a727 lines

Ian, just did this project on my 71 Duster w/727. Like you mentioned,
$$ was getting skinny so I went with steel tubing. 5/16 at Napa, bought 2 5ft lengths which is sufficient to run to the radiator. Post above explaining all the different types of fittings, etc is awesome...I learned the hard way through several trips to get the right connections. It's rare, but my 727 was ruined by the radiator cooling lines failing and introducing water into the tranny....this was 25+ yrs ago and a radiator swap was made to get me going...along with a BIG bill. This time as I went to hook up the tranny lines after getting the tranny rebuilt I opted for an external cooler which I mounted infront of the radiator...I put plugs in the lower radiator. The front port of the tranny is the output so I put it closest to the heat (exhaust and engine) the rear one was routed furthest from the heat...I left room to get the starter out. Don't be like me and make all the rookie mistakes...such as bending a 90 and the nut is on the wrong side...flaring an end with the nut off....bending the wrong direction...yup, I made them all! But in the end I learned how to do it and had no leaks. Almost forgot, no need to tape flared fittings...got to redo that too (use yellow HD gas tape on pipe thread into tranny only). I made a 90 out of the tranny, went around the shift linkage, left room for the starter, then ran the lines along the engine above the k frame. Used a rubber hose split open and black wire ties to insulate possible rubbing points. The braided hose sure looks nice...you could run that out of the tranny then hook onto steel to save some $$. Good luck with whatever you decide...I'm going to go read that AN JIC post again!