copper fuel lines

I have copper fuel and oil lines on my engine no issues so far. I am not driving my car as much as of of you do.

Frenchy

 

yea i looked at the link, very interesting! i would not buy it since i live in sunny so cal. and yes the original post said copper, i was like wtf no way thats safe! but it turns out that its a composite. way cool! i would run it on a roadster but on a custom, not worth it since you wont see the brake lines! thanks for clearing it up!

 

I think the problem we would have here is that they won't p*** the visual inspection. Not many folks that are going to be either writing the ticket or p***ing you for saftey know about the stuff and copper brake lines are pretty much outlawed here.

I had to go to the border once when a buddy was comming out of mexico with copper brake lines. They wouldn't let him leave imigration with them so I snagged some steel line and bent them up right there on the spot.

His were actually made from soft copper but the fella there wouldn't have known the difference.

 

If you bought a tri carb 66 442 new, you got copper fuel lines from the filter to the carbs. From the factory.

 

ill stick to steel and inverted thread- ford has been using steel lines since 1939 on brake lines. great that europe has stricker rules and you want to use a material easier to work with, ive never found steel lines for fuel or brake lines hard to work with- stainless is harder yes but the one's whinning about steel lines are hard to form must have delicate hands


point taken. yes ford has used them since 1939, i believe you have two equally good products to choose from when doing the work on your hot rod. But the reason i believe ford used what they did was to keep cost down. if you can make a steel line for $1 versus kunifer type lines for $2 a line times many millions of cars its a no brainer!

 

Illegal. Soft copper tubing may not be used for flammable vapor gas under ground. The reason is going to be odd to you: lightning strikes. The copper line acts like a grounding rod "full of gas". If the system takes a lighting hit. it will transfer the energy to the ground through the gas tube potentially damaging the tube "full of gas" during this transfer, thus igniting the gas. Coated hard pipe and butyl vinyl pvc tube only per the gas boys. I never would have thought so either but it is quite common.

 

i never said i use copper because it is easy.

 

The main problem with using copper lines will be the copper oxide or patina formation within the copper tubing. The reason we use copper for water piping is because it patinates, the copper oxide is harmless to life, copper is toxic to life, if the line did not patinate it would produce a toxin that would make you sick. On your vehicle the patina will form due to water being in the fuel, it will get into your fuel filters inside of your carbs and plug your jets. Stainless does not patinate so aggressively, it does work harden the same as copper, but it does not become brittle and split as easily, it is not as maleable. The best possible thing to use is bloc tin, the spec for it far exceeds our needs however in cases where you want no transit contamination it is the standard. I would use the copper coated SS tube, best of both worlds.

 

i use stainless lines, brake lines work to if your handy with a bender.

 

You are using Kunifer, Copper & nickel, Volvo were the first to use it on a production car.

 

...And there you go. There is nothing like real-world evidence. Some of you guys worry too much.

 

Here in the Netherlands, Europe copper (cunifer) is almost ALWAYS used to replace bad fuel and/or brake lines.
And every car that is converted to run on LPG (and there are ALOT) has a copper (cunifer) gasline running from the tank in the rear to the engine compartment.

 

Copper fuel lines were used as original equipment on most cars and trucks for over 50 years.

Oldsmobile continued to use them at least as late as 1966.

We have reproduced many O.E. type fuel lines, and we always reproduce them with the original material. We use aluminum, copper, and steel, depending on original. So far, no issues.

So far, in my experience of working on cars and carburetors (since 1959) I have seen two fuel line failures (both a cracked flare); one copper, and one steel. Both had well over 200,000 miles.

For my own vehicles with aftermarket dual quads, I will use steel, simply because I have a commercial grade bending machine, and I think it is superior (opinion); but I still repro lines that were originally copper using copper (I just don't own one of those vehicles). And if I owned one of the vehicles originally using copper that was a show vehicle, I would not hesitate to use (and drive the vehicle) copper.

Edit - just read the post about the air compressors. We have one which originally came with a steel line that broke twice (flare). I have since replaced it successfully with a very hard aluminum line.

Jon.

 

Around here Nat Gas legally is run in ,Butyl and/or Black Iron, LP is run with Butyl, and /or Flared Copper, most are done with copper but butyl is slowly becoming used more because of price.
Wev'e got 3 old tractors here that the lines are flared copper 2 with better than 65 years of use on the original lines

 

this has been talked about before search copper lines and i would use these Cupro Nickel Brake Lines http://catalog.fmsiinc.com/viewitems/brake-lines/cupro-nickel-brake-lines

 

I use copper.

 

years ago worked with a friend of mine restoring indian motocycles,used cooper for the fuel and oil feed lines, soldered at the joints and double flaired at the fitting ends, also put alot of hard miles on the bikes and never had one burst into flames ,and thats a hell of a lot more vibration than any street driven car, but just my 2 cent.

 

33,000 hard miles on my '51 Plymouth and I couldn't be any happier with my decision to use copper.





This topic reminds me of the "spool-on-the-street" topic.

Funny.





******Knuckles

 

i think for fuel lines, if they are made right, you should have no problems!!

 

just saw an article in r&c with copper fuel lines
looked good
didnt say anything about any problems
they must do it alot
and they used compression fittings

 

If it ever does decide to leak, you've got all of that header wrap there to soak it up....

 

I'm a believer in stainless lines. Living in Wisconsin, factory steel brake lines don't live much over 10 years on anything driven in the winter. Replacement steel lines might last 5 years. They sell plastic coated lines but, like powder coating, once it cracks, the water gets under it and rusts twice as fast.

There are several companies making stainless steel brake line kits. I put them in the 90 chevrolet that I plow snow with in 2000 and haven't had another problem. I know that stainless will handle the **** they call gasoline these days too and it will shine up real pretty if that's your thing.

 

I've been running a copper fuel line since 1977! I support it well with split rubber hose pieces and tyraps...never a problem and 84,500 miles...BUT during a recent inspection of my rubber hose in the engine compartment and near the muffler on the electric pump, I noticed some cracking...just finished replacing it with some Gates sae 30R7 that is the same that came off it...Goodyear states their sae 30R7 numbered hose is okay in a low pressure situation using the ethanol 10% junk we get today...they even state it is okay with the higher percentage gasahol...I'm attributing most of my problem to engine/muffler heat...just glad I noticed it before a BIG problem!! I'm feeling pretty good about the hose I'm using because it's been on their since 2001 and some 55,000 miles.