Crushed/Dented Oil Lines... Fix?

[Fishcop]

I'm collecting the various bits and pieces I need to set up a front oil cooler and have found a pair of brass lines to suit my car. Problem is they have some fairly serious dents/crush points. Can this sort of damge be corrected in some way?

Cheers

[Dantilla]

The parts car I used for my engine transplant had bent cooler lines. With oil being the life-blood of our air-cooled engines, I decided it wasn't worth taking a chance, and bought Chuck Moorland's finned lines and wide mouth cooler.

Straitening out a kink is going to create a weak spot. It was hard to throw away a set of oil cooler lines, but I did.

[masraum]

I think some people have fixed oil cooler lines, and it is tempting considering how expensive they are, but I think your best bets are to 1 live with it while saving up for new or 2 get new now.

Repairs may work, or they may last a week and give out when you are at 5 grand in third in the middle of a corner.

[Fishcop]

Hmmm. My next thought was to use them as a template to fabricate new lines. Has any one sat down with some copper pipe, a bender and brazing rods?

[Dennis Kalma]

I have heard (but not done) the repair where you take ball bearings of size similar to the ID of the tube, drill a hole in them, fit a wire through it and pull the ball bearing through the damage area, if needs be with progressive sizing to gradually open up the pipe. Applying a degree of heat to the affected area is probably a good idea.

My dad used to use this techique for repairing dents in aluminium irrigation pipes, so it does work, but I haven't done it for our brass lines.

It sounded pretty reasonable when I was told about it, given that the damaged area is not too long or crinkled, and with progressively sized balls you could get pretty close to original size and dimensions.

[Jim Richards]

John, we have a procedure in NoVA that is non-surgical and the patient always lives. Refering to the pic, one end of the line is closed with a rubber stopper, a bent strip of metal strap and a hose clamp to hold everything together. BTW, this end actually acts as a relief valve to prevent over-pressurization. The other end of the pipe to be un-kinked has a custom fitting attached to it that is made up so that it allows the oil line to be pressurized from your air compressor. After pressurizing the line, use a torch to heat the kinked area of the line until it turns red, at which time the kink will also begin to disappear. I'm missing a couple of the details but if you PM fellow Pelican member APkhaos, he'll be able to fill you in.

[Fishcop]

Jim, that is border-line genious

Thank you too Dennis. I think between those two ideas I should be able to salvage them. I'll send an email to APkhaos too.

Cheers

[Jim Richards]

Tony (Apkhaos) is the inventor, if I recall correctly. He can fill you in on the details, and he speaks your language (Oz).

[Scott Clarke]

I'm in the same boat as John. Will a propane torch work?
-Scott

[Fishcop]

Just emailed Tony (APKhaos) and he said that propane will not work, it must be MAPP.

[Joe Bob]

I did the pressure thing....worked.

I bought a set of Elephant lines for extra cooling...donated the old lines to Dan...the Stay Puff ride....

[Fishcop]

I really like the idea of the Elephant lines, but the ones I've got are "here" so I thought I'd have a go.

Mike what did you do to get the pressure up? Same sort of thiing or did you go a different route?

[Joe Bob]

I had an old oil line fitting ....capped....put a air line fitting on it....pumped it to 80 psi......heated it up and tapped with a hammer....wasn't pretty.

But it was better than the flat POS the PO left me with.

[obrut]

John,

My mechanic has also fixed some decent dents using the plug/pressure/heat trick on another customer's car. Give him a call - I'm sure he'd be happy to explain how it all worked.