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Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 6 2013, 05:24 PM

Okay, so I have made more progress on the car in the past few months than I have in the past two years and I want to keep the momentum. to give everyone an idea of where I am going with my car, it is going to be a driver for good weather and a trackday toy. But heavily used at the track... ( wife won't let me go all out track cuz she wants to ride around in it... ... But that is her only wish without any complaint til now, I won't pry...

I need some advice/guidance based on folks experience...

First
I have heard good and bad about aluminum fuel lines. I know that I want hard lines that will be mounted along the longs. I am wanting to run them with AN fittings on each end with braided lines running to the tank and engine. What's you're opinion?

Second
Can someone provide non factory seat mounting. I am running bride low max seats and I do not like their seat rails or the height of them so I am looking into other options if I don't modify the factory setup.

Last...
I am torn in the Gauge area.... I love the look of stock 914 gauges but I really like the AIM dash. Does anyone have one of these and driven on the street? I am looking for the good and bad to this...

Thanks,
Thomas

Posted by: Cap'n Krusty Jan 6 2013, 05:42 PM

Aluminum fuel lines? Not a chance. They don't like ANY vibration. Use stainless steel. IME, SS braided fuel/oil lines tend to develop leaks. Not worth the extra bux, IMO.

The Cap'n

Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 6 2013, 06:09 PM

Have heard that about the aluminum, just wanted continuity.

On the SS braided lines. What would you prefer? Regular lines with AN? I know that hose clamps are frowned upon with PCA.

Thomas

Posted by: Jeffs9146 Jan 6 2013, 08:04 PM

http://www.tangerineracing.com/stainlessFuelLines.htm

This is what I use for my 3.0L High Pressure System!

Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 6 2013, 08:18 PM

I'm not running them in the factory location. I can purchase lengths and run them where im planning. What would you recommend for flexible portions of the line sets?

Posted by: kg6dxn Jan 6 2013, 08:40 PM

I have run aluminum soft drawn (specific for fuel) on many cars without any problems. I have a mandrel bender and they make very nice lines. The are designed for A/N fittings and is available from Summit Racing.

Using hard aluminum or copper is bad. It will crack.

Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 7 2013, 09:50 PM

How do you tell the difference?

I went to their site and searched soft drawn and didn't find it. It's the coiled up tubing right? But I could find a different designation for soft to hard tubing...

Thomas

Posted by: kg6dxn Jan 7 2013, 10:15 PM

Summit and Jegs only sell the soft drawn. A piping wholesaler will sell hard tube. If it is in a coil, it usually is soft drawn.

Here is some on the fuel rail of my Big Block Mopar.

Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 8 2013, 04:36 PM

Sounds good, that's what I've been looking at.

Thanks!

Posted by: ArtechnikA Jan 8 2013, 04:44 PM

The problem is not with the SS braid, but the nitrile/Buna-N liner which will oxidize in time, after exposure to heat, ozone, and oxygenated fuels. Seen it happen, yes, it's real. Race cars just replace all the hose every so often.

The alternative to all hard line is braided-sheath Teflon hose. Yes the hose and fittings are expensive. But the Teflon will stand up to methanol, as will the fittings which are typically also stainless. Or at least plated steel - the key point is they are _not_ aluminum.

Posted by: stugray Jan 8 2013, 05:05 PM

I used rigid steel (not stainless) brake lines for my fuel lines.
They were available from the local auto parts store.

I flared the ends to take the AN fittings.

I am converting to carbs, so didnt need both lines but I ran both anyway.
That way I can use the second line for a fuel pump wire conduit from the stock location to the front where the new pump is.

Stu

Posted by: Dave_Darling Jan 8 2013, 05:36 PM

Is nitrile or Buna-N still the most common liner? I believe that there are at least some of the SS braided lines that have Teflon liners.

No, I'm not sure which ones. No, I'm not sure how you can tell which is what.

--DD

Posted by: ArtechnikA Jan 8 2013, 07:11 PM

Yes, there's Teflon-lined braided stainless hose.

I think I said that...

in AN-3 it's popular for brake line and in AN-4, clutches and other hydraulic actuators.
and -6 is good for fuel lines for even high flow rates - i think the smooth(er) walls help.

I've seen it in -8 and larger but you better have a F1 budget for that stuff... even -6 is pricey.

Here's the blurb from the Perform-O-Flex (IMO - Earls' good stuff - Aeroquip and Goodridge have good stuff too...) on the hose:



So what's Temprel? I donno - this isn't my research project ;-)

'Speed-Flex' (6000-series...) is the PTFE-lined stuff, and in -6 it's $6 a foot. The fittings and olives are the pricey bits, tho, and the PTFE has a fairly large bend radius. But in today's oxygenated fuels environment, it's what you gotta do...

Posted by: tscrihfield Jan 8 2013, 07:53 PM

ArtechnikA, Dave & Stu
Thanks for all of the info.

I am going to go with earls stuff anyway, but I didn't know that they had a PTFE lined version of their braided lines. I have found that in using the braided lines earls is the only way to for the quality that you can actually tighten and not have leaks...

I'm pretty familiar with PTFE because I use a ton of PTFE products for work. When dealing with things that have to hold up to skydrol you need a good barrier...

I don't mind to spend the dough upfront as long as it lasts and performs well. Saving money to spend more later never was a "perk" in my eyes.

I am also looking into the crimped lines through Goodyear. I can buy them through work as premade "hydraulic" lines (hehe) with nice fittings.

Still up in the air and trying to narrow options down.

Anyone have anything on the AIM dash for street use?

Again, thanks

Thomas

Posted by: ArtechnikA Jan 8 2013, 08:22 PM

out of curiousity, i went looking for Temprel, and discovered that it is a 'canceled' (as of 1990!) Federal Trademark once owned by B.F. Goodrich for tubular rubber products.

So what is it chemically? It _was_ whatever B. F. Goodrich said it was. Now? Who knows... I donno why Earls would continue to use a trademark not in current status, and one that isn't chemically deterministic.

Sounds good, I suppose, but I wouldn't want to base a long-term installation on a zippy trademark.

Perform-O-Flex is still my go-to brand for everything but fuel, although I knew guys who swore by Goodridge (N.B. - not Goodrich...). For fuels, my money's on something 'PTFE' (the generic for Teflon, another trademarked term...) based.

E10 is here and there's no sign it's going away any time soon, whether it makes any kind of thermodynamic or economic sense or not. E15 is looming. I have a FlexFuel (E85...) vehicle and I'd want to make sure the plumbing for anything I built now was built to at least that standard. But that's just me...