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1970 Coupe DeVille Preventive Maintenance Replacing Transmission Cooling lines

Started by Bill Balkie 24172, December 29, 2021, 12:22:52 PM

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Bill Balkie 24172

Hello ,
    I am planning to replace my 50 year old Transmission coolant lines over the winter .  It sounds like a lot of bending with a tube bender to try to fabricate these lines .  Inline tube sells both steel 60.00 and Stainless steel 80.00  already prebent .  Has anybody else replaced there Trans  coolant lines using  Inline Tube products ? . And if so how good was the fit campared to the Original lines /

   Thank you Very Much,
            Bill

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202537033125?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D2359
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

Big Fins

I replaced them on my '59 about 10 or so years ago. I bought them from In-Line tube and the fit was perfect.

But, I will question the need for the replacement. The OEM lines were still in excellent condition when I removed them. Unless they are kinked or the connection fittings have been rounded out, I would leave them. Just an opinion.
Current:
1976 Eldorado Convertible in Crystal Blue FireMist with white interior and top. (Misty Blue)
1969 Fleetwood Brougham in Chalice Gold FireMist with matching interior and top. (The Old Man) SOLD!

Past and much missed:
1977 Brougham de Elegance
1976 Eldorado Convertible
1972 Fleetwood Brougham
1971 Sedan de Ville
1970 de Ville Convertible
1969 Sedan de Ville
1959 Sedan deVille

Bill Balkie 24172

Hello John ,
    Thank you for your Opinion . They are not leaking and from looking from the engine compartment down they show a little surface rust . When i rub my fingers along the bottom i can not tell if its corrision or dirt and i just assume its corrosion .  These lines run next to the exhaust manafold then disappear underneath the engine . I have not inspected the lines as they enter the Tranmission . Maybe i'll take another look at them from underneath the car . Looks like i would have to drain the radiater and remove the lower coolant hose to get to the bottom fitting . I am also wondering will i loose all the Transmission fluid when i disconnect the lines at the tranmission ?

   Thanks again for your response ,
      Bill
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

hornetball

I've used Inline Tube for the Eldo and a '64 'Vette.  No issues and would buy again.

As for stainless, you REALLY have to tighten the fittings to get a seal.  Personally, I'll be sticking with mild steel going forward.

Bill Balkie 24172

Hello R. Price ,
       Thank you for opinion . And the stainless verses Mild steel in a good tip . I f I can get another 50 years out mild steel why go to stainless .  I would rather have a easier installation .  50 years is a long time .

  Bill
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

76eldo

 Bill

I seriously doubt that the trans lines on your car are in need of replacement.
But if you really want to do it I'd go with inline.
Their products are excellent.

If you are really bored come over in a few weeks and help me pull the engine out of my 66 Toronado.
8)

Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Cape Cod Fleetwood

In Line makes great products.
And you're looking for trouble by fixing things that aren't broken.
Ask me how I know....
There are 2 kinds of cars in the world, Cadillac and everything else....

The Present -1970 Fleetwood Brougham

The Past -
1996 Deville Concours
1987 Sedan De Ville "Commonwealth Edition"
1981 Coupe De Ville (8-6-4)
1976 Sedan De Ville
1975 Sedan De Ville

The Daily Driver and work slave -
2008 GMC Acadia SLT *options/all

79 Eldorado

Bill,
I've used inline tube for 2 vehicles. Their product is nice. I've only purchased stainless but that said one caution regarding stainless is it is sometime more difficult achieve leak free connections. For brake lines it becomes more obvious but I had one case where a leak was extremely hard to find. It acted a lot like there was air in the line but there were no visible leaks so maybe it was pulling air in but not leaking out. If you back the nuts off and tighten again, repeat several times, it works the mating surfaces and the joint will normally seal.

If your original lines can be removed without altering the form I would also consider using CuNi and even bending yourself if you can. CuNi is amazingly easy to bend, it's easy to flare, and seals every time with no issues. If you have an additional cooler there's no way they can predict what everyone did and if you need to cut and modify you may have a big issue flaring stainless.

You may need to massage the lines a bit to make certain the fitting is perfectly aligned with the connection point. If the line is long you probably don't need to do this but sometimes it helps to start both ends before you tighten either especially on line as hard as stainless. Id one end is more difficult you may want to start at that end.

