Transmission lines or hoses for Big block A body

[4fortyDemon]

What are you all using these days for transmission lines? I have a 71 Demon ( factory/6) with a 383 / 727.
In the past I've just grabbed steel lines and bent , twisted and cut and pasted to make lines to fit.
What's questioning me to do just that is the new style hoses with AN fittings. See pic.
Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Mtrhead]

Can't go wrong with quick disconnect

 

[JDMopar]

The last 2 cars I reworked, that had automatics, I ran 3/8 hard lines up the drivers side frame rail, behind the steering box, then up under the battery tray to bulkhead fittings in the radiator support. I bought stacked plate coolers for both cars, and the coolers had AN fittings on them. I bent hard lines to go from the bulkhead fittings in the radiator support over to the cooler. The back ends of the hard lines ended right before the torsion bar crossmember. I double flared all of the ends of the hard lines and bent them all myself. I think I bought the 6' sections at NAPA. I had steel braided flex lines to go from the ends by the torsion bar crossmember over to the fittings on the transmissions. Turned out nice on both cars. They are over there out of the way of headers, exhaust, linkage and starter replacements if needed. I'll never run trans cooler lines the factory way again except for my 70 Challenger A66 car which is all numbers matching with pretty much all date coded parts. It kinda needs to be that way...lol.

 

[4fortyDemon]

The last 2 cars I reworked, that had automatics, I ran 3/8 hard lines up the drivers side frame rail, behind the steering box, then up under the battery tray to bulkhead fittings in the radiator support. I bought stacked plate coolers for both cars, and the coolers had AN fittings on them. I bent hard lines to go from the bulkhead fittings in the radiator support over to the cooler. The back ends of the hard lines ended right before the torsion bar crossmember. I double flared all of the ends of the hard lines and bent them all myself. I think I bought the 6' sections at NAPA. I had steel braided flex lines to go from the ends by the torsion bar crossmember over to the fittings on the transmissions. Turned out nice on both cars. They are over there out of the way of headers, exhaust, linkage and starter replacements if needed. I'll never run trans cooler lines the factory way again except for my 70 Challenger A66 car which is all numbers matching with pretty much all date coded parts. It kinda needs to be that way...lol.

Do you happen to have any pictures? Sounds like a perfect combination.

 

[JDMopar]

I did have some, but the computer they were on took a dump years ago and I never took it to anyone to try and recover anything. It's cheaper to just buy a new computer...lol. I attached the hard lines to the frame rail with those steel clamps with the rubber isolators in them. Used one self tapping screw to hold both clamps by turning them to the middle. I used the same style clamps, but larger to hold the braided lines up close to the bottom of the floor pan to keep them from drooping down onto the exhaust. I drilled a hole in the floor pan where I wanted those clamps and ran a machine screw down thru the hole and put a washer and nut on it, then put the clamps onto the screw and added another nut (nylock) to hold the clamps. I didn't want to run a self tapper up thru the floor pan, is the reason I did that one that way. You can but the bulkhead fittings at Summit, or a local place that makes hydraulic hoses. I had to take the braided hoses with the ends on them that hooked to the hard lines home with a hand full of fittings to fit the 727 end, mark them where to be cut and the orientation of the fittings I wanted, then take them back to the hose place to be crimped. I wish I did have pics, because it turned out pretty slick! I did those lines on a 64 Belvedere wagon, and a 71 Challenger, but have yet to do it to an A body. Jack your car up and lay under it and study it a bit to see if it will work. If you can double flare steel line, you can easily do it. The lines from the bulkhead fittings to the cooler were the hardest for me, and it was the bends instead of the flares.

 

[Demonx2]

For my avatar, I did something similar to JD except I used the Cu-Ni tubing. Very easy to work with and flare and plenty strong enough too. I fab'd some black braided Kevlar-type hoses to connect to trans and cooler using AN fittings. I use that as my flex joint so the hard lines can be attached along the inner frame rail. Works well, no leaks, plenty strong.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Braided. You'll never go wrong . Fitment is easy and more durable. Just don't buy the chinese kit. Get fragola.They are best ends and easy to install . The braided hose is better quality. Ran them up the rail behind the steering box in a heat sleeve. I will never run a hard line again. I swear by fragola .