• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

59 TR3A Fuel Pump

Share this page

Is it possible that you have 1/4" steel fuel line. The ferrule will not compress steel fuel line. The ferrule and the nut are brass so it should not take a lot of force to compress the ferrule on copper or copper alloy tubing. Excess force will round off the nut. You might look into a line wrench specifically made for this application that will grip the nut better so there is less chance of rounding the new nut off. Frank
 
well I was wrong about that. I went out and took a file to the 1/4" line and it looked to be steel instead of copper, so I stuck a magnet on it and it is steel much to my surprise. The olive does look different. It is more square on the nut side.
1-4%22 fuel line..jpg
 
I put a small BUNA o ring between the olive and the fuel pump inlet. Donā€™t know the size I chose, just grabbed one from an assortment from Harbor Freight and it worked; hasnā€™t leaked or weeped since.

Got lucky first time out.
 
Hmmmm. This is very interesting, and I thank you again. I examined my 1/4ā€ compression sleeves (olives), and they are identical on both ends. Your idea of a Buna o-ring makes a lot of sense, as I canā€™t imagine how much torque it will take to deform the brass olive tight to the steel tube. I have ordered a new Tube Nut from Moss, and will pick up some o-rings from Napa Auto Parts. Once again, thank you so much for responding with good advice.
 
If you have a Harbor Freight near you have a look at their "O" ring kit in the red box. Great selection and not too much $.

David
 
Thanks; will do. Only problem is the smallest quantity is hundreds of o-rings of many sizes for $7 to $9.ā€˜I need one; what other applications do you use them for?
 
Donald1107 said:
Thanks; will do. Only problem is the smallest quantity is hundreds of o-rings of many sizes for $7 to $9.ā€˜I need one; what other applications do you use them for?
Click to expand...
Get a roll of 3/4" teflon tape which is thicker than the 1/2" .Cut a strip narrower about 1/2" wide to wrap the front of the ferrule about 3 wraps and one sretched around the whole ferrule .Snug up.Teflon tape is ribbon packing and works really well to seal a ferrule .
Tom
 
Always handy to have a selection f "O" rings on hand. I have used them to fi leaking taps and as drive wheels on small projects.

David
 
Guys: I have finally achieved success with my fuel line leak. It turned out that the tube was bumping into a shoulder in the port, which apparently prevented the olive mating up with the port chamfer that compresses it. Testing a 1/4ā€ tube on the old fuel pump, I discovered this shoulder, and wiggling the tube a wee bit, it found the proper port and went in another 1/4ā€. I marked this fully inserted distance on the fuel pipe and made sure the pipe was fully inserted as I tightened the new tube nut. It made a completely tight joint without an o-ring or Teflon tape.
 
Back
Top