Good luck,
Scott

Bill Balkie 24172

Thank you Scott ,
   Looks like i will go with mild steel.  Should be good enough for my lifetime .  Thanks for your input .

    Bill
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

Bill Balkie 24172

Quote from: Cape Cod Fleetwood on December 30, 2021, 12:18:28 AM
In Line makes great products.
And you're looking for trouble by fixing things that aren't broken.
Ask me how I know....
Thanks Laurie , I hope yopu have a great New Year .
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

Bill Balkie 24172

Hello Brian,
    Thank you for your Response . I am thinking 50/50  on the Translines . And as far as being busy I will be moving to Florida in April and have all kinds of thing i have to do . Not to mention i am still working full time .  I might find a couple of days in February or March to do this job i just want to be prepared .

   Bill
Bill Balkie
1970 Coupe DeVille
2009 CTS

fishnjim

Stainless work hardens, so unless it's post stress relieved/aka;annealed, it'll be hard to seal and bend.    Carbon steel does too to a lesser extent in such tight configurations, like a double flare.   They used to supply "dead soft" steel for this.   
The compression type tube fittings are much better at sealing than the factory flared joints but have to be spec'ed right for automotive use.
I made new trans lines for the '58, only because it's "impossible" to disconnect the factory ones without bending to remove the engine/trans.  They were obviously put on before body assembly.  There wasn't any premades.   
Proper tools for the job: These "cheap" benders and flare tools on the market are worthless, in my opinion.  Been discussed before.  There's different radii in some of these older bends.   A CNC type bender can do it, but not within the DIY budgets.   They have to sell a bunch and charge adequately to recoup their set up costs.
One can't see the tube inside from the outside, so could be quite rusty in some areas.  Flaked off rust and mositure is not something one wants floating around in a transmission.   As for that, the brake lines are also vulnerable and a little more important than the trans cooler, if you don't use it much.

79 Eldorado

Building on what Jim mentioned regarding corrosion many times the worst areas are anywhere the factory secured a line with a clamp. The transmission lines are normally not as bad because they don't travel all the way to the back, and normally only clamped around the engine area, but if you are inspecting all of the lines pay careful attention to the clamped locations.

I wonder if Inline offers CuNi if someone were to ask. I hate any chance of needing to do a job a second time. When Inline offers plain steel are they coated plain steel or truly plain steel?

Scott

76eldo

Sorry Bill,

I thought you were retired.  I was being sarcastic since we know each other.

Good luck,

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

hornetball

Quote from: 79 Eldorado on December 30, 2021, 03:49:09 PMWhen Inline offers plain steel are they coated plain steel or truly plain steel?

The fuel line I bought from them for my '74 Eldo was plain steel (not coated in any way) and matched what Cadillac used back in the day.  I bought the line that went from the fuel pump to the Quadrajet.  Someone had done the time-honored "hack the fuel line to remove the carb" mod sometime in the past.

79 Eldorado

Quote from: hornetball on December 31, 2021, 10:10:18 AM
The fuel line I bought from them for my '74 Eldo was plain steel (not coated in any way) and matched what Cadillac used back in the day.  I bought the line that went from the fuel pump to the Quadrajet.  Someone had done the time-honored "hack the fuel line to remove the carb" mod sometime in the past.
Good to know. That pump to carb fuel line is probably a lot less likely to corrode than things like brake and fuel lines coming from the back but I guess plain means plain.

I hate seeing hack shortcuts but especially for jobs which weren't particularly difficult or time consuming. That's part of the appeal to finding cars which look unmolested.

Scott

Big Fins

Before I made my own 1" wrench for these, I would simply move the compressor out of the way. It took all of 10 minutes to loosen the belt(s) and unbolt it to move it forward an inch or so.
Current:
1976 Eldorado Convertible in Crystal Blue FireMist with white interior and top. (Misty Blue)
1969 Fleetwood Brougham in Chalice Gold FireMist with matching interior and top. (The Old Man) SOLD!

Past and much missed:
1977 Brougham de Elegance
1976 Eldorado Convertible
1972 Fleetwood Brougham
1971 Sedan de Ville
1970 de Ville Convertible
1969 Sedan de Ville
1959 Sedan deVille