Black braided fuel line, anyone had issues??
 

Put this in this section cause I need immediate help. Haven't driven the car in 29 months, so this a major setback to my heart!!

I have Summit brand black braided nylon (i think) -10 feed and -8 return lines on my 70. Got the new motor installed and on the road yesterday only to make a couple of check out runs down my road. Came back to check on a minor oil leak. Got it fixed went to make another shake down run, but when I fired it up and the fuel pump kicked on it started pouring fuel out underneath the car. Put it back on the lift on to find 3 places in the feed line that was pouring out fuel. Sheath was still intact but it was coming through it. Cut a section out, and split it open and it appears it cracked internally then finally busted. Now I'm split on what to do, get the same style hose from one of the bigger companies or move to a steel braided. Hoping to stay black as everything under the car and under the hood is black. Just need some input

What type of material was the inner section made of (rubber or teflon lined)?

Nitrile inner hose!! Summit #SUM-240020B

Although a lot of summit brand parts work well, including their fittings, their hose is not one of them! We bought some a few years back to try on one of my personal cars and wound up throwing it all away. We have been using hardline andTeflon hose on most everything and for sure on any FI systems.

29 months = dry rot :thankyou:

I think I'm going to go back with Russel brand hose

Dry rot is what I figured.

I just ordered the PTFE hose from Pegasus Racing a month ago. It will be installed this week, so I cannot comment on it yet. But it was a little cheaper, and they had reusable fittings available as well...

Pegasus PTFE Fuel Line

trying not to have to replace fittings. Right now using the Summit brand black style fitting. Have had no issues with them in the 5 or so years and countless projects I have used them on.

I've got Earl's black braided hose on my TA. One of the first things I intend to do with the car when I start working on it again is replace all of it with hard lines and PTFE hose. The smell is terrible.

I used the summit brand fittings but used Russell black nylon hose and have had no problems with either of them.

Chad,

I think the hole industry went thru a bad batch of hose a couple years back. If I'm not mistaken there's only two manufactures that supply to EVERYONE and then they private label it. I had a few issues of my own on a couple projects back then. It dose not matter if its black or s.s. braid. It all has the same inner lining.

This is one of the major reasons why I try to do as much hard line as possible for any system on a car.


Mark

I agree, I will only use hardline if I ever redo my flex lines, the smell sucks.

I think it's more like if you run fuel through non teflon braided hose, it will eventually fail like this, not so much in whos hose you're using.

Summit does not manufacturer the things they sell under their name, and there is a reasonable chance what they sell is just rebranded Earls (or some other mfg they sell).

Just in case you were thinking about PTFE lines as an option, I just did an EFI fuel system install on my car and used both the Aeroquip S-TW PTFE hose and SuperGem fittings and the Earl's Speed-flex lined(static dissipating) PTFE hose and PTFE fittings. The Aeroquip SuperGem PTFE fittings are less expensive(aeroquip.cc) and easier to install, but the Earl's hose is less expensive even though it has the inner lining for eliminating static build up. Overall, the same price for both hose and fittings with Aeroquip being a little easier to install the fittings on the hose. Neither of these companies offer a black PTFE hose though. I know Pegasus does, but it's $$$. I think another company does also, can't remember the name.

Ive used the Earls black hose and havent had any issues but have heard of some that have.

I plan on going over it with a "microscope" when I get the car back on the road this spring....I may change it out even if it visually looks ok on the outside..piece of mind

I just bought the 911 PTFE hose from Pegasus Racing for the Cuda...its nice but its frickin expensive. About 3x as much per foot. Im going to run alot of hardline but even just the short sections from frame to tank etc cost a pretty penny.

Why is that so dang cheap? Any experience with it?

True, it will eventually fail and fumes will come through no matter what, But the Summit hose we had did not resemble any "name brand" hose that we were familiar with. I have no idea who makes (made) it for them. But, This was also a few years back and it may be different now.

I don't have any personal experience. I do know a couple of shops that buy from them and were happy

I've been using them w/o issue thus far. The black stainless is more like a lightly painted black.

BlackWrap Braided SS PTFE Hose

http://www.techafx.com/catalog/49

I've been using nothing but PTFE for fuel delivery since 2005. I had to re-work a few lines over the weekend andshortened/re-used one of them. It was still in very good condition. There are some things that are just not worth trying to save a few pennies on.

Like Steve said, for fuel it needs to be teflon lined.

Kevin

Awe crap! Same stuff on my car! :bang:

I have a larger than stock pre-bent aluminum line from In-Line Tube... maybe I would be better safe than sorry and put that on and run braided to each end of it?

Wonder if it's big enough to feed my engine? 550hp 440cid?

What size is "larger than stock"?

3/8" is stock... so 1/2"

1/2" is fine for that power level. Plenty are running -8AN (1/2") in higher power engines just fine.

My 550hp SBC was running 3/8 stock line for almost 2 years and never any fuel issues.

That's what I thought... engine dyno'd at 601hp peak with a 1" spacer and air pump. That's all off for street use along with going to a 1" shorter single plane intake to clear my Formula hood. So I figure I lost an easy 50hp... maybe more? 1/2" should work fine. Time to pull all that pretty black braided line off the car before it goes up in flames!

Ive been using Earls Pro-lite 350 hose for going on 6 years now without issue. The majority of the cars I do rarely get driven... maybe a few hundred miles a year. One of them I know has seen less than 50 miles since I finished it 5 years ago.

Could this breakdown be another result of the ethanol fuels that would make it more likely in some parts of the country rather than others?

Here is another company (Goodridge Fluid Systems) that sells black braided hose, but it is not easy to find. This is what DSE uses on some of their projects.


http://www.goodridge.net/webapp/wcs/...400_motorsport

Jeff