Time has come to replace the steel pipes on the car given the fact I've had advisories the last two MOT's for the amount of corrosion they've got. They're in a fairly shocking state.

A couple of questions:

a) Are the union fittings of a standard type? I want to avoid getting the pipes from Fiat with the fittings attached to keep it affordable.

b) Are the pipes a standard diameter; for example if I buy a roll of copper pipe from my local autofactors will it fit in the standard mounting clips?

c) Are there any issues repairing the system with copper pipes when it was originally steel?

d) If I leave any of the steel pipes in place but need to shorten them, will a normal (designed for copper?) flaring tool work on the steel pipes?

e) If you've done the job before, what are the pitfalls.

This job is the cars first close shave with the scrapyard......to get a garage to do it would write it off. The following pipes need done:

1 x master cylinder to passenger footwell join.
2 x Passenger footwell to rear compensator.
2 x Rear compensator to rear wheels
1 x Rear swingarm

Plastic coated steel pipes....why?

a) yes, 11m male if i remember correctly, although any motorfactor will have this info in their book

b) yes, the motorfactor will supply the correct width, although i think i've only ever seen one diameter in my life and that includes cars from micras to mercs.

c) no problem using copper.

d) flaring steel pipe is difficult with a hand tool. why on earth would you leave any of the old pipe? and if you did why would you shortern it? just replace it all. it costs very little.

e) muhaha, the really fun part is when you lay a long pipe, get it in place, connect it up, and then realise you've kinked it. when you try to unkink it a small hole appears at each side and you have to start all over again.

plastic coated steel pipes are a great idea, they last much longer, often as long as the car if the plastic coating remains undamaged. they are just as easy to remove as any other pipe so its not a problem, just chop it up as you need to when removing, but make a careful note of where the pipe goes so the new one is in exactly the same position.

its not a bad idea to grease the copper pipes up before fitting, at least rub a bit of oil onto them. i usually use copper grease because i like to add copper to copper, i dont know why i just do

"why on earth would you leave any of the old pipe?"

Some of the hard to access pipe at the back of the engine bay is in good order. Leaving it would make the job much easier.

I'm surprised you say plastic coated pipe is good unless the outer coating get damaged (although of course I understand your logic). Thing is, it's all rusted, everywhere.......maybe the coating was duff in the first place? I might post up some photos, it's a miracle I haven't been by catastrophic brace failure!

Cheers for the answer Jug.

I wonder for those of us who's pipes are okay (for the time being), is there a special paint, or sealant we can use to prevent this from happenning?

I'm guessing Hammerite or any good thick paint. It may not look pretty, but might help with this kind of issue...?

circolo said:

I wonder for those of us who's pipes are okay (for the time being), is there a special paint, or sealant we can use to prevent this from happenning?

Click to expand...

a layer of grease is good because it is flexible, and once it gets a nice coating of dust on it the grease will protect against anything including salt in winter. only problem is when you go for an mot they tend to rub it off to inspect the pipe (usually followed by "ooh they're in good nick")