I've finished tearing out the rusted-out brake lines on my "71 142E (Girling calipers on all four corners) and am about to order replacement stuff The lines are, of course 3/16"OD, but the flare nuts, due to their corroded state, are leaving me with some doubts

The males have 7/16" or 11mm hexes on them, and the threads appear to be 24 UNF. The females because of the rust and vice-grip damage are more difficult to measure, but the hexes appear to be 12mm, with the same 24 UNF thread. The barrels seem to mike to about 3/8". Does that sound right?

I plan to get what I need from http://www.fedhillusa.com/, but I'm having difficulties picking the correct flare nuts from the selection they offer. Any help in that regard will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob S.

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‘62 PV544 (B20, M41), '71 142E, '93 240 Classic Wagon.

140/164 are SAE flares. 240 are metric.

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Three 164's, Two 144's, One 142 & a partridge in a pear tree.

3/16"? Sounds like 240 brake lines and hardware may fit. The 240 lines are copper-nickle(?) and don't rust.

I pull my hardware and lines from scrap 240s. Bubble flare kits are available on-line in the US for around $20.
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb but electronic ignition and M46 trans in Brampton, Ont.

Trev,

You may well be right about the 240s, and in summer, or in Southern California, that would be a good option. But this is Maine and it is January and, like Ontario, this is neither the place, nor the time of year, to be lying under a frozen wreck in a junkyard to prove it. My garage floor is cold enough as it is. ;-)

Thanks for the response though.

Bob S.

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‘62 PV544 (B20, M41), '71 142E, '93 240 Classic Wagon.

They are 3/8"-24UNF threads. Have you checked your local parts houses?
A couple years ago I bought a line with 2 male nuts on it about 2" longer than what
I needed (and I needed a female nut on one end) so I took a used nut with me and my
buddy at B&C Automotive cut it and put the nut and proper flare on it for me.

George,

Pardon my ignorance about nuts and bolt sizes; I'm one of those rummage-through-a- boxful-of-assorted-till-you-find-one-that-fits kind of guys. When you say 3/8", you are referring to the diameter of the threaded part, right? And the hex size doesn't really matter unless I want to avoid having spend a lot of time switching wrenches.

Thanks for the reply.

Bob S.

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‘62 PV544 (B20, M41), '71 142E, '93 240 Classic Wagon.

A 3/8" BOLT is made from 3/8" rod so if you mike the threaded portion it may be a few thou
short of the actual size, like 0.371" or so.
Those who call bolts by their head size are setting themselves up for confusion and also
obviously never made any bolts.
For example the fine thread bolts that hold your driveshaft together usually have
smaller than normal heads.
BTW do yourself a favor and separate your metric bolts from the inch-size (unified) ones.
LOTS of confusion there, especially between the 5/16" and M12 sizes.

First: I'm not sure about a 140. I've got a 1965 122 which *looked* like stock parts (I've changed a lot of brake parts lately...but that's a whole different story of bizarre modification and weird bracketry).

On the 122, all of the fittings I removed were standard 3/16 line with 3/8-24 line nuts (that is, the "normal" line nuts you get when you buy American brake lines with nuts on them for any random American vehicle).

I own several vehicles, and this is what I do:

I buy that same, standard 3/16" line with the 3/8-24 line nuts. A roll of line and a box of fittings and a flaring tool will last all my cars, about forever.

When possible, I then buy my rubber brake lines to directly accept the 3/8-24 fittings. On the 122 and most American vehicles, this is easy. Some other vehicles are a bit trickier but since Girling, Lockheed, and ATE make a lot of the brake stuff for US and Euro vehicles, it's mainly the Asian stuff that's tricky.

When I can't get the parts to make this all fit together easily (usually only at the Master Cylinder end, and then usually because it's Japanese bubble flare or something), I go to NAPA or a similar parts place and buy, for about $2.50 each, the fitting adapters that screw into the master cylinder/caliper/wheel cylinder/other and adapt it to the 3/16" line with 3/8"-24 fittings.

And then I never have to worry about it again. Even if I blow a brake line in Houlton, Dixmont (or was it Dixfield?) or Castine, the local shop will have the parts I need and not have to worry about a strange adapter or fitting or having to cut/flare a special line for my weird brake setups.

Ben

...in my previous ramble, it should say I have trouble because it's "Japanese OR bubble flare or something". Japanese is usually a sneaky metric thread with an inverted flare that can look suspiciously like an American inverted flare. Euro cars like the bubble flare lines. Which are actually easier to make, if you have the right tool (only one step instead of two like an inverted flare...or you can buy a nice hydraulic forming tool and make what you want in one step...but now I'm really rambling).

Don't worry about the ramble. I'm happy to get the input.

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‘62 PV544 (B20, M41), '71 142E, '93 240 Classic Wagon.