Earl's SS Brake Lines

[bldavis11]

I'm looking for SS brake lines, but can't seem to find anyone selling the all-popular Earl's.

What supplier do you guys go through?

Also, what about the Russell brand of hoses/lines?

Ben

[tomtom72]

Ben, It's been a long time but I thought I bought mine from Jegs.com. They are not listed under ZR-1, but rather I found them by looking up s/s lines for a standard C4.

I am reasonably sure that DRM also has them in their C4 Brakes Section.

:cheers:
Tom

http://dougrippie.com/?cat=21 this is for DRM.

[bldavis11]

Appreciate it Tom!:icon_thum

[XfireZ51]

I bought Russell lines the last time from Summit. And yes they were LT-1 lines that will fit and work.

[tomtom72]

Appreciate it Tom!:icon_thum

:cheers:

Just in case you do not buy the ones from Summit or Jegs and get the ones from DRM.....I just remembered this:o..... I had to buy shorter bolts from Jegs to make the connection. The stock banjo bolts are too long to use with the Goodrich(?) lines that DRM has.
:)

[gbmidyear66]

Ben

I'm in the market myself. Amazon has both Earl's and Russel lines - with free shipping I believe.

[gbrtng]

Foggy memory from 15 years ago - I got a good set from DRM after returning a set to MAD which I couldn't get to seal at the caliper(s). The MAD ones were Russells.

[bldavis11]

Ben

I'm in the market myself. Amazon has both Earl's and Russel lines - with free shipping I believe.
I didn't see the Earl's on Amazon. I'll have to look again. Thanks! I've got the Amazon Prime deal as well, so it's 2-day shipping with no charge... not all that bad actually.

[gbmidyear66]

Ben, here you go....

http://www.amazon.com/Earls-28A050ERL-Brake-88-92-Corvette/dp/B000M0KBNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298242246&sr=8-1

I'm still deciding what I want to buy for a pressure bleeder, so haven't ordered lines yet - what are you using?

Glenn

[bldavis11]

Glenn,

I'm really considering the Speed Bleeders... not a pressure bleeder per se. Do you have any experience with them?

http://www.speedbleeder.com/

[tomtom72]

fwiw on the speed bleeders I use them and if you work alone they are a labor saver. True one man manual bleeding.

Now for the cons. You might have to buy the sealant. It's a bit of a PIA in that you apply it & then have to bake it at 140 or 160 in the oven for 15 min to cure it. Obviously you will not need it if you get your brakes right & do a one time bleeding session and you are finished. If you make mods in steps and bleed after each step, then you will need the sealant. I found after the 3rd or 4th bleed it will need a reapply to be 100%.

Pros: their stuff was so reasonably priced ( JMHO ) that I bought the bleeders, 4 bags & hoses, and a tube of sealant all at the same time. The shipping was lightening and everything worked as advertised. I felt their stuff made for a very clean job, no fluid on the garage floor & just an easy bleed out.

:cheers:
Tom

[bldavis11]

fwiw on the speed bleeders I use them and if you work alone they are a labor saver. True one man manual bleeding.

Now for the cons. You might have to buy the sealant. It's a bit of a PIA in that you apply it & then have to bake it at 140 or 160 in the oven for 15 min to cure it. Obviously you will not need it if you get your brakes right & do a one time bleeding session and you are finished. If you make mods in steps and bleed after each step, then you will need the sealant. I found after the 3rd or 4th bleed it will need a reapply to be 100%.

Pros: their stuff was so reasonably priced ( JMHO ) that I bought the bleeders, 4 bags & hoses, and a tube of sealant all at the same time. The shipping was lightening and everything worked as advertised. I felt their stuff made for a very clean job, no fluid on the garage floor & just an easy bleed out.

:cheers:
Tom
Tom,
Thanks for the info on the Speed Bleeders. I am a little confused though on the sealant part. I thought that you only needed to apply the sealant on the initial installation, after that you were good to go. Removing them after a bleed would be digging the hole you just filled in. I'm confused!

[gbmidyear66]

Tom,

I also appreciated your comments, but am dissapointed if you are (having just ordered a set) are telling me i cant crack the bleeder 1/2 a turn more than 3 times without it becoming a leaker?

