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Fuel Line help!

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Basil

Basil

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Boss
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Ok, I just rercently bought new fuel line for my EType from XKs Unlimited, so I'm assuming it is the correct stuff (3/8") fuel line. But I have tried everything I can think of - heat gun, boiling the stuff, etc and I just can NOT seem to get the new fuel line onto the banjo union connectors (see picture attached). Does anyone have experience with getting VERY stubborn and unyielding fuel line onto one of these types of banjo connectors? Any help would be greatly appreciated. (I had to slice off the old lines)

Basil
 

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Pre stretch the fuel line. Heat it & force it over a suitably sized tapered mandrel - a little larger than the fitting. (drift punch or something similar). Cool the tubing with the mandrel in place, remove the mandrel, slip the tubing over the fitting & again heat the tubing to make it shrink back & snugly fit over the fitting. Sometimes a little silicone grease helps.
D
 
heat source=boiling water.
 
<span style='font-size: 17pt'><span style='font-family: Verdana'><span style="color: #009900">Success!</span></span></span> Ok, heating with water didn't even come close to making the line soft enough (212 deg) and I don't own a good heat gun (or I would have tried that). So, I called and asked <u>Jim at XKs Unlimited</u>(where I bought the fuel line) how they do it when they restore EType Jags. What follows is the procedure, which works very well, thanks very much! <span style="color: #CC0000">(Note - involves heating oil, so use this procedure at your own risk)</span>

1. Pre- route your lines so that you can get them the right length and then pre-mark the top of each end. <span style="color: #CC0000">This is because once the banjo fitting is in and the line has cooled, it will not twist easily, so better to have them the correct orientation to begin with. </span>

2. Ok, next clamp the banjo fitting with a pair of vice grips - the large round end opposite where you wil be putting the line (You will use these to hold the fitting while you push the line on).

3. Next get a small pan (don't need a very big one) and put enough Virgin Olive Oil in the pan to give a depth of about 1-1/2" . Then heat the oil to <u>almost</u> boiling (<span style="color: #CC0000">but you don't want it to boil or you'll have a mess!</span>). Then, you can turn the heat off until ready to do the next end because the oil will stay quite hot foa while.

4. Then, put on a decent pair of leather work gloves (the line is going to get rather hot).

5. Holding the banjo fitting with the Vice Grips, dip the end where the line will go into the oil for about 10 seconds to heat it (give it a bit more time in the oil than the line).

6. Now, pre-flair the end of the line a little with a lager phillips head driver or similer and then dip the line in the oil also (use good gloves) and submerge the tip about 1 to 11/2 inches. Hold it in the oil fo about 6-7 seconds.

7. Then pull both items out of the oil and carefully start the fitting into the end of the now (very) hot line and, while holding the line back where it is probably still cool enough, just push straight on DO NOT TWIST! If it is sufficiently warm it will slide right on <span style="color: #663333"><span style='font-size: 14pt'>slicker than snail snot on a brass door knob!</span></span> Then, when it cools, that sucker is ON!

Hope this is useful for others!

Basil
 
Hello Basil,

you have accomplished what you set out to do. The following may be useful to others who have a similar problem and a suitable tool.

My Triumph P.I. fuel lines (1\4" dia) have to be fitted cold onto the unions, as I understand that heat does affect the plastic line (which is running at about 110 p.s.i pressure)
I use a professional quality brake flaring tool that I have. The line is held in the split clamping dies and I simply use the screw to press the union onto the pipe.

This procedure could be used with a variety of similar tools, with the proviso that the line needs to be secure but not compressed by the clamp.

Alec
 
Well! for whatever reason, I've managed it with boiling water in past. I like the idea of not having to grunt as much, tho. I may have to have a go at a fuel line for the Elan, so this is a new method worth filing in the gray-room databanks. Glad ya got it, Boss. THX for passing that thru.

BTW: Was there a salad for din-din afterwards? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
DrEntropy said:
BTW: Was there a salad for din-din afterwards? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
Click to expand...

No, but the house did smell like a Greek restaurant afterwards!
 
piman said:
Hello Basil,

you have accomplished what you set out to do. The following may be useful to others who have a similar problem and a suitable tool.

My Triumph P.I. fuel lines (1\4" dia) have to be fitted cold onto the unions, as I understand that heat does affect the plastic line (which is running at about 110 p.s.i pressure)
I use a professional quality brake flaring tool that I have. The line is held in the split clamping dies and I simply use the screw to press the union onto the pipe.

This procedure could be used with a variety of similar tools, with the proviso that the line needs to be secure but not compressed by the clamp.

Alec
Click to expand...

Hi Alec, I've heard of that method as well. I asked about the heat affect on the tubing and they said it only temorarily softens it to allow for by-hand insertion (of the fitting) but then as it cools it tries to retain its original shape and since the fitting is "jagged" there is no way for it to easily pull out once everything has cooled. Anyway, thanks for posting an alternate method. There's always more than one way to skin a cat.

Basil
 
And this fine info was put in the WIWI was it not?
 
Put it in the WIWI too! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

...always good to use redundancy as a backup scheme. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
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