Ljet vacuum hose, Any scuba divers on this site? Options

[timothy_nd28]

In the process of re-doing vacuum lines on my 1.8L Ljet. The vacuum line that has given me trouble before is the 22mm (blue in picture) which I cobbled together with less than desirable results.


I'm toying with the idea of using a hose from most scuba setups, the BCD corrugated inflator hose. It is rubber of some type, the ID diameter appears to be very similar, and I like the idea that it looks very flexible so it can be routed to look somewhat stock vs what I had before. Question is, what is this made out of, and how will it hold up?

[timothy_nd28]

Bruce, the correct hose is preformed with somewhat tight radius bends and NLA. Using a straight 22mm hose section and trying to manipulate the routing will cause or has caused in my previous experience a kink with thinner wall rubber hose or stress on the connectors on the intake rubber boot if you use thicker wall vacuum rated rubber hose. My final result years ago was adding some barbed 7/8” 90’s to get this big 22mm pipe to do what it needs to go without adding crazy stress point on the intake boot, looked like (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif) but it worked and was vacuum tight.

I like to explore a better way of doing this till 914rubber starts to reproduce these formed hoses. I have been looking at some flexible 22mm silicone hose, but somewhat worried of it collapsing at 20” of vacuum. This scuba rubber hose looks promising, appears to be super bendy and has reinforced ribs to possibly withstand a moderate burst of vacuum. I think this scuba hose is made from siliconized rubber, which may be the same material that 914rubber used on their newly reproduced 1.8 intake boots.
So Mark, this BCD inflator hose, just how squishy is it? Does this hose pinch easily between your fingers or does this hose resist being pinched and screams back at you that’s what I do! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)