I hate to say this only because it would mean grinding a little on the pumpkin. What if you use a 3/16" brake line strap clip?  I would weld only one end of it to the pumpkin. That way you could slightly un fold it and push in tbe brake line. This is personal preference more than anything. Ive seen several  cars with the rear brake line like that

Snag # 1 Replace fitting with a right angle bulkhead connection fitting.
Qr
https://www.aeroflowperformance.com/brake/hose-fittings/s-s-19mm-female-inverted-flare-to-male-an/af270-03

Last edited by 50vert (1/17/2017 5:18 AM)

I'm willing to use the 69 brake hose if it solves the issue and avoids me having to relocate the bracket, but looking at pics of the 69 hose on line, it looks like the barrel above the groove for hose retaining clip is at least as tall as the barrel on the AN adapter I've currently got.  If anyone has a 69 brake hose laying around and would be willing to take a measurement, I'd appreciate it.  The adapter that 50 Vert posted does look a lot shorter than the one I've got now and might do the trick if the 69 hose won't solve the problem.

And yes, the car will have over the axle tail pipes.  I am trying to get everything roughed in right now where I think it should go, but am not going to weld anything permanently until the exhaust is in.

The other thought I had for the hold downs was run the hard line more towards the front of the pumpkin and try and mount some line clamps to the studs that the 3rd member is bolted to, but I'm not sure if there's enough thread sticking through to make that work- I'll check tonight when I get home.   Failing that, I guess I'll have to weld some factory style hold down tabs on it.

True74yamaha wrote:

Sorry forgot to mention i have an idea of an option for your brake line. I recently had some custom brake hoses made. Ill check and see what they measure for you.  They are a gates hose end.

 

Thanks!

I really doubt that anyone ever checks after they weld a bracket or hold down on an axle tube. And yes, near all of my work has been on factory tubes. The accepted way to fine tune the toe and camber on an axle assembly is to heat or weld to cause the tube to shrink when it cools. depending on the tube and it's orientation in the center section it reacts differently. Most tubes are made of seamed tubing and are not pressed in the center section the same every time. So that means you may be heating near or on the seam or not. So the tube reacts differently. Some times it takes very little heat over a small area to get the correction you want and other times you have to heat a bigger area. Based on that experience, I do not weld after getting the thing straight. I have a jig that measures out 5 feet from center line to get accurate measure. I measure with a dial indicator on a very rigid shaft that adjusts for the flange to flange dimension of the assembly. Since your thread is about brake hoses I should say that my cars have the brake line routed inside the car to the trunk and then have a tee in the trunk to two 90 degree bulk head fittings through the trunk floor near the wheels and have a nice hose from each to the caliper. The line inside the car has an adjustable proportioning valve next to the drivers seat reachable for adjustment as the fuel load decreases. If you are not concerned about that last half a mile an hour at the end of a half mile straight, you might be able to weld anything you want to your axle. I did have a friend though that had that wah-wah-wah thing with down the road noise once that we fixed only after repeated attempts at new tires and insulation and such by checking and straightening his axle. It was only out 3/8 of a degree, but that was enough to get him to spend a couple thousand on other potential fixes until I did an alignment with my strings and tape measure and discovered the issue.

Having two hoses is also an option like DC stated. The 2005 and newer cars were that way.  Totally eliminated any plumbing on the axle. The caliper hoses went up to the frame.

MS wrote:

Having two hoses is also an option like DC stated. The 2005 and newer cars were that way.  Totally eliminated any plumbing on the axle. The caliper hoses went up to the frame.

 

That's an interesting idea that DC and you have.  I'd have to take a look at it and see if there is a clean way to make that work. 

My other option (if I don't want to risk welding on the axle tubes)  is to get a new housing with the vent tube in the correct location and  all the tabs already welded on, swap my center section and axles into the new housing and sell the housing I have now.   I'd probably lose a few hundred bucks in the deal, but I'd prefer to have everything done correctly so I have no issues down the line.

Question.  Since were on the subject of brakes. I was curious if anyone has tried routing their brake line similar to how gm route their full size vehicles? For those that arent familluar with how they run their lines. Ill explain. They run the two lines from the master down to a distribution block. Then they run seperate lines to rear wheels. They have a seperate inline rear mounted proportioning valve. Or it has been known that they have the proportioning valve threaded straight into the master. Then the rear line threads into the valve. Is there any advantages to setting up the brakes this way?

MS wrote:

My sage advice on this would be to use the stock replacement 69 hose instead of doing anything custom. A $25 part that will be simple to replace with an identical one if ever needed is the way to go. Custom parts that cannot be purchased off the shelf should be avoided on anything that can wear out or get damaged on a road trip.  This has always been my rule whenever possible when doing modifications. Anything that can wear out should be an unmodified Ford part.
If worse comes to worse, bend the bracket and line down a bit, install the hose and bend it back in place. You guys are trying to overcomplicate this and ensure a replacement part will have to be custom fabricated again at some time in the future.

I agree with the above 100%.  I am trying to use off the shelf parts wherever possible, which is why I decided to use the MS Brake brackets.  I love the idea of being above to run down to the local parts store for replacement parts. 

I did pick up a '69 hose yesterday and, even with bending the bracket, it still doesn't work.  But, I think I have come up with solutions to my three problems. 

Snag # 1

I ordered one of the bulkhead connectors that I linked to above and will try that.  I also ordered a "shorter" AN-to-inverted flare adapter.  I could not find the one that 50 Vert linked to anywhere in the U.S., but did find this one that is designed for Hondas. 
 
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ear-989537erl

One of these should work.

Snag # 2

To avoid welding on the axle tubes, I've ordered a couple of these band clamps. 
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-693300-1

I will drill a hole through one, install a bolt through the hole, weld the bolt to the clamp, attach the clamp to the axle tube and then mount the distribution block to the bolt.  I will weld a brake line mounting tab to another band clamp and install that one on the passenger side axle tube for the caliper hose. 

The nice thing about having things mounted to the band clamps will be the ability to move them left or right to ensure maximum clearance around exhaust, etc. 

Snag # 3

I was able to use the studs for the center section to attach some line clamps, so I made up another rear hardline yesterday, which should work well.  I'll see if I can post some pics in a bit.

Trying this a different way:

It will have over the axle tail pipes, but since I am at least 6 months away from installing the engine and exhaust (the engine is still a bare block down at the machine shop), I want to get the brakes fully installed now, get all of the lines bled and make sure there are no leaks.  It will be much much easier to fix an issue now than with the engine in.  If I need to move things on the axle once the exhaust is in, that should be as simple as bending a new hard line for the axle and bleeding the back brakes again. 

But your point is a good one.  Do you think it's possible to hang the exhaust and tail pipes, at least enough to check brake line clearance, without installing the engine?  Hmmm... now I'm wondering.

Those are pretty cool for a retrofit if you forgot the tabs.