VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Warning about old copper oil lines breaking

Take heed, folks. I received the following information today from Ron Beam in San Jose.

Dean

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If I may offer another tip, please replace your copper tubing when assembling the motor.

Last week I went to the All-Cal in San Luis Obispo. On the way home, I was in the middle of a group of old cars when the lead car pulled over for a cowboy potty break. Gerry, the guy following me came up to my car and told me I was dropping oil. We had just come over some hills so I asked if he meant coolant and he said no! it was oil. My car was idling so I looked down at the oil pressure gauge which was reading zero.

I quickly turned off the engine and lifted the hood. The return line from the oil filter to the engine block had broken off at the block and all my oil had all pumped out onto the road. The dipstick was dry.

We managed to cobble the line back together on the side of the road. Among the 5 or so other cars I was traveling with, we came up with 3 quarts of oil. Fortunately we caught this in time so no damage was done.

Later analysis revealed the copper line was old and work-hardened to the point it became brittle and broke. Copper has a tendency to do that. I'm currently in the process of replacing all my copper lines with Copper-Nickel alloy which looks like copper, is DOT approved for brake lines, and doesn't suffer from work-hardening. I don't wish to repeat that type of breakdown.

Regards,
Ron
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Interesting timing on this since a copper oil line on my 24 broke I was considering the alternatives. Is the copper/nickel tubing readily available? How would it do for fuel line forward of the pump on later cars?

Thanks

Dave

Oil filters should have flexible rubber type lines. And those should be replaced every 30 years to be safe.
In 1952 Chevrolet used steel lines on the factory installed oil filters and later put out a bulletton to replace the steel with the flexible rubber type as the steel lines were breaking.
If steel lines are used there should be a loose coiled area to to prevent tension.
Copper lines should never be used for any line other than the rocker arm oil line.

With all due respect Chevgene, this thread is talking about the four-cylinder vehicles, not the sixes.

I believe most used rigid oil tubing and none had rocker arm oil lines.

Thanks, Dean

McMaster Carr has a wide variety of tubing, one is labeled nickel but I don't think it is the same. When you put in gasoline as the liquid you are moving, brass tubing is one of the alternatives that comes up.

Yes, I discovered that after I made my post.

Brass tubing was used for gasoline lines up until 1929-30. It was replaced in production by plated steel because of cracking and breaking. Most of the older Chevys will be found with copper replacing the brass. I suspect that is because it was much easier to bend and readily available not because it was the best replacement.

Thanks for the info on brass. I have been using plated steel from NAPA for fuel but I am having a hard time making a 360, tight loop without it looking lumpy (1931 Buick between the fuel pump and carb).

Would the loops in copper prevent work hardening and breakage on the 24?

A loop in a copper line could either reduce or increase the chance of work hardening. The more the line moves the greater the work hardening. If it spreads the stress over a larger area hardening will be reduced. Conversely without some vibration relief the stress will be concentrated at the fittings so that is where it will break.

While on a long trip many years ago, I noticed no oil pressure on my '25 K gauge. On investigation, I found a broken oil line from the pump. I cobbled in a joiner and we got going again. When home, I ended up replacing the copper lines with black air-brake pvc line and painted the fittings black. Now, one wouldn't notice because the fittings and pipes look factory but will never fail in the same way again. On a '25, there is likely to be a problem because of vibration and distance between the generator/oil pump and the block. This is possibly worse because we use higher revs (more speed) than intended in these old cars.

Al

Thanks on another good idea.

[quote=Dave39MD]Interesting timing on this since a copper oil line on my 24 broke I was considering the alternatives. Is the copper/nickel tubing readily available? How would it do for fuel line forward of the pump on later cars?

Thanks

Dave [/quote]

Certainly is readily available in Europe where it's usually known as Kunifer 10 tube -from a quick look at the internet on your side of the pond the same stuff seems to go under the Cunifer name. It's a 90-10 Copper Nickel alloy, and can be used pretty well anywhere you might use copper or steel tube for carrying fuel, brake fluid, oil etc.

Thanks , I goggled Cunifer and it is available.

Dave