[ajsr]

hey guys
I want to make some funky power steering lines in my new thing.
Is there any good reason that I cannot make them from silversoldered 13mm copper pipe for both lines with just the ends in high pressure rubber??

copper should hold the pressure ok should it not? copper will let me tight nice 90 deg bends using formed 90's etc

idea's

[Rusho]

I'm no expert but I would assume the joints in the copper along with the solder might be to weak. What about steel line if room is an issue you are worried about?

[ajsr]

yeah I thought about that rusho.
the reason I thought copper was its easy to get good tight bends anywhere and cheaply and a monkey could silver solder it togther its that easy

[Rusho]

Not something I would like to chance. Will be interesting to hear other people's thouhts

[steak_knife]

I wouldn't like to be high pressure sprayed with hot ATF.....

Steel's an awesome idea....

[turbo_deo]

What sort of pressures does a ps system run? Refrigeration copper tube and fittings are good for over 300psi

[ajsr]

any one know what sort of psi the pressure line runs?

I suppose the return could easily be copper if its not rated high enough pressure wise

[steak_knife]

turbo_deo wrote:

What sort of pressures does a ps system run? Refrigeration copper tube and fittings are good for over 300psi

Oil's like to eat thing's, add to that heat & pressure.

ADR's say steel, they don't make rule's out of bordem....

As for psi, I can't remember.

[Rusho]

Quick google search suggests some systems reach over 1000psi

[ajsr]

steak_knife wrote:

turbo_deo wrote:

What sort of pressures does a ps system run? Refrigeration copper tube and fittings are good for over 300psi

Oil's like to eat thing's, add to that heat & pressure.

ADR's say steel, they don't make rule's out of bordem....

As for psi, I can't remember.

fucking party pooper, you just had to pull out the adr's

[steak_knife]

Yep.....

One of the guy's I used to work with had a job testing said adr's, I abused fuck out of him for his lil bit of making my life harder...

[ajsr]

I can get some nice stainless 13mm line ( like pressure washer wand)
but I dont know what it will bend like , and then I will need steel fittings to weld on the ends.

[mrw82]

what you want is bundytube. Its fairly cheap and can get it from enzed/pirtek stores.
They also have the high pressure hose tails you need for the flexible lines.

[zooky08]

I have and had copper powersteering lines on my car
I'm unsure if it's the return line or the high pressure line though.

[ajsr]

mrw82 wrote:

what you want is bundytube. Its fairly cheap and can get it from enzed/pirtek stores.
They also have the high pressure hose tails you need for the flexible lines.

thanks mate

[rick1970]

Generally speeking, most automotive PS systems run around the 800-1200 psi mark for the pressure side. Use steel hard lines if required. If using 1/2" bundy, check the working pressure as most systems use 3/8" or 10mm bundy and as the tube dia increases, the maximum working pressure decreases. Proper 1/2" hydraulic tube would be ok but mite give a tube bender designed for copper a hard time, ditto with stainless tube. Silver soldered ends (done properly) is ok for both steel and stainless.

Could just run hose all the way as well.

[ajsr]

rick1970 wrote:

Generally speeking, most automotive PS systems run around the 800-1200 psi mark for the pressure side. Use steel hard lines if required. If using 1/2" bundy, check the working pressure as most systems use 3/8" or 10mm bundy and as the tube dia increases, the maximum working pressure decreases. Proper 1/2" hydraulic tube would be ok but mite give a tube bender designed for copper a hard time, ditto with stainless tube. Silver soldered ends (done properly) is ok for both steel and stainless.

Could just run hose all the way as well.

thanks rick
yep I thought about hydraulic line all the way as I use a lot of the make it youself swageless stuff at work, but where and how I want to run the lines would make it pretty hard to do in flexable hose unfortunately

[remydog05]

Been reading and searching about PS Lines.

Anyone tell me where is a good place to get the lines made up?
What sort of price is normal, etc

[Gwagensteve]

Pirtek/enzed are fine, but they will want to use your own fittings. Japanese cars are plumbed with SAE fittings and they are rare/STAGGERINGLY expensive. (how about $60 for one 8mm elbow?)

They will braze on whatever you want/need, but will want the Suzuki stuff off the box/pump.

[rick1970]

Any place that dose hydraulic hoses should be able to sort you out. Due to the huge range of weird and wonderful end fitted to automotive PS hoses, we normally end up cutting old ends off and silver soldering to either a std hydraulic nipple or straight to a hose end. An average sortta hose usually works out around the $80 mark, but depends on length and what you end up using to acheive the desired result.

Other option is a somewhat limited range of inv flare/banjo to AN/JIC fittings are available. Use these and make up std JIC end hydraulic hoses and/or tubes to join pump to the box. In most instances this would be the more expensive option.

Other way to look at the cost, is that its not unusual for some OEM replacement PS pressure line assemblies to top the $500 mark, so either of the above options can become rather cheap in comparison.

[ajsr]

as above
thats how I ended up doing mine
brazed the hyd nipple to the stock fitting and made the hose myself from single braid hyd line