Was that your experience?

Glenn

[mike100]

I was always skeptical, but I was able to successfully bleed a set of new calipers with a mity-vac siphon cup set-up that you get with the hand pump. never used it in 15 years, but it can work.

I didn't trust it so I had a friend come over anyways and work the master cylinder by foot just to be sure, but no air came out.

[tomtom72]

Sorry guys for not being more specific about the sealant, MY BAD!:o

This is just what I experienced. Remember my usage reports are skewed by the fact that I am homeless and rent garage space for my Z in a Co-Op apartment building. I have a cheek by jowl parking space complete with spectators, and there were rules against working on your car! That's why they call me "Capt. Midnite" :sign10:

I found that after the fourth bleed I was loosing the good seal from the sealant that came on the threads. They even say that in the instructions, if I remember right. Tiny bubbles that in bad light you would miss. I tried using my mity-vac but I could never get the OEM bleeders at just the right spot to not get leakage from the threads. That is the reason I bought the speed bleeders. The net is that yes if you are going to use the speedbleeders a lot you should buy the sealer and watch for the signs saying it's time to reapply.

IMHO, a perfect tool short of a pressure bleeder, would be to use OEM bleeders, add the sealant from S/Bleeder.com, and use a Phoenix Tool and do a reverse bleed. This applies only if you work alone which is my situation. The S/Bleeders seemed like the perfect answer for me. The only snag is that the sealant can't last forever. I just didn't think that far before buying. No regrets about the parts. I just didn't think it thru based upon my usage! :o

:cheers:
Tom

[batchman]

Wow, thanks for the heads-up on the sealer.

I get my brakes really really hot so I'd guess the sealer, and therefore the speed bleeders, will be a no-go for me. Too bad, was looking forward to a better way to do this.

I should add that I put Earl's lines on my SHO, ran 'em 10 years with only one issue and I'm not certain of the source. I don't recall them but there were little washers to seat the lines in this application. After 5 or 8 years the brake fluid ate these seats and I had weep leaks at all four corners. The fix was (I think) to use copper. I do not recall if these were integral to the line, part of the kit, or added at the time. YMMV, and I've had Earl's on the ZR-1 for 4 years or so now with no repeat, they went on before the SHO's went weepy on me. I don't recall if they'll have the same issue.

Thanks,
- Jeff

[tomtom72]

Okay, looks like we are having a great discussion & trading some useful ideas, man this is great!

Jeff, here is what I'm thinking about heat and the sealer. I would think that if you had to do a pad change & bleed hot in the pits the sealer may be too runny? My reasoning stems from the fact that you have to bake it to activate it. Once it's baked it does not wipe out of the threads easily at all after like four bleeding sessions....on cold brakes. What happens on cold bleeds to the sealer is that it wipes out of the threads and runs up the threads in a wad so the sealing effect is lost where you need the seal. It's still sticky to the touch and you just can't use a rag to wipe it off the bleeder.

Now all of this is on cold brakes. I've never did a bleed on brakes after driving the car on the street...even after a long drive. So I can't relate any observations as to the sealer's performance in a hot state.

:cheers:
Tom

[gbmidyear66]

OK, a potentially stupdid question.... Would teflon plumbers tape be a viable alternative to the paint and /bake-on thread sealer for the bleeders. Much easier to install if so......

[tomtom72]

OK, a potentially stupdid question.... Would teflon plumbers tape be a viable alternative to the paint and /bake-on thread sealer for the bleeders. Much easier to install if so......

Jeff,
I had thought about trying it, but never did. I had thought that I was missing something in my thought train while trying to find a reason that would make it ill suited for the task.

I was using as a comparison the steam air vents that I replace periodically. Some are 3/4" main vents and most are the local vents @ the convectors which measure 1/4" & 1/8". On the smaller threads it never seems to stay in the threads uniformly. It seems to climb the threads more on the smaller thread sizes. I know I'm not allowed to use it on liquid fuel lines ( #6 oil ) for my burner and it's not allowed on natural gas lines....building Dept. & FD codes. I guess I should have tried it on the bleeders anyway.:o

:cheers:
Tom