Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Tue 27 Jul 2021 14:58
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - John F

'SWMBO' "What's that dreadful smell of petrol coming from your garage?"

Drip -drip-drip onto the now sodden cardboard which lives under the TR7. Aarrgghh!

Out onto ramps and urgent syphoning into my 4 gallon plastic fuel can (which came overland from Zambia 47yrs ago) until I could remove the rotten 41 year old six inch rubber pipe connecting the tank outlet to the fuel line. Fortunately I had a spare length from a similar sort of repair on another car back in the mists of time which, after immersion in boiling water, softened up sufficiently to fit. The original self-clamping hose clips were still OK.

On googling 'how long do rubber fuel lines last' it appears they should be replaced every ten to fifteen years. Yet another example of the quality and longevity of the components of this much underrated British car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 15:26
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - Terry W

I had a TR7 - my first new car in 2001. A big step up in quality and performance from Triumph Heralds and Hillmans Imps which preceded it!

After 3 years, owned by me but company funded, I could replace it. The quality engineering and attention to detail also meant that by this time corrosion was clearly bubbing and visible in the seams between sills and rear wings. Sold it for (relative) peanuts!

BTW the recommendation to change rubber fuel pipes is to ensure they are replaced BEFORE they were likely to fail, not when they could almost be guaranteed to fail!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 16:29
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - Ethan Edwards

Sounds like you missed an opportunity to install E10 fuel resistant pipe.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 20:38
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - John F

Sounds like you missed an opportunity to install E10 fuel resistant pipe.

Waste not want not. It'll be a good few years before I am forced to use E10, and I suspect the risk of rapid pipe failure is overblown. Indeed, my pipework might fail first.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 22:45
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - focussed

Sounds like you missed an opportunity to install E10 fuel resistant pipe.

DIN 73379 Type 3E is the spec for fuels containing ethanol. Also SAE 30R6 comes up as the ethanol compliant spec.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 19:30
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - Xileno

"I had a TR7 - my first new car in 2001"

I know BL had little budget for new models but that's pushing it a bit ;-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 27 Jul 2021 20:55
Old cars, especially historic vehicles - Rubber fuel lines - Terry W

Should have read 1981 !!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

From economical vans to those that have the largest payloads, we have a shortlist for everyone - click to find out which will suit your needs.

Undecided on which van to buy? Our Top 10 shortlists can help...