Getting somewhere - just not quite sure where!

Having decided to replace all the brake lines on the bus, I made a start. Yesterday I tried to undo the driver's side front brake line. I failed so I took a photo of the area I couldn't see clearly and found there was a spring clip holding the flexible line to a bracket attached to the chassis. 

That made life a lot easier. It was easy enough to undo the connection. Even the spring clip came out fairly easily. When it came to the flexible line going to the wheel, that was barely attached. It wasn't even finger tight. I was not at all surprised when no brake fluid came from that line. It must have been thoroughly air locked.

The new line is installed. That was probably the simplest thing I did today. Going from below the bracket is a C shaped line. That didn't look in bad condition but I said I was going to replace every single brake line and so I will. 

After having several attempts at making a line and not getting one that slipped into place nicely, I gave up for the day. The line on the left is my own creation and the line on the right is the original. They're close but no cigar.

If my readers remember, I bought a brake line flaring tool from Autozone and it was utter trash and had to be returned. I must have bought this brake line bending tool from Autozone too. It won't bend lines to 90 degrees. It bends to 85 degrees maximum so I have to complete the bending manually.

In the end, temporarily I put the old solid line back. I'll replace it when I can do a better one. I have plenty brake tubing to work with. I have to say the new flaring tool is excellent. That, I got in O'Reilly's. The one tubing bending tool I have that works well is the one I bought from Harbor Freight. The Autozone tool is not helpful even though it's easier to use.

The aim this week is to get the brake lines under the hood done. After this I'll work on the back brakes. Currently, despite spraying the line liberally with PB Blaster, the flexible line and the spring clip are hard to separate at the front on the door side of the bus. I shall visit that again tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's Thanksgiving and likely to be another superspreader event for the Coronavirus that's rampaging at the moment. I'm not going anywhere so it's just going to be a regular work on the bus day. By the end of tomorrow I want to have the other flexible brake line done and the two small C shaped lines too. Perhaps if I'm very lucky I can get the line done that goes along the frame rails from one side to the other. 

One question I have is whether the bleed screws should be replaced. They are clearly missing their little rubber caps. Mind, Schroeder valves on the tyres are also missing their dust caps. Mechanics are awful for losing dust caps and protective caps off everything. Mind, having seen how loose that one brake line was and how airlocked it was, I'm betting the money I paid to have the bus maintained last time never got used on that brake line. It is absolutely not beyond mechanics to claim they have done a full job when it has been half-arsed. The rest of the time paid for working was probably used for viewing porn in the break room.