FIT AND FORGET FUEL LINE- I FITTED IT - I HOPE I CAN FORGET IT

Ive finally got around to putting this up on here, i did it towards the end of last year an i have had no leaks yet (but then again i had none before i changed the fuel line)

Well I bit the bullet following advice and spent my £47.50 on a fit and forget fuel line replacement kit from VW Air-cooled works

This is what I got through the post in a very quick delivery time


It consists of a “plastic “fuel filter in a bag labelled up at £1.50



71 and 10 /16ths inches of fuel pipe

19 and 10 /16 inch of “Kunifer” hard line?





Also 10, what I assume to be stainless steel fuel clips, that I must add, were od very poor quality, 2 of which the heads snapped off before any pressure was put on them to tighten them up.

A couple of stickers, one advertising the supplier the other a sticker to put somewhere to advise people that the vehicle is fitted with lifetime fuel line. Now I don’t know if that’s just a nice sticker of if indeed I have any comeback to them if the line does leak?

Also included were a couple of flyers, one advertising the service the suppliers offer, the other advertising a fire suppression system they sell.

It would have been nice for discount code for next purchase from them but that’s the Yorkshire in me.



Now for a tight Yorkshire lad , I didn’t seem to get a lot for my £47.50 but as advised on a forum post before I bought it that its cheaper than a van on fire.

The fuel hose didn’t feel long enough (it was there was more than plenty) and the Kunifer line ( lovely word) did seem long as I don’t think I really knew the course it took once located , it turned out to be exactly the same length as my old one – my Kunifer line .(gratuitous use of the word Kunifer}

On examination of my old lines I now appreciate the state my old line was in, but overall I had no leaks and no smell of fuel, it appeared dirty, fitted with what I would call good quality hose clips

Starting from under the fuel tank to a filter that I could not see into to see how dirty it may be, then over the gearbox and into the Kunifer line


Below as the fuel line joins the Kunifer line which then goes through the rear engine shroud into the engine bay , the Kunifer line did look somewhat rusty , I don’t know what it is/was made of but it felt like brake pipe line, but on closer inspection it wasn’t rust it was just dirty but somewhat aged and looked at the end of its life and in fact a couple of bends of it and it snapped in half, I think in fact this would have been my weakest point and possibly the first to have failed in the future – perhaps worn out from the inside? SO CHECK YOURS ASAP AND ENSURE HERE IS A GROMMET PROTECTING IT FROM THE METAL .




The pipe then emerges bottom left of the engine tin as you look from the rear of the van, it has a protective rubber grommet as it goes through the tinware




it winds its way around the fan shroud towards the fuel pump stopping short of the fuel pump by around eight inches where the fuel line is then joined to complete the journey to the fuel pump. A further fuel line the goes the short distance from the fuel pump to the carburetor fuel line connector



Replacement was a straight forwards replacement following the same course as the old pipes, I started from the fuel tank end, clamping the rubber hose with mole grips then removed the filter, when I was happy that no fuel was leaking out I replaced all the same lengths of tube with the same lengths of new hose and followed the same route


As I don’t store much fuel in the tank, I wasn’t too concerned at my last connection as I removed the last piece of old hose from the fuel tank and quickly placed my finger over the outlet to stem the flow of fuel, with the dexterity of a gynecologist I quickly pushed on the new hose onto the outlet having lost about half an egg cup of fuel in the whole process


Total time of around two hours as I am a slow methodical worker, including setting up fire extinguishers and playing hell about the hose clip quality. It’s not a rocket science job and certainly not glamorous, probably adds no value whatsoever to the van but it’s worth thousands if it saves it from setting on fire, Skill level required is about a level 2 – if changing a brake light bulb is 1.

Key to the job is safety and common sense, it may surprise some but fuel / petrol is flammable, extremely flammable so prepare for that, I have a total of 5 extinguishers available and were placed at strategic points around the van. Even so if fuel was to pour out the tank at the exit point because you couldn’t get the new hose on , then if that set fire no number of extinguishers would keep up with the fuel flow , its bye bye van.


