Is there a better quality clear line? I don't care if its red. I'll me using it for a "sight gl*** "fule gauge on my keg tank in the bed of my pick up.
After 1 year my redlines all cracked & leaked at once. You can actually see cracks within the lines. So I'd say use'em with great caution and plenty of inspection from time to time.
ever since my 55 chevy sedan delivery caught fire back in '68, when the plastic fuel line cracked, i always use all metal lines. when i see that red **** on a nice hot rod, i figure the guy just doesn't know any better, yet.
Great for a "Street Rod" but it's the First thing to "86" if you plan on racing it... NHRA wouldn't even think of letting it on a NHRA track because of previous problems and fires! Oh well... better to error on the side of "Safety"!
One of the coolest things I have ever seen was due to a plastic fuel line. Up the street from my house when I was a kid these university guys were renting a house. they found an old moped in the shed and decided to get it running. The problem was a rotted out rubber fuel line, which they replaced with a clear vinyl piece from Canadian Tire. When they routed the line, they didn't notice that it was laying across the cylinder head right near the exhaust port (or they were too buzzed on cheap wine to care). One of them hops on, pedals her up and starts running it up and down the street. On one p*** while he was riding away from us, this large fireball comes out the side of the moped a good four feet! Buddy jumps off to put his shoe out and the moped keeps rolling down the street on fire, eventually crashing into some garbage cans and falling over. The fire went out when the minimal amount of fuel burned up, but there was a visit from the local fire deparment anyway. Buddy lost a sock and an shoe and had scorch marks on his levi's (and probably stained shorts too) and the moped was done. I still laugh when I picture that scene. The moral, I wouldn't use plastic fuel lines, even on a moped.
The first time I ran my Truck down @ Bowling Green HHR, I had atleast 5' worth of the red line on the exposed front engine bay area..I started out with the red clear line just to see what the fuel was doing since I never run the 94's let alone six at once.......Tech walked up to my Truck w/ a big smile checked everything out and said cool..Asked how fast, I said mid twelves so far..and he signed my paper....He gigged everyone around me for much lesser rule breakers than my fuel line.....Don Moyer will remember how nervous I was about getting teched that first time by the NHRA guys @ HHR...........If I remember right, Don told me to keep my mouth shut during tech and not to point it out..........Much wiser now.....I use NHRA rules as a standard and try to better them when I deem necessary........Saftey no matter if it's on the street or screamin down the 1320, well I shoot for that...........Littleman
Ha; Might have a nostalgic look to the unaware, but are a safety hazard and are banned on 'real' rods that perform in compe***ion. If you want plastic lines, can rationalize the obvious safety issues thereof, that's fine with me, but any suggestion that might lead the unaware 'first builder' of the safety hazards, that might be persuaded to use them is a disservice to our hobby. Two wrongs dont make a right. A car without seatbelts with plastic fuel lines after the fuel pump has TWO safety issues. In the kinder, gentler HAMB, it's an opinion. Back in 1960 on the track we called people that used soft fuel lines under pressure idiots(behind their backs, because we hoped that or anything else that took them out of the race was a good thing!) Of course then it wasn't banned because fires and such were crowd pleasers, and other drivers looked upon anything the potential competetion done that was idiotic as good. Speedway is providing a disservice to the hobby by selling the lines.
what ever happen to that thread about the 32 coupe that burned up because of those lines? I cant find it.
I ran some of this red vinyl gas line on my car back in the 60's.It got hard as a rock and turned pink on every application I used it on.
X2 The gas around here is reformulated... I wonder if maybe it eats at the lines or breaks them down faster? Mine didn't make it a year...
Might look cool to some but why chance it? What ever lines you run be sure to carry a FIRE EXTINGUISHER! Maby two of em! I learned this the hard way. Nearly lost my '36 to a under hood fire and had no squirter on board!
Looks neat, but learned my lesson. Caught fire pulling in the back door of the shop, after a couple of hours of having a good time. Thank goodness I had fire extinguishers handy. Had it been a block away, I'd have lost it!
with a pair of gloves and a knife,or other very sharp object you can poke a hole in your top radiator hose to use it as a hydrant and maybe have enough pressure and fluid to put out the fire still not a subs***ute for an extingusher..but in a pinch..quick thinking may save the day.. or just dont run this type of fuel delivery system..unless you feel lucky
Ask the NHRA about rubber/vinyl fuel lines. I have no love for the No Hot Rods Anymore, but there is a reason why they specify no more than 12" of rubber/vinyl line. Back in the '60's when we were building cars, lots of guys ran the clear/red stuff and it bit some of them on the ****. Not all of them, but most of us really didn't want a fire, so we stayed away from it. I'm still a fan of copper, but I'm hearing it too may be problematic. I'm going to echo the opinion that if you choose to run the red/clear stuff, you stay on top of it. I think if you asked the guys here that have had an engine fire they would do whatever to make sure it never happened again.
Its like the common threads , if in doubt over safety issues trust your instincts . The new red fuel line is certainly of dubious quality. It seem you get a gay pink one or one that resembles garden hose. I ran red fuel line on my blown flathead for years with no worries but it was the older cherry red stuff. When we rebuilt the car I scrounged up enough of the old stuff (some was nos)and fed it over hard line. Just sat it in warm water to ease it over the bends ,with a bit of heat gun work. Put br*** olive fittings on the end , pushed the red line back far enough to slip a fitting and olive on the othe end. Worked great.
Everything for hard lines including the Ford nut(part#59X4) that fits them to Strombergs was available at my local NAPA and was half the price of red fuel line RED FUEL LINE 5/16" hose fittings for a Stromberg 97 are $8.95 each x 2 6 foot of red hose is $16.95 if you want a nice cast fuel block $40 - 60 fittings for fuel block $15 I had to add shipping to this as well HARD LINES Ford nut to suit Stromberg 97 $1.75 each 2 ready made brake lines $7 2 br*** fittings $6 tube bending tool $15 (and it was made in the USA) Oh and a trip to my local NAPA parts store
its terrible ****. It fades out, and if you have an open engine compartment, the sun causes it to harden and crack. Use steel or black fuel line
They are the lucky ones, that can relate to their experience. A fire in the garage added to a couple of incidental cir***stances, unknown with the ultimate price making it impossible to ask what happed???.................... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350088 I'll say this every time one of these threads comes along, Speedway (and others) are doing a disservice to sell the ****.
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