Part 13 is upon us and I still haven't finished the Bumpside Build-Off F-100-but neither has the competition! If you've skipped this month's editorial, check it out for the nitty gritty on why you're not reading a feature on a finished '68 F-100.
Back at the Primedia Tech Center, I've been plugging away at the '68 trying to git 'er done, as they say. Back in our July '07 issue I installed ECI's 13-inch disc brakes at each corner, but I wasn't done with some of the chassis fabrication and didn't want to jump the gun and plumb the lines at the time, but now I think it's safe. I also want to opt out of using power assist brakes. This may sound crazy to some (or many), but most of my older vehicles had manual brakes, and when set up and maintained properly, they can work well; you just have to know how to use them. And contrary to or maybe because I'm using an EFI motor, I want to keep everything else simple. We'll see.
I called up Inline Tube and ordered their 30-foot straight brake line set in 3/16-inch tubing; a disc/drum setup generally takes 1/4- and 3/16-inch tubing. Inline Tube's straight line set comes with enough tubing to plumb most vehicles, 20 fittings, five feet of spring wrap, and sheetmetal brake line clamps. Inline can also custom-make just about any brake or fuel line you can dream of out of steel or stainless steel. If you want to do it yourself and need some plumbing tools such as professional-quality tubing benders, which are worth the investment, Inline has a good selection.
It was love at first sight ever since I laid eyes on Classic Performance Products' (CPP) new MCPV-1 master cylinder. CPP managed to squeeze proportioning and metering valves into a master cylinder along with a brake light switch port and the capability to hold almost a quart of brake fluid in one lightweight and good-looking package. While at CPP, I also picked up the braided stainless steel brake hoses I need to connect each caliper to the hardline tubing.
Before ordering parts from anyone, make sure you have your specific brake information handy, like what brand and year your disc brake calipers, drum brakes, and master cylinder are if you're going to use your existing ones. Knowing this will help you order the right parts the first time, but if you're not sure what you have or you need everything, call the pros. They'll be happy to help!
 Let's see, we need five brake...  Let's see, we need five brake hoses, a handful of fittings, 30 feet of 3/16-inch hard brake line, and a couple dozen brake clamps to get started plumbing the brakes on the '68. These parts came from both Inline Tube and CPP. |  We're going to start from...  We're going to start from the back of the truck and work up. First, we need to install CPP's rear braided brake lines. If you have drum brakes in the back of your truck, you'd obviously run the hardline to the wheel cylinders. |  The rearend T-fitting has...  The rearend T-fitting has this little bracket attached to it, and to make it easy to mount, I tacked a 1/4-20 bolt to the rearend that'll be permanently welded once I'm sure it's in the right spot. Now we can bend up the hardline for the rearend since we know where it needs to go. |