3" stainless exhaust system
T31/T04B S4 turbo with a Super T61 in the box
S10 caliper conversion.
Murphy's Constant Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics Things get worse under pressure.
Arthur C. Clarke "Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

[This message has been edited by vortecfiero (edited 02-10-2007).]

I've used the chrysler minivan hose in the past but more recently tried rodney's flexible line to the slave and highly recommend Rodney's parts. John

Good Topic,

Believe it or not, I recently noticed that on my 1993 Silverado's rear brakes, . . . low and behold, there is a standard 1/4" compression fitting joining the 2 pieces together. (In 2 different places on the same line!)

Although I would usually never even consider using compression fittings on brake lines (unless it was a temp repair to get the truck out of the trails), I have owned this truck for about 7 years and have put over 90,000 miles on it. Many of which were towing cars and 4 wheeling. I'm not sure when the P/O made this repair but the truck now has 188,000 mile on it.

Last week, when I noticed a few drips in the driveway, I noticed that a portion of the brake line had rusted through. (nowhere near the compression fittings). The compression fittings were noticed when I removed the rubber "hose" that was being used so the lines did not rub each other.

I would never even think of doing this (especially on brake lines) but it just goes to show how well they will "hold" if done correctly.

Although I'll be doing the double flare when I re-install my clutch line, I don't believe that the compression fittings would fail in that application - (as mentioned in the above post). I'm not saying to just go ahead and use compression fittings wherever you want, but I can tell you that they are holding (or held) just fine on my application.


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I'm not driving too fast, . . . I'm flying too low.

[This message has been edited by 3084me (edited 02-12-2007).]

Compression fittings will work, if done properly.

I would think you have a better chance of blowing a hole in the line from rust, before the compression fitting will give.

I have used them on brake lines where necessary. No problems. I don't recommend them if you have the ability to flare or replace the tubing, though.

For example, I had to fix the tranny line under the car. Rusted hole was leaking. Great place for a compression fitting. For the clutch, I would assume a compression fitting would work also. The pressures can not be that great or the line would bust.