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TR2/3/3A TR-3 Fuel Line Question

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Vaark01

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Hi Everyone,

I have tried unsuccessfully (Moss/RF/Victoria)to find a new fuel line for my TR-3B (TCF-486))that runs from the tank fuel line to the pump.

My line has a slight leak at the pump fitting. I tighten it up frequently, but it still leaks a little. I put on a new fuel pump last summer.

I also bought a fuel shutoff unit and will install it when I put in a new line.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Paul
 
AFAIK, it's just 5/16 Bundy (seamless zinc plated steel) tubing. MMC sells it by the roll or your FLAPS should have short sections of it for sale as brake line.

However, replacing the line probably won't solve the leak at the pump. The problem is that the original sealing gland (ferrule) was shaped differently than modern replacements are. With a modern ferrule, the nut bottoms in the threads in the pump inlet before crushing the ferrule enough to make a tight seal.

If your old nut is in good shape, you may be able to fix the problem by just filing off the last thread, so it can go a little deeper into the pump body (of course leaving the part that presses on the ferrule).

Or, some have made a longer ferrule by grinding away the taper on each side of two ferrules.

On my previous car, I got on the lathe and made a nut, with an extended tip.

On the current one, the DPO apparently found a hose barb adapter that would seal to the threads in the pump. For the moment, I'm leaving sleeping dogs lie.

Does your 3B have the mounting bracket for the fuel shutoff valve? I thought the bracket disappeared when the valve did. Without the bracket, I would not use the original Triumph valve, as it's too heavy to be supported only by the lines.
 
Is that an original line or a replacement stainless steel line?
I've found that the stainless steel sounds good but is sometimes to hard a metal to make a good seal at the joint, the tubing 'mouth' is not as maleable as the cupro nickle tubing and may not form a tight fit.
I'd contact a specialty business that deals in brake lines etc. and have them make one out of the proper material.
 
TR3driver said:
Does your 3B have the mounting bracket for the fuel shutoff valve? I thought the bracket disappeared when the valve did...
Click to expand...

If it disappeared when the shutoff valve disappeared, it didn't disappear on all TR3s. My friends TCF 'B still has the bracket. In fact, when he was doing the resto he asked me what that was for.
 
If the ferrule (compression sleeve) is the same as that on my TR6, then you are correct in stating that the common plumbing ferrule obtained at the hardware store is different than those used on our gas lines. I buy them by the dozen from TRF specifically for these gas line. Just go to your local NAPA and buy some steel 5/16" fuel line in straight pieces (available in various lengths) and bend your own. Or are we on the same page?
 
Thanks everyone for your advice.

I don't know if my car has an original fuel line. I'll call RF to see if I can get a correct ferrule. If I can, I'll get a new fuel line from a parts store.

My car does not have the bracket for the fuel shut off valve. Ugh!

I'll try to get a local shop to make one and mount it to the frame. Someone sent me a picture a few months ago when I asked a question about the valve. I'll try to locate it before I take her to the shop.

I will start making notes on my Q&A for future reference so I don't have to go back through the pages to find them.

Thanks again to my TR friends.

Paul
 
Has anyone tried the lines from Classic Tubing? I'm thinking about replacing mine, and they claim to provide them pre-bent.
 
TR6BILL said:
I buy them by the dozen from TRF specifically for these gas line.
Click to expand...
Is that P/N 102729? Wish I had read this last night when I was ordering some other odds n ends!
 
Hi again,

I called Classic Tubing and spoke with Tom. He said they can make a line from the fuel tank line to the pump. They have them ready made from the pump to the carbs, but not from the tank line to the pump.

He asked me to send him mine so he can duplicate.

Before I do that, I thought I'd ask if anyone out there has the measurements involved so I don't have to take mine off to send it to him.

Thanks,
Paul
 
Vaark01 said:
a new fuel line for my TR-3B (TCF-486))that runs from the tank fuel line to the pump.
Click to expand...

Maybe you are not talking about connecting the hard line directly to the pump, but...

Even without the fuel shut-off, shouldn't a length of hose run between the end of the hard line from the tank and the pump? To allow for engine vibration and torque reaction force?
 
Yes. I'm looking for a line that connects the end of the hard line from the tank to the fuel pump.
 
Oh! John is quite right, there is a length of soft line there. Just ordinarly 5/16 'rubber' fuel line, available at any parts store.

I'm not sure how the hard line terminates on cars without the fuel tap, but with the tap, the line from the outlet of the tap just ends, and the rubber line is pushed over it and clamped. (Clamp might not be original, but is definitely recommended.) Same story at the fuel pump, there is a slightly longer (5 or 6") length of hard line that just ends, and the soft line is pushed over it.

Many of the parts diagrams show a soft line with integral fittings at each end, but these were only fitted to very early cars by the factory and have been NLA for a long time.

Here's a clip from the TR4 SPC, showing the later configuration (without the tap).
 
If your car is a true TR3B it should NOT have a petrol stop valve. These AND the mounting bracket were deleted at approx. TS30000.
 

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I'm pretty sure the change point was much later than that. TS39781LO had the bracket and tap. Don't recall the commission number for my first TR3A, but it was post-50K (later starter) and it had it too.

The SPC I have handy has no end point for the tap, even though it lists at least some of the changes at TS60000.
 
Randall,

The piece I am looking for is #52 in your diagram. I keep having to tighten the nut at the pump to keep the connection from leaking.

I bought a fuel tap several months ago and was hoping to install it. However, my car did not come with the mounting bracket. I do plan to take it to a shop and have them make one and put it on the frame.

My car has a build date of June 8, 1962. TCF-486L.

Thanks for the help.

Paul
 
I went back through all of my books, notes, etc and could not find documentation for deletion of the petrol tap.However, both Bill Piggott and Ian Cornish believe that it was closer to TS50000, and definately prior to TS60000. I also have old photos of two very original cars with no petrol tap but with the welded-on bracket. These cars are early TS50,000 vintage commission numbers, which would be summer 1959. So, evidently the factory didn't bother to lop off the bracket. They just used up all of the earlier chassis.
 
Makes sense to me, Frank. The tap was by no means extraneous, but it was bound to be a fairly expensive part with all that brass and machining. I've always believed it was removed as part of the cost-cutting measures imposed by Leyland after they absorbed Standard-Triumph. Cutting off the bracket was not cost-effective, so they didn't do that. Most of the cost-cutting measures had to be coordinated (at TS60K), but the tap could be deleted in isolation so it got cut sooner.

And as with so many things, likely there wasn't even a clean transition point. Cars were not finished in strict commission number order, so whoever installed the taps likely just kept installing them until the box was empty, then quit.
 
Vaark01 said:
The piece I am looking for is #52 in your diagram.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought you were talking about, Paul. It's just a smooth piece of 5/16" od fuel line, with a 'reverse' compression nut and compression sleeve on the pump end. That's the sleeve that isn't big enough, and causes leaks because it doesn't crush enough to seal. Very likely the sleeves Bill mentions from TRF will solve the problem, but I haven't seen them myself.

BTW, don't lean <span style="font-weight: bold">too </span>hard on tightening that nut. I broke a pump casting that way, it cracked open where the nut threads were hitting the bottom of the pump threads.
 
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