Club 80-90 Forums

Would it be ok to use Copper pipe for the long parts of the fuel hoses in engine bay (DG Carb)

not a fan of having 3 ft of rubber hose in a hot engine bay.

Bought the decent Brickwerx stuff but don't want 3 ft of it exposed to 200 degrees as its not rated that high for heat.

Rick

What makes you think VW got it wrong?

pictures of burning vans mostly

very odd reply

I wouldn't as Cu pipe would soon work harden and fracture if subjected to vibration. You would have to clamp it at small intervals all along the length if you were to do so. Why not use steel/stainless steel which wouldn't require as much clamping? You will still need rubber from engine to chassis pieces.
You shouldn't be running any fuel hose/pipe near that heat anyway, sure way to vapour lock I would have thought.

Thanks Oldie

Mine is a bit of a bugger after being parked when hot.

like the carb needs a heatshield under it.

Just trying to avoid problems as the R9 fuel hose I fitted at Easter is already showing signs of Heat on it's outer layer.
I really don't want to lose my Van through stupidity

Regards
Rick

Use R14 Gates Barricade rated to 150° and 100% ethanol. Pricey though.That is what I use for my heaters now. Might be worth fashioning a heatshield if at all possible if it is causing problems but it isn't a problem that I recall being raised on here before.
Used to get vapour lock on an old Cortina when I was a little younger - fuel pump was right by the exhaust manifold.

Hi Oldie

Complete Carb strip and clean yesterday so hopefully all ok now.

just noted cracks in the outside of the 9 month old fuel hoses (Not Brickwerx hose)

Brickwerks hose bought now to replace cracking stuff

Regards
Rick

what about the polyamide pipe brickwerks sell? then just have rubber at the connections either end?

Hi Lloydy

I wasn't sure what sort of temperature rating the polyamide stuff has really

just thinking of what to do so posted here to find out what you guys have done.

Regards
Rick

Cobra88 wrote:Would it be ok to use Copper pipe for the long parts of the fuel hoses in engine bay (DG Carb)

not a fan of having 3 ft of rubber hose in a hot engine bay.

Bought the decent Brickwerx stuff but don't want 3 ft of it exposed to 200 degrees as its not rated that high for heat.

Rick

I wouldn't have thought the engine bay temp would get much above 85ºC, even in summer traffic jams, otherwise the coolant in the overflow tank would start to boil, and lots of the plastic parts in the engine bay would melt. Obviously there are parts of the engine that get much hotter - notably the turbo, and the exhaust manifold and system, but the fuel feed is generally run from the other side of the engine bay and doesn't touch those areas.

The reason you see pictures of burning vans is not because VW got it wrong, but it's because of owners not knowing, or forgetting, that fuel hose is a component that needs to be checked regularly, and replaced when necessary. It has a limited lifespan, particularly when exposed to fuel with high bio-ethanol content, and will eventually deteriorate and split.

Cobra88 wrote:pictures of burning vans mostly

very odd reply

There are plenty of vehicles driving around in 50deg C ambient with rubber fuel pipe, manufacturers spend millions on research and development but there is always somebody who thinks they know better.

burning vans are because of bad electrics and crappy ebay fuel pipe otherwise all vans in the middle east and Australia would be on fire.

I didn't think I knew better, Did I say I knew better ? no...………

I would think almost 40 years on there are a lot of bits we can improve over VW's original design.
Materials for sure.

Has it even occured to you that the rubber is insulating the fuel from heat?

Put metal pipe in the engine bay now you are heating your fuel.

I recently changed my 2,1 DJ fuel pipe to Brickwerks, the pipe on there was nearly 30 years old and still in near perfect condition, VW know what they were doing, they sold these vans in Africa.

No mate only been a Mechanical Engineer for 44 years so im obviously an Amateur compared to you.

Your usually so helpful too

I was saying that fuel hose was showing cracks on outside after 10 months use.
I bought it from JK so I guess that was where I went wrong.

Didn't know of Brickwerx for a few weeks when I first bought van (lesson learned)

Cobra88 wrote:Hi Lloydy

I wasn't sure what sort of temperature rating the polyamide stuff has really

just thinking of what to do so posted here to find out what you guys have done.

Regards
Rick

It's what VW use, all diesels have it running across the top of the engine