By Wayne Scraba
IN a past issue, we took a look at the
professional flaring tool offered by
Earl’s Performance. If you recall; tool
set is engineered to make short work
of almost any type of tubing up to and
including ½-inch diameter. But that’s not
the only pro plumbing tool Earl’s offers:
As we all know, brake line tubing is
commonly 3/16-inch or ¼-inch. The
tubing is usually annealed, and today,
stainless is very popular, particularly
for hot rods and other not-quite-original
applications. Fair enough but there’s a
hitch: Most tubing is sold in bulk rolls.
And sometimes a pre-cut straight section
of tubing will have a “bow” in it. Both
spell trouble (sometimes Big Trouble)
if you’re building brake lines (or other
lines) for your car from scratch.
Honestly, we’ve witnessed (and we’ve
tried over time) a few different “fixes”
to straighten tubing. One simple fix
involves clamping the tubing between
a couple of lengths of lumber. For
smaller pieces, the same process is used,
but in a bench vice with something
soft protecting the tube. Neither of
those fixes works very well and to be
honest; they’re very awkward when
you’re working with long runs of
tubing. Plus, if you get too aggressive
with the clamping or the vice, thenthe tube is vulnerable to damage.
Fortunately, there’s a very easy fix;
it’s available right now, and it makes
straightening tubing look easy. It’s
a unique tubing straightener from
the folks at Earl’s Performance (Part
Number 039ERL). This isn’t a bargain-
basement tool, but it’s a very high-
quality piece, and it works wonders
when it comes to straightening bent
tubing. The way the tool is designed, it
can either be bolted directly to you’re
workbench top or held in place by
a bench vice (by way of an optional
mount kit, Earl’s part number 040ERL).
To use the tool, hand-straighten
(uncoil) the very end of a coiled tube38 > NZ HOT ROD SEPTEMBER 2019