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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Braided fuel hose. Good or bad?

I recently bought a glass and chrome fuel filter that can be dismantled for cleaning, so I thought I might get some stainless steel braided fuel hose to compliment it an maybe brighten up my engine bay. But, I spoke to Ian Cooke at the MG/Triumph show last week and he said that he doesn't like it because you can't see that the rubber has deteriorated through the S.S. covering and he nearly had a fire for that reason, so he's gone back to plain rubber.
I've seen some advertised that says the inner is made of Nitrile and is good for lots of uses including petrol and diesel. I was thinking of trying to get some at the upcoming NEC show.
Any thoughts anyone?

Bernie.
b higginson

I use injection quality plain hoses.

A
Anthony Cutler

Intresting Bernie, thats what I need to know too.
Arie de Best

regardless of the material used, hoses should be inspected and as they get 10+ years old, it is not a bad idea to replace them (brake, clutch, fuel, what have you). Synthetic materials have gone a long way to extend the life of flexible hoses, but anything that flexes, and is exposed to the harsh fuel/heat/oil in an engine room will tend to be broken down, over time.

I wonder how old the one was on Ian's car?

BTW, "stainless" fuel hoses are just regular fuel hose with a cosmetic stainless wrap, so you could probably get nitrile, or the heavily reinforced hose used for FI that Anthony mentioned, and slip a SS wrap over it for an original look.

Back in the day, natural rubber (very good for many things, but short lived against UV and Ozone and oil) would be wrapped by a cloth tape to protect it against the environment, and a stainless fabric wrap against pressure. Today, the outer layer of hoses is usually mostly synthetic to achieve the same purpose for less cost.

IIRC:
vacuum hose - made from a hard material to avoid collapse under vacuum, NG For fuel or pressure use.
fuel hose - fiber reinforced, with different layers of synthetic and natural materials to deal with the chemicals it is exposed to.
FI fuel hose - more heavily reinforced, for high pressure.


Norm
Norm Kerr

Vacuum hose is usually steel reinforced inner section or hard moulded plastic because when the natural strength of the hose fades away a sudden collapse under "suckness" can cause the servo to fail.

Very dodgy. As to the original question, I'm like Anthony, I use injection system strength hose for fuel. It is rated for higher internal pressure and thus is far likelier to last longer. And yes you can get steel braided covering sheaths if you fancy "lookielikey" OE look piping.
Bill 1

I use my braided brake hoses as a measure.
When it is time to change them it is time to change the fuel lines (clutch mounted solid)
Fuel indeed goes through high pressure fuel hoses no need for bling there.

Braided brake hoses are suppose to be good for 10 years so I change them after a max of 7.

Fuel is to expensive to leak nowadays
Onno Könemann

Bad for precisely the reason you state - you cannot inspect it. I have seen a car on fire due to this.
Also its a pain to work with, and doesn't clamp down as well as plain hose (though you are supposed to cut back the braid where clips are).

DH2
DH2

Another vote here for plain hoses because you can see when they start to deteriorate.

If the hose is properly clamped / constrained then there should be no chaffing risk and therefore no need for braiding.

I have two first hand experiences (with cloth braided rather than steel braided but it amounts to the same thing) with my Mum's Alfa and my late Sister's Nova (Vauxhall not Chevy :) ) where the first thing we knew of a perished hose was a significant fuel leak. In the case of the Alfa it was so bad the fire brigade had to be called because the car was sitting in a pool of fuel.
Jeremy Cogman

Thanks for the input guys. As usual, lots of sense from the usual suspects. Time for a re-think on the "Bling" aspect. The normal fuel hose that I presently have is OK, so I'll probably stick with that. Many thanks also to Ian Cooke if he reads this BBS, for first alerting me to the possible hazards.

Bernie.
b higginson

Not all braided steel hose is the same. Goodridge or Aeroquip braided steel hose is manufactured to a specific standard and has a publicised tech spec of working pressure and burst pressure etc. It's used in aviation and very safe.

Other braided steel hose is rubber with a braided steel outer and can be pretty rubbish.
Daniel Thirteen-Twelve

This thread was discussed between 25/10/2011 and 26/10/2011

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