Technical Ref: the red/see through fuel line...need to know

Since WE like the same hobby...old iron, I am going to respond only because I feel it necessary to give you an opinion where your car/safety my be at risk. IF you are talking the 'red' plastic fuel line that turns different color after a short while....and gets brittle like a tatochip...don't subject yourself to such hazard, just my experience/advice. While driving I noticed a stream of gas pissing clear above my windshield ('30 roadster). I felt lucky just this one time. I tried to do an emergency repair to get home (tape). That crap hose just crumbled. Your car, your choice. Just feel obligated to say so. Good luck.

 

The vodka sold here is 43% ethanol, the rest mainly water. Most places in the world vodka is around 40% ethanol. Some US-made vodka is made from the same industry-sourced ethanol used in fuels. It's the exact same stuff.

Some people are going on like ethanol is something like flouroantimonic acid rather than 3-6% of your beer. Others are trying to make money off that misconception. Always ask, cui bono?

Interestingly, aluminium will readily dissolve in water given some conditions. Rub some mercury on the inside of an aluminium cooking pot, and water will eat right through at that spot. Alcohol doesn't influence that one way or the other, except perhaps as regards one's inclination to go rubbing mercury on one's wife's pots and pans.

I've got that miscibility matrix at home somewhere. I'll see if I can find it tonight.

 

"Interestingly, aluminium will readily dissolve in water given some conditions. Rub some mercury on the inside of an aluminium cooking pot, and water will eat right through at that spot."

You can do the same trick to your wife's cooking apparatus with gallium, plus it's much less toxic, so will keep the wife happier (or less really angry).

 

I've been following along all your testing, etc., and it's gradually dawning on me that the stuff you have is probably not the same as the stuff I remember from 55+ years ago. That old stuff would get brittle and shatter into myriad chunks if flexed. I know they make some pretty sturdy stuff now for the food processing industry, the medical industry and even the fish tank "industry". So maybe in these times of more lawyers and lawsuits, the manufacturers and suppliers have had to wise up.

I don't really have a point other than to say, no matter if the options are better now days or not, it's just common sense to keep a close eye on whatever option you choose to use for fuel hose.

 

So I had a coworker with a 50 merc who really liked the red lines. I made it easy for him. Bend the lines out of steel first without ends flared and about an inch long on both ends. Then take your 5/16" or 3/8" or whatever sized colored lines you want to use in the engine compartment and get it smoking hot in near boiling water. . Use a heat gun to warm the steel lines. Soap or clear grease the outside of the steel lines and slide the colored lines over the steel lines. Then trim and flare the steel ends. If your paying attention you can bunch from one end to the other so the colored line covers almost all of the steel lines. You now have ALMOST the desired appearance without the poor performance and it cant fail. Put some hose clamps on the ends for appearance. Tight 90 degree corners will be really tough to get around so make the largest radius turns you can. It looks pretty dang good and you wont burst a line and burn your ride to the ground. Experiment with line inside diameter so you know what fits best. Or use the crappy red lines, have all the looks without the performance until it fails and you have to call 911.

 

your running solid line from the frame/body to the engine? good thing the red line is around it.

 

No, solid lines from a distribution block to the three twos with the colored hose. Use quality flexible fuel line from chassis to motor or distribution block. If ya use all steel lines they wont flex with motor movement and would leak.


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just an update, hose is still hanging on the fence, we are having some really hot days this summer. i squeezed and tugged on the fuel line. peas, garlic, and the first planting of beans, lettuce, squash have been picked an eaten.......

 

ok, time to plant peas again and the red/yellowed fuel line has been hanging on the fence since last year, full of fuel. it went through a year of New England weather and to refresh are memories had been run on my car two seasons.

 

first test: hook it up to the compressor and see if it will hold air. still good for 120 psi

 

test two: try to lift the snow plow. about 12" of hose in the relaxed position stretched to over 21".

 

note: both tests were done without any hose clamps on the barbs.

 

Excellent testing.
One test result is worth a thousand expert opinions.

 

The hose looks fine. Not so sure about your hand!

 

WD-40 and some Harbor Freight thin black work gloves, size large.

 

Isn't Helix a Hoffman company?

 

Wonder what insurance companies would do if they knew that
old style translucent fuel line is being used on your car?

 

All that testing is fun but in the end it’s totally meaningless when related to using the stuff on a vehicle.

 

For me it’s steel (or easy bend) fuel lines and a black hose for flex from frame rail to motor. The black hose must say DOT and the words “fuel line”. I install the black hose with large radius or bends as possible and as far from exhaust as possible.
My car is not done yet but has a glass bowl fuel filter... probably traditional ...but I don,t think it is staying when the car goes on the road.

 

why? that exact hose tested was used for two years on my hot rod, then tested filled with fuel for a year out side in the elements. it was abraded, crushed and stretched. the plow weighs more than an engine and simulated both engine mounts breaking.
do not use this stuff, your car will burst into flames.

 

it is not sold as "old". it is sold as new fuel line.

 

Why not.
Because new or old it’s a second class shortcut to plumbing the fuel system on a hot rod build.

 

Again, I will ask "what's the attraction to this stuff"?

 

Using that translucent "cool" looking 1960's red fuel line is like
smoking. You know it's gonna kill you but you keep using it.

 

You guys remember our old friend Randy ( Deuce Roadster) he was a stickler for proper maintenance and his approved gas line split and his roadster went up in flames.

Any gas line is susceptible to a problem, even the traditional thick rubber gas line, and with the fuels of today containing alcohol it is a additional detriment to the premature failure of these lines, again use what you want but make sure you check it often, I get sick every time I see these photo's.

Ever since Randy's catastrophic fire I have switched out my lines with the more expensive diesel fuel line. HRP

 

If you want to see how a hot rod is plumbed the right way check out my build thread.

 

Have it on my fuel cell vent tank

 

"Ever since Randy's catastrophic fire I have switched out my lines with the more expensive diesel fuel line. HRP"

Is the diesel fuel line approved for gasoline? Gasoline can be harder on some materials than diesel.

 

Are we talking about two different fuel lines?

One is translucent red hard as a rock like a Harbor Freight air hose.

The other is Helix nylon reinforced translucent red very pliable fuel line?




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