63 and mid year main brake line install

[Joe T.]

Help. while rebuilding rear suspension on my 63 swc(300hp, 4spd, A/C) we bled the brake lines and the main brake line blew, thank God did not happen while driving. I have spoken to knowledgeable people who say the car has to come off frame to do right. Does anyone have a suggestion or trick to thread a new main break line on a mid year short of off the frame, uggh! Thank you, JOe Tassoni

[Alan D.]

Re: 63 and mid year main brake line install

This problem was recently discussed for a 64 here. General opinion was that the line could be feed from rear with rocker panel off thus giving the line room to move around and more in that discussion.

[Richard P.]

Re: 63 and mid year main brake line install

I bought my '63 coupe in 1969. I didn't realize it at the time but the front to rear main brake line had already been replaced. They ran the line on the inner side(not the inside) of the frame rail very close to the body. I have had no trouble in the past 44 years. Its a bandaid fix and isn't correct but it can be done and it does work.

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 and mid year main brake line install

Joe, I did the main line on my friends 63 and he did some research on the install and we could not get the line in as described in the posts. the front 2/3 of the line was no problem, but the rear 1/3 was not, after trying for hours we decided to make it in two pieces. Another issue is once you start bending the line to Install your losing the most important part of the pre-bent lines, the easy install and starting of the fittings, The rear section is the most important area as there is limited space to start the fitting. Good luck and if you do have luck take a few pic.s and post as this this has been here many times before.

[Neil L.]

Re: 63 and mid year main brake line install

I replaced the front to rear brake line on my 64 in a little less than 3 hours with the body bolted to the frame. This included replacing the clips on top of the frame. I removed the drivers side rocker panel and rear tire. I fed the brake line into the wheel well going between the inside frame rail and the body. I then worked the line into place reaching under the car and going through the space provided by the removed rocker panel. The only tricky part was aligning the line around the frame kick-up. Bending was very minimal.

[Joe T.]

Re: 63 and mid year main brake line install

this is exactly what my mechanic did, it took 4 hours and was a relief that the body did not have to off to do the job. thank you to all. Joe