stainless braded lines and fittings

[snowracer69]

Ok, dumb question here, but I've never worked with this stuff before. I got my fittings/line for my RASP system yesterday and was kinda laying things out last night (RASP isn't here yet... today or tomorrow probably).



Does the stainless braded part of the line push up inside of the "nut" part of the hose fittings, as well as the hose itself? Tried w/ one and it was very, very tight (couldn't get it to the end all the way... could have with more force, but stopped early). So, everything goes inside the nut, then the fitting pushes inside the hose, then the nut screws up tight to hold it all together, right?



XRP fittings and hose.



Josh

 

[lmills]

Yes the hose goes inside the nut then the fittings thread into the nut. And yes, it is a very tight fit. If you clamp them in a vise, wrap them in a of piece cloth to avoid scratching the finsh off. Also when you cut the line, wrap it with tape to keep the frays to a minimum

 

[snowracer69]

sounds good on that part. It was recommended to me to use a hacksaw (with the tape) to cut the stainless/braided part... problem is, