Register now to get rid of these ads!

Technical Clothspins Verses Vapor lock

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Mar 31, 2026 at 9:38 AM.

  1. HOTRODPRIMER
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 65,312

    HOTRODPRIMER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I remember as a teenager I use to see the older guys use clothspins on the metal gas lines and swear by them, did they actually work or..... HRP

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  2. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 11,592

    BJR
    Member

    Did they actually work? Only if you wanted to dry your wet socks with engine heat! :D
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2026 at 11:06 AM
  3. Model A Gomez
    Joined: Aug 26, 2006
    Posts: 1,863

    Model A Gomez
    Member

    Nope I remember wrapping the fuel line with aluminum foil and putting on clothes pins and still having the same problems.
     
    Rodney Dangercar and Sharpone like this.
  4. 210superair
    Joined: Jun 23, 2020
    Posts: 2,293

    210superair
    Member
    from Michigan

    Never heard of that... For whatever reason my car doesn't do it when I run rec gas... That's all I run in it now.
     
    guthriesmith and Sharpone like this.
  5. dwollam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2012
    Posts: 2,871

    dwollam
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My '51 Ford Coupe still has a couple clothes pins on it from many years ago. Yep, still vapor locks! I did change the fuel pump right before I put it away late last fall. Maybe it is fixed now, maybe. Clothes pins will stay on tho!

    Dave
     
    jet996, guthriesmith and Sharpone like this.
  6. AVater
    Joined: Dec 9, 2008
    Posts: 3,538

    AVater
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I’m “pinned”. Found these aluminum ones years ago and put a couple on the fuel line of my coupe. Effectively? Who knows. If I sit and idle for a while on a hot day, I can get hung out to dry. :rolleyes:
    IMG_4665.jpeg
     
    jet996 and Sharpone like this.
  7. HOTRODPRIMER
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 65,312

    HOTRODPRIMER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Wooden clothes pins are an old-school, "shadetree mechanic" trick used to combat vapor lock in carbureted engines, particularly in hot weather.
    By clipping wooden pins onto metal fuel lines (usually between the fuel pump and carburetor), they act as primitive heat sinks or air diverters, helping to dissipate heat and prevent fuel from boiling.
     
    Sharpone and guthriesmith like this.
  8. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 39,044

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    I heard the same thing about putting cow magnets on the fuel lines
     
  9. pirate
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 1,292

    pirate
    Member
    from Alabama

    They give you something to mess with and explain to others while engine cools down!
     
  10. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 20,788

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Man this is a very 2003 hamb thread lol.

    I think this is one of those things that guys who’ve had it work say it’s simple science guys! And everyone else says it’s a bunch of nonsense lol
     
  11. Jalopy Joker
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 34,417

    Jalopy Joker
    Member

    long as doing laundry with clothes pins might as wrap some food in aluminum & cook on motor
     
  12. FrozenMerc
    Joined: Sep 4, 2009
    Posts: 3,479

    FrozenMerc
    Member

    Someone needs to explain how this works, not whether or not it may or may not work (likely doesn't).

    Vapor Lock occurs when the fuel boils and turns to a gas. The gas bubble blocks the fuel line since most diaphram style fuel pumps do a poor job of pumping a gas (vapor).

    The fuel is much more likely to boil on the vacuum side of the pump, not the pressure side as the boiling point drops as atmospheric pressure is reduced. Hell, water will boil at room temperature if put under a strong enough vacuum.

    Wood is a good insulator, not a heat conductor, so if the idea of the clothspin is to remove heat from the fuel line (and the fuel inside), you literally couldn't pick a much worse material, on top of putting them on the fuel line after the pump (were the fuel is pressurized, and the boiling point is raised).
     
  13. junkman8888
    Joined: Jan 28, 2009
    Posts: 1,091

    junkman8888
    Member

    I agree that wood is the exact opposite of what will help prevent vapor lock on a fuel line, unfortunately, with most of the people I know the facts don't matter and never will.
     
  14. HOTRODPRIMER
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 65,312

    HOTRODPRIMER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  15. guthriesmith
    Joined: Aug 17, 2006
    Posts: 12,573

    guthriesmith
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Too funny. I was just looking at a buddies 32 roadster Saturday evening with an 8BA in it and it had several wooden clothes pins on the fuel line. And, then this thread pops up...
     
