HEL SS brake lines

I have Galpher custom set on the Concours, Custom HELs on my ZRX, and Custom HELs on the KZ. All length, angles,, and colors/materials chosen by me. Worked very well as there is a fantastic guy on the ZRX forum who is a HEL dealer. I have previously done the Earls/Summit Racing/Russell lines with AN banjo fitting of various sizes and it was decent, worked, and looked good for the most part if you are happy with standard braided and clear. However, by the time you buy the lines and each fitting, it is about the same price as the custom HEL and Galpjer kits withe the optional colors you really want. Just my .02.....

Cory

Earl's hose ends are about $8-10 each. www.anplumbing.com/hose-ends/speed-seal-steel.html
Coated stainless braid PTFE hose is $3/foot.

You can make a four line set (three on front and one in back) for about $100.

Using heat shrink tubing can be used to dress up the appearance where the clear sheath was removed.

I like those lines from Earl.
Ive seen two lines with a double banjo or 3 with the splitter. which is best?

Nessism wrote:

On pre-fab lines like the HEL, can the end-fittings be rotated after manufacture to remove unfavorable twist in the brake line during installation on the bike?

Great site Ed. Now that I have my cooler worked out, I can spice it up and make it look HOT. :woohoo:
Steve

daveo wrote:

Nessism wrote:

On pre-fab lines like the HEL, can the end-fittings be rotated after manufacture to remove unfavorable twist in the brake line during installation on the bike?

Yes they can.

Cory

Just to clarify my previous post. When I have built my cars and bikes using the Earls/Russell/Summit hose method, I bought the pre crimped 3AN and 4 AN female lines so it was much simpler to assemble and easy to change orientation, etc... If you do the heat shrink route to change line color, I always make sure to get 3:1 shrinkage ratio tubing so it would slide over the female AN ends, but shrink enough for the line OD. Just remember to cut your heat shrink longer than you need because of the long length of the tubing, it actually shrinks slightly lengthwise as well. Last time I did this was for my Brembo conversion on the ole' Pontaic G6.

Cory

Earl's sells adjustable hose ends so you can play with the clocking after the hose end is fully tightened to the hose. I used to use one adjustable hose end for each line but more recently I've just gone to the non adjustable type since they are cheaper, you just need to be a little careful when tightening the ends as detailed below.

Before tightening up the nut on the hose end I count how many turns it takes to fully seat the nut and I make a mark on the parts so I know when I'm approaching fully tight. I build the lines being sure to leave each hose end about 3/4 turn from fully seated. Last step is to play with the hose end clocking to get it perfect for your application; just tighten the ends that little extra to get the clocking perfect. You don't need to go anywhere near fully tight to effect a properly sealed hose so no worry there.

A lot of times when purchasing pre made lines the lengths may be wrong or the clocking off for your particular handlebar size and/or your prefered line routing method. This is no worry when making your own lines. I keep one extra ferrule around just in case I mess up in some way. You can simply unscrew the hose end, snip off 1/2" of tube, and try again. The hose ends are reusable, just use a new ferrule.

My comment about using heat shrink tubing was in reference to covering up the removed piece of sheath near each hose end. I didn't bother on the lines shown in these photos but sort of wish I had.

The photo below shows the clocking of the hose ends compared to the stock line; take note that the angle of each hose end replicates that of the stock line. There is still a little room to tighten the hose ends to tweak for a perfect fit too.