Braided Front Fuel Hose

[Ken's 57]

After a year and a half off the road I tried to fire up my re-built Grey motor today but found the glass bowl of the fuel pump had no fuel despite endless cranking. Seems the flexible braided hose between the steel line and the pump is both leaking and sucking air. Can't seem to find any type of replacement. Can anyone advise where to find another one or something that will do the job?

Cheers, Ken

[ardiesse]

Ken,

If you save the original threaded fittings you could go to Enzed or Pirtek or similar and get them to crimp a new section of braided hose onto your fittings.  I had the same problem about ten years ago with my '48.  I ground through the crimp ferrules, and then (carefully!) cut through the braid and rubber hose.  I fitted some ordinary fuel hose onto the original fittings as a temporary measure . . .

Guess what?  My temporary fix is still there, ten years later.

I think the nominal length of the fuel hose should be 10" (25 cm).

Rob

[Harv]

It's fairly common to replace the braided line with a short length of fuel hose, clamped in place. Far from original, but cheap and workable.

I wonder if the plumbers braided hoses sold in Bunnings would work (... did I say that out loud? pretty dodgy  ).

One thing to bear in mind is that the braided line also provides the earth return for the engine electricals. Sounds dodgy, but true. Replacing the braid with rubber can cause poor earthing, albeit the current often finds a path through the engine mounts or other anciliaries. It can be a good idea to run a block-to-subframe earth lead if doing this.

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

Harv,

You're right about the braided hose providing a block-to-body ground path.  But in the earlies, the battery negative goes to the body, and there's another braided cable between the block and the subframe.  So I could "do the dodgy fix" without upsetting the grounding.

In my FC, however, it's a different story.  I had to install a ground cable between the generator case and the regulator ground connection to get decent voltage regulation.

At least in FB-EK, the generator-to-regulator ground cable is part of the wiring harness.

Rob

[hsv-001]

Throttle linkage and choke cable would also be earths.Haydn

[Ken's 57]

Thanks for the advice everyone - much appreciated. Managed to track one down.

Cheers, Ken