    210superair and Sharpone like this.
  16. HOTRODPRIMER
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 65,312

    HOTRODPRIMER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    déjà vu my friend.:D HRP
     
    Sharpone and guthriesmith like this.
  17. gene-koning
    Joined: Oct 28, 2016
    Posts: 6,254

    gene-koning
    Member

    I believe the original thought was that the wood cloths pins would keep the part of the steel fuel within the pin, a bit cooler then the steel line not covered with the cloths pin. Hence the reason there are often several cloths pins lined up side by side. Adding a few inches of pins together may have kept the line from getting as hot, for a few seconds, maybe. Might have been enough to help a time or two.
    In theory, it may have helped some, but most of the time the problem of vapor lock was before the fuel pump, not after it. Most of the time, the cloths pins were attached to the wrong segment of the steel line. Though running a steel fuel line up between two radiator hoses and trapping hot air under a hood probably didn't help.
     
    Sharpone and guthriesmith like this.
  18. simplestone
    Joined: Aug 18, 2010
    Posts: 978

    simplestone
    Member

    I would venture to say that the clothes pins act as an insulator against the heat, preventing the gas from boiling. Rather than working as a heat sink which makes absolutely no sense.
    But, yes, I could see some merit as fuel line insulators.

    Haha - @gene-koning beat me to it. I agree with him!
     
    Sharpone and guthriesmith like this.
  19. ClayMart
    Joined: Oct 26, 2007
    Posts: 7,915

    ClayMart
    Member

    At least the wooden clothes pins weren't as prone to melting as the plastic ones.
    :p
     
    Sharpone and guthriesmith like this.
  20. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 39,044

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    those screw together gl*** fuel filters are a fire waiting to happen. I can't believe that people still use them
     
  21. Sharpone
    Joined: Jul 25, 2022
    Posts: 3,567

    Sharpone
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I’ve actually done that
    Dan
     
    mountainman2 and jet996 like this.
  22. amodel25
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 711

    amodel25
    Member

    My uncle had a '55 Ford with a y-block back in the late 50's with 8 wooden clothes pins on the fuel line. He swore the only way he could keep it running in the Texas summers was with the clothes pins in place.
     
  23. HOTRODPRIMER
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 65,312

    HOTRODPRIMER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    On the way to Columbas in '84, I think, one of the guys traveling with us was spraying some type of liquid out of the side louvers on he 1034 Ford sedan as we got closer to take a look I realived the car was spraying gasoline and I got him to pull over, he was lucky, the gl*** filter had unscrewed itself and gas was everywhere, including my windshiel and sheet metal, we were fortunate that one of the members of our merry band had several plastic filters due to a gas tank that was dirty.

    We got Gary back on the road and all the way home with that filter, Spence ended up having to by several more filters but a trip to a radiator shop and a over night bath in his hot tank and Spence was good to go. HRP
     
    Moriarity and Sharpone like this.
  24. The only way clothespins work on a steel fuel line is if they are holding a damp rag which is wrapped around the line. Wood is a terrible heatsink.
     
    Rodney Dangercar likes this.
  25. woodiewagon46
    Joined: Mar 14, 2013
    Posts: 2,559

    woodiewagon46
    Member
    from New York

    One of the car magazines did an expose on the fabled "cloths pin heat sink" and it's simply an old wives tale. Now everyone that has clothespins on their fuel line will chime in and say their car run's super cool with them on the fuel line!
     
    Sharpone and Rodney Dangercar like this.
  26. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 3,719

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    I did it as a kid on my 64 bonny on a long trip once, it seemed to work.

    I never felt like they are a heatsink but the opposite, I always thought the wood clothspin was cooler than the steel line and helped cool the line not by pulling heat out but by the metal absorbing the cooler temp of the wood.

    ...
     
    Sharpone likes this.
  27. KoolKat-57
    Joined: Feb 22, 2010
    Posts: 3,093

    KoolKat-57
    Member
    from Dublin, OH

    They only work if they have the correct part number!
    KK
     
  28. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 39,044

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    I wonder how many cl***ic cars burned to the ground as a result of those....
     
    Sharpone likes this.
  29. When I was a teenager I was told how well this worked to solve vapor lock, I was always a show me kind of guy. I'm still waiting for someone to show me.
     
    Sharpone likes this.
  30. chicken
    Joined: Aug 15, 2004
    Posts: 705

    chicken
    Member
    from Kansas

    Misinformation is traditional.
     
    GuyW and Sharpone like this.

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.