Gary, thanks for standing up for me when you thought Big_John was making a negative comment. I took no offense to it as I knew He was joking and only trying to lessen your frustration.
There's two school's of thought regarding whether to incorporate a Prop valve or NOT. As Big_John stated, I did mention NO prop valve was needed as MaMopar did not use them on their early disc brake cars - "And If the design engineers didn't feel they were necessary are they really?"
It is true that I DID include a PV in the parts list and for a very good reason. If I DID NOT include it in the list more likely than not someone would have chimed in and suggested that one was needed. If you happened to question its necessity there would have been a flurry of opinions which probably would have caused you more confusion. So, even though MaMopar engineers didn't feel a PV was necessary, rather than create a huge debate I included it in the parts list. I myself was NOT going to install one, but because I found a Mopar Performance/Wilwood Adjustable Valve (#P5249088) at a good price I went ahead and installed it just for the heck of it. Besides, when it comes to safety you can never do too much.
Before the conversion my only goal was to change over from the Single MC to a dual and retain the drum brakes. In my search for a dual drum master I ran across some info about a front disc conversion. I read about it, but thought "Heck, I don't know anything about this - that seems like a lot of work and besides I have no idea where to get the needed parts.... Forget it, I'll just change the master and be done with it."
Well, after I obtained the dual drum master I began to have second thoughts. As I mentioned I didn't know anything about doing a disc conversion or anyone who had ever done one let alone anyone who even had a Mopar - all I knew is that I wanted to do one. So before doing the conversion I did my due diligence and searched for whatever information I could find. Through the search I came across this forum and read up on what a disc brake conversion consisted of. I gathered whatever info I could find and continued researching where I ran across Rick Ehrenberg's "Dis-O-Tech" article. I believe you even stated you had read it. Anyways I read it over and over to where I nearly memorized it and then searched for more info. In my quest I gathered a lot of information and studied everything even including the differences between the '69-'72 and '73 spindles, rotors, cups, bearings, pin-style vs slider brackets and calipers, single piston vs dual piston vs multi piston calipers, distribution blocks, pressure reducing valves, metering valves, combo valves, proportion valves etc... I then dissected everything and put it in a type of chronological order where I could understand it best.
Needless to say I initially walked into doing the conversion blind as a bat and pretty much felt like how you have been feeling, however the difference between you and myself is that I had a lot of info behind me when I actually dove into the conversion. Though you had the benefit of my write-up which almost leads you step by step, you didn't have the same mindset I had going into it. I had studied all this stuff for a couple months before I did it.
We all can hear and feel the frustration you've been going through because we've all been there. We commend you on taking on the project and I'm most certain there are even some who have learned a lot from your questions. I'm sure there are some if not many who would not have asked the questions you did, but thanks to you for taking the bullet they got the answer. Remember there are no stupid questions. This forum is to help others and that is my goal which is the reason I document things. If I can make things easier for someone else, I'll do it.
As cantflip said, the best teacher IS experience. I know at this point you're fed up with everything and just want to get it over and done with, but I encourage you to forge ahead and re-make the brake lines. You bought all the stuff, don't let it go to waste. I know you can probably return the lines, the bender, the flaring tool and save on getting the mini-cutter, but believe me you'll get more satisfaction doing it yourself. You've gone this far, why stop now - just take your time. When it's all done you'll think back and say, "Wow, it really wasn't that bad...."
As I suggested in my PM, get some 12 or 10 gauge solid core wire and form the lines to how you want them OR take off the two lines from the MC and duplicate them using the bending tool. Just leave yourself some extra length on both ends.
You can then take the two old MC lines and practice making flares with them so you don't have to buy more lines. It doesn't take much tubing to make a flare - make one then cut it off and make another. You'll probably get the hang of it after two to three tries. Practice makes perfect!
Just take tomorrow, Sat and think about what you want to do. Plan it out in your mind then on a piece of paper. Then get some wire and figure out what you want to make and do it. When you're ready get the tubing and start bending, cutting and flaring... AND HAVE FUN!!!
