Fuel Hoses

[John Lowe]

'Ello

I am planning the layout of my Kinsler supplied fuel system to feed the Kinsler stack EFI.

There appear to be two types of stainless steel braided hose available, Nitrile Rubber and Teflon. The Teflon hose is about half the cost of the Nitrile and both claim to be up to the job. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different material?

Thanks in anticipation of yet more expert advice

Regards

John

 

[Jim Cowden]

John

Never used the nitrile hose.
Rubber braided hose I have used in the past permeated fuel smells so I wont use it.
I use teflon because of the no smell situation.

Jim

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Hi John -

Great to hear things are progressing well...:thumbsup:

A link to Fay's Speedflow website and more specifically a pdf that details hose types and uses.

http://www.speedflow.co.uk/tech/tech_pdfs/Hose_and_tubing.pdf

For fuels purposes I've used both the braided 100 series and the non-braided 400 series. Don't be put off by push-on hoses, assembled correctly the hose will burst before it comes off a fitting.

 

[John Lowe]

Paul and Jim

Thank you.

The Speedflow information sheet was interesting. I want the braided ss for appearance plus the pressure fittings look much neater than clamps IMO.

Paul, it seems both 100 (Nitrile) and 200(Teflon) are well up to the job but with the latter costing about 50% then that's what I think I'll go for

Just checked the Earls site, they reckon Teflon is best with fuel.

Best

John

 

[Mike Drew]

Most people think braided steel hoses are great.

Most braided steel hoses are merely RUBBER hoses with an external armor of braided steel. Although it protects them from external insult, they are otherwise no better than ordinary rubber hose, i.e. subject to deterioration with age, bad fuel (of which we have plenty now in the USA thanks to the corn lobby) etc.

I have Earl's braided stainless steel lined *teflon* hose on my Pantera. Bloody expensive stuff (and the fittings are expensive too), but it's absolutely immortal. Since I plumbed my car, Earl's has come out with a new line of hoses, that are teflon lined with kevlar. Stronger, and substantially lighter than the old-school-looking stainless stuff.

In retrospect, I wish that I hadn't used so much flex hose on my car. Given that I have an engine-mounted mechanical fuel pump, I should have followed the stock scheme and run flex hose from the tank to the pump, then a hard line from the pump to the fuel feed on the carburetor, with just a short flex hose in between those. I would have saved a LOT of money and a bit of weight.