crushed oil line.....need help

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally posted by Jim Smolka
Your repair looks interesting.
IMHO, copper may have not been the best material to use as it gets brittle with heat. If you still have your orginal lines, you can graft on a piece of pipe from an old engine line pipe or T-Stat to Oil Tank pipe (I have a free one of these if needed).

Copper isn't the best choice as it work-hardens and becomes brittle relatively easily. Brass would be the better choice, that is what the factory used. I would have spliced in brass patches only for the crushed section, making the splices as small as possible.

I suspect it will work for a short-term patch though.

[dwil]

My oil cooler had a coulple of crushed
places in the straight portions of the line
so I bought some brass tubing that
had an id slightly larger than the od
of the old line, sectioned it in with a
1/2" overlap on each joint. Used silver
solder like the hvac guys use with
a piece of asbestos between the
car body and line to avoid any damage.
just made sure to not allow any
contaminants to enter lines when
cleaning then cutting the brass.
This place has the brass tube:http://www.specialshapes.com
regards,
Dave

[Emission]

Originally posted by Jim Smolka
"...copper may have not been the best material to use as it gets brittle with heat."

Worst case, the pipe won't see much above 250 F.

Is this hot enough to cause concern?

[bell]

i understand the concerns, i think the pipe and solder will hold fine with the temps, but body flex/vibration will probably cause some leaks/cracks in the joints over time.......how much time? i have no idea.
i don't have plans of driving far with this on, just a temporary fix until i find a used line to replace it with......

i'm curious myself to see how long this could last........i don't however want to find out

[palle7688]

Quote:
"PS......i still need to find a used line.....this is ONLY TEMPORARY so i can make sure everything is in order for the hershey trip......i plan on having an oem line on by then"

"i'm curious myself to see how long this could last........i don't however want to find out"

I know you know: when your "new" line give up it's going to be expensive.
I would have taken the patched path.
I know a guy who installed a piece of rubber hose between 2 sectioned oil tubes. Luckily for his engine he spun of the track, in his own oil, when it gave up.

[itsall911]

dwil, can you remember id/od of your line. I need to do this to my oil line. Simon.

[azasadny]

Bell,
I hope all goes well, I kinow you're looking forward to Hershey. Good luck!

[bell]

problem is solved.......a bbs member is shipping me a used line this week for a fair price
i'm gonna have the copper patches brazed (stronger than solder) and hang it on the wall for a future emergency

i run my 3.2 pretty hard .........like it's supposed too be........hate to have this ruin my day.

thanks guys

[dwil]

Simon,
Sorry that I don't remember the id of
the line. I just measured the od of the
line on the car w/ a caliper and ordered
the id line that fit over that od. It was a
fairly loose fit but the silver solder filled
it nicely with no leaks. The replacement
section was cut 2" longer than the bent
section that was cut out so it wouls
overlap 1"n each end. Good luck,
Dave

[chrisp]

I had the same problem. I took my lines off (both were crushed almost to halfway closed) and clamped them in a vice to reshape them . It required several rotations of the oil line but I eventually got them to about 90% round.

I was contemplating the same patches and fixes described here. A few engineer types suggested high pressure water to reshape it from the inside out.

A plumbing and hydrualic fitting buddy recommended the vice. Since it was brass it was easily reshaped.

[bell]

the line i removed was very flat.......if it wasn't as bad it could've been saved.