Fuel line question

60 tr3a.The short braided gas lines are all leaking and need to be changed.They go onto a tee that looks like a fuel sump by the carbs.There are no hose clamps.Are thy part of the tee?If I get on the hose with pliers will I snap something or will they slide off?

The TR3As after about TS-43000 came with slide-on black rubber hoses. They were never braided altough some use them now. For safety reasons TRA and VTR judges will allow you to put small hose clamps onto the ends of the hoses. I would slide off the old ones, cut new ones and put on small clamps.

Thanks Don.The only one who will ever be judging this car is my girlfriend and if I tell her her cooking is good,she better say my car looks good!

Don Elliott said:

They were never braided

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I don't believe that is correct, Don. At least some cars had push-on hoses with black fabric braid on the outside of the rubber.

Johnny, that 'sump' is the float bowl, an important part of the carbs. It is soft mounted on some rubber seals that perish easily (and let fuel drip onto the hot exhaust manifold), so you want to be careful about how much force you apply to the bowl without supporting it. But you should be able to firmly grip the hose with pliers and twist it back and forth to break the seal and work it off.

Afterwards, as Don says, I would suggest replacing with modern nitrile fuel line (the originals won't stand up for long to what passes for gasoline in the US these days), and small hose clamps, moderately tightened. The modern lines won't grip as tightly as the originals did, making the clamps mandatory IMO.

Personally, I also like to replace all the soft fuel lines every decade or so, just because they can get old and break internally without looking particularly bad from the outside. Little flakes of rubber from inside the hose can get into the float valves and block them open, causing the float bowls to overflow (generally while you are stopped in heavy traffic )

Like Don I use clamps -- the fuel injection clamps (as he shows) are on one TR, I use spring-wire clamps on the other.



Dont much care for the cheese-grater band clamps because of the look, what they do to the hose and those ends can slice you when you're working under the bonnet.

"Horses for courses" of course. I actually prefer what Geo calls "cheese-grater" clamps, as I feel they are actually kinder to the hoses than the spring-wire ones (if you don't overtighten them), and adjust to suit a wide range of hose diameters. Plus if you are careful to get the fully stainless steel ones, they will last forever without rusting. Lots easier to remove and install with just my pocket knife, too.

YMMV and all that.

Johny I just started my dad's tr3 in July after sitting. So it you have a leak I guess that I can assume that you've decided to start her. I had similar issues with fuel. I can say that I pretty much rebuilt the fuel system from the tank to the carbs. I removed and cleaned the tank, replaced all the steel lines from the tank to the pump, New fuel lines from the new pump (get the one that has the primer),new filter,new lines to and between the carbs.
Then you'll want to pull those bowls clean them and the floats replace the grommets that seal the bowls top and bottom. Since that she's run well aside from points and timing. I did all the work my self and I has been great.
If you haven't yet get the shop manual and parts catalog. If you want to know what these guys are saying when they use terms you don't understand get on Moss or Victoria British's website and you can look at detailed diagrams. You'll know them well soon and they will know your credit card # by heart.
After all of that starting her up and driving it (after the brakes were repaired) starting and driving it has been the best thing in my life in a long time. Here's my post after getting her going and a vid of my maiden voyage.
https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...ttle#Post606498

Randall,

In the picture that you posted above, what is inline sitting on top of the float bowl? Is that a fuel filter or something else?

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd

Pied, the piece on top of the bowl is just part of the lid, for the later style float bowls (with push-on fittings).

There is also a short piece of bent hard line before the bowl, which I added to keep the soft line runs as short as possible with the bowl lid turned to clear the paper element air filter.

Here's a factory shot of the stock arrangement, with the later push-on fittings.

I can add nothing to the conversation about TR3 originality but I would like to offer a comment regarding hose clamps.

There is yet another type of hose clamp that would probably be acceptable to both Randall and Geo. If you leave the LBC world and head over to the VW dealer, they use band type clamps similar to the "cheese grater". However, instead of the clamps having slots for the worm gear, they have embossed teeth. This results in a much smoother inner surface where the clamps contact the rubber hose. They cause little or no damage compared to cheese graters and they spread the contact area out more than the wire clamps. I believe the company that makes them is called "Norma". They make versions big enough for heater hose and small enough for fuel hose.

https://www.macysgarage.com/myweb6/fuel_hose_clamps.htm

I found this to be a pretty good discussion of fuel hose clamps.

dklawson said:

There is yet another type of hose clamp that would probably be acceptable to both Randall and Geo.

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It's pretty much personal preference, IMO, any of the various types of clamps shown are "acceptable". The types preferred by Geo and Mark Macy are also quite commonly used by OEM car makers (possibly because they are cheap as well as functional). In fact, apparently both were used on the TR6:
https://www.zeni.net/trf/TR6bluebook/23.php

Here's another type that would work well (and I have seen in a few OEM automotive applications) :
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/herbieclips.php

But for myself, I intend to stick with the worm-drive band clamps. Those others are too hard to install with just a pocket knife :laugh:

These might be the ones Doug is talking about, but ISTR the ones on my VW Rabbit (Golf) were slightly different.
https://www.norma.net.au/norma-torro.html

<tuppence> Wurth and Zebra as well. </tuppence>

Yes Randall, I was indeed thinking of Norma's Torro clamps.

https://www.idealclamps.com/catalog/index.php?ID=1

I actually bought a few stainless Ideal clamps at Home Depot in my constant quest to find local sources. Some Goo Gone took off the SKU.

Taking a look at their website, I see they have lined and solid clamps, too. I did not check to see if they were in fuel line sizes,though.

CinneaghTR said:

I actually bought a few stainless Ideal clamps

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Does HD carry the all-stainless ones, or just the (cheaper) ones where only the band & worm cover are stainless? I dislike the latter kind, because the worm will rust eventually, ruining the clamp.

Ideal makes both kinds; I went to MMC to get the all-stainless variety.

I don't have them handy, but I thought they were all stainless. I had those same concerns.

I need to make McMaster-Carr my home page so I'll get in the habit of going there...