Automotive Fittings - Getting Fit: Part II

Frequently it's necessary to install a T in a hydraulic brake system. To make sure our lines were adequately anchored, we used these OEM-style fittings that include a bracket.

To mount the T to the chassis, the tube frame was drilled and tapped. The T was then secured with a socket head screw.

This is a bulkhead fitting; in this case it's used to pass through the firewall. A solid steel line comes from the master cylinder and connects to the inverted flare seat on the front side.

On the backside of the bulkhead fitting, a flexible AN line will lead to the hydraulic slave cylinder that operates the clutch. The arrangement provides the flexibility needed between the engine/trans and the body/chassis.

While it's not exactly a plumbing issue, here's a tip that will keep an electric fuel pump from being unnecessarily noisy: Make sure only the rubber-lined mounting bracket is in contact with the frame; we had to use a couple of flat washers to keep the body of the pump from touching.

There is some debate as to which side of the fuel pump to put the filter. We have a simple solution to that problem. We use a big Fram fuel filter between the tank and the pump. This style filter also acts as a water separator. Note the shut-off valve; it makes it much easier to change filters.

In a maximum effort to keep crud out of our Stromberg 97s, we installed a second fuel filter between the fuel pump and carburetors.

For those who want the latest in braided brake lines with a vintage look, Pure Choice Motorsports offers these stainless hoses with black jackets. They also supplied the brake line tabs and clips.

Pure Choice supplied the adapter to allow the use of steel 3/16 inverted flare hard lines with -3 (3/16-inch) AN brake hoses. Note the groove in each for a brake line clip. The brass fittings are called trailer Ts (or branch Ts). They have two female 3/16-inch inverted flare ports and one male 3/16-inch inverted flare connection. The male port supplies the left front brake, one female port connects to the master cylinder, and the other to a line leading to the right front brake.

The brake line tabs used to hold the ends of the flex lines are often welded to the frame in the wrong place. After deciding where they should be, we attached ours with 10-32 button-head screws.

To attach the -3 AN brake line to the F-100 wheel cylinders, we used more adapters from Pure Choice. In this case, a crush washer between the adapter and the wheel cylinder provides sealing.