I haven’t any pictures of the finished job as they would be the same as the old set up but a bit shinier for a few weeks,


Value for money? I suppose individual parts can be bought but the convenience of a kit (provided it is a full kit as kits invariably are not) out weight any interest I had in searching for individual bits, the main issue being which pipe in particular to buy. The only bad part of the kit is the quality of the hose clips, thankfully my old clips were of good quality so reused some of them

Would I recommend the kit , I suppose it depends on your knowledge of the fuel line business and what is the best stuff to buy , having looked at the forum for the ultimate answer it would appear that there is no definitive answer as to what is best , so I took the advice from a thread on here.
I read the suppliers website who appear genuinely alive to the issues associated with fuel line and vehicle fire and appear as clued up as anyone else so I chose the kit and perhaps yes I would recommend the kit with the exception of the hose clip quality - they are loosing the ship for a hapeth of tar ( as my old dad used to say ) for supplying such low low low quality hose clips with such a safety orientated kit

 

No way "forget it"... if its there for fuel I want my eyes on it regularly...

 

Does seem expensive .... I use Gates barricade fuel hose

 

Sorry to hijack. The gates barricade fuel lines look good. The only sell in inches, so is the 1/4 the right size for our buses?

 

I brought a few metres of this to do my van.
I was told Teflon was fit and forget. Any opinions???
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AN-6-MSA...703154?hash=item58a42f9272:g:GAsAAOxye2lSXqfC

 

This is what I used 3 years no signs of any change since
https://www.advancedfluidsolutions.co.uk/55mm-id-732-100-bio-fuel-hose-diesel--petrol-2015-p.asp

 

The hose bore should be slightly smaller than the pipe or barb fitting OD. Measure whatever you want the hose to fit, carb, fuel pump, filter etc and if ¼” is smaller the hose okay.

 

It is fit and forget but you must use the appropriate fittings. From that ebay listing ‘Only compatible with Teflon designed hose fittings. Straight, 45 and 90 degree ones are found for sale in our Ebay Shop.’

 

Fit and forget my ar$e.

Check your fuel lines yearly.

 

Teflon is impervious to bio fuel including ethanol, and hydrocarbons including diesel, petrol and oil. While all hoses should be inspected regularly, Teflon will not deteriorate when subjected to the fuels we use or the ozone in the atmosphere.

 

Great write up.

Did you manage to replace your fuel breather pipes with the engine in position? You should have enough fuel line left over to do these. I did my fuel lines using the same kit as you used. But think the engine needs to come out to get the breather pipes behind the firewall. Make sure and get the one breather pipe up near the leisure battery, pig to get too mine was completely rotten. Also the kit doesn't include the T piece near the top of the engine bay. A few quid from jk but it's not modern fuel proof so will rot again. Mine was held together with masking tape from the po.

 

Just bought the same kit. The fuel filter broke when I tried to push it onto a hose and I couldn't get the clips to start. When I did get one to catch, it cut into the fuel line so they too thin. The hose you can buy elsewhere by the metre.

 

I have not managed to sort out the breather pipes. I think I have bits missing on the van or rather they have been cut off. It' one of the jobs i need to get around to.

 

The fuel filter suppied is a bog standard pound filter of minimum quality but widely used and does the job. It would be nice to have got a glass one with protective cover of better quality but that was never going to happen .
This realy is an issue with many kits for anything. They promise the earth and saving but in reality it doesn' materialise. you always have bits that are not included and some bits are of a low quality .seems it's the way of the world.

 

I would never fit a glass filter to anything, ever. They should be banned.

 

Totally agree. One bash and you've got a fire. The larger plastic ones - £5 for 10 off fleabay - are much better.

 

Something like this may work better than the plastic ones https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warrior-Al...ycle-Bike-Motorbike-/301363711586?_mwBanner=1

 

^this/these. The stock sized ones from Hellfrauds - the made in Israel ones - I've found are fine.

 

Did mine last year I have FI engine type four - so it’s fiddly to get to small lengths that go to injectors but I persisted. Don’t forget FI engines need a different fuel Filter which is square shaped and has different size inlet and outlet. I then fitted Full Fire suppression system which emits a clean fluid that doesn’t harm engine when it deploys. Better safe than sorry.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

What fire suppression system did you fit?