Thread: What's the easiest braided fuel line to work with???

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The fun does not start until "the little drops of blood" start appearing on the tips of your fingers!

I'd rather polish real magnesium wheels, it's less torture.

Originally Posted by John Palmer

I'd rather polish real magnesium wheels, .

and thats a statement!

Earls and Aeroquip for me.

Tried some Russel a few years back, not such good stuff.

You'll find the larger sizes - #8 & #10 - easy to work with.
#6 is not bad, but #4 can be a handful sometimes.

I wrap mine with two layers of 3/4" masking tape.
Cut it with a chop saw.
I have used a Dremel and it's a nice way to go, but the little thin Dremel wheels break so darned easy that it's less trouble to drag the chop saw out.

Remove the tape after cutting.

I like to use Never-Seize on the threads and inside the hose.
Don't get Never-Seize on the outside of the braid.

Screw the hex fitting onto the hose, use a popsicle stick, small screwdriver or the Never-Seize brush to paint the threads and hose interior with Never-Seize.

Mark the braid with a Sharpie so you can see if the hex fitting is backing off during assembly.

Screw it together.

Do not bottom the screw-on piece down all the way onto the hex fitting.
Leave about a 1/16" gap between the two fittings at the hex.

Check the mark to make sure the hose hasn't slipped inside the hex fitting.

I've found that the 'official' aluminum wrenches will mar the anodizing worse than a 55 year old set of Craftsman wrenches.
I don't use the aluminum wrenches, but they look cool hanging on the wall.

If you use your regular wrenches, be careful because if the inner corners are sharp they can mar the anodizing.

Use some aluminum pads on your bench vise and don't crank it down so hard that you'll egg-shape the aluminum hex fitting.

I add a folded up paper towel between hex fitting and aluminum vise jaws to help keep from marring the hex fitting.

Don't even try to make your own brake lines with the Teflon liner hose.
A giant PITA, many shops make custom ones and you can buy them ready-made for about the same price as buying the individual components.

The Speed Shop where I used to live used a pair of cable cutting shears to cut the braid.
Worked great, after the cut, flex the line a bit to bring it back to round and use a grinder to cut off any errant stainless pieces of wire at the end.

Use a small flat blade screwdriver to help push the - #4 especially - line into the hex fitting.
Seldom required on the larger sizes.


Keep in mind that the stainless braided line is a great slow speed saw.
Use Adels or other clamps accordingly and don't let the braid rub on anything.

Get an Earls paper catalog.
You'll be amazed at all the different fittings there are.

I used to modify them sometimes, but it's seldom required nowadays since both Earls and Aeroquip have a good selection.

You can also buy industrial hydraulic fittings that are similar to Earls and AQ.
They use hydraulic line with a plastic braid - most times rated at 3000 psi.
You probably don't want to use hydraulic lines with gasoline.
Todays gas tends to eat the hydraulic lines rubber liner and you'll have a leak in 24 hours or so.

I can post some more info on the hydraulic lines if you wish.


The Never-Seize really helps in getting the fittings together.
Sometimes it takes quite a bit of torque and the lubed aluminum threads can gall if they're not lubricated.
Plus . . . it makes life easy when you take them apart a few years down the road....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1J7u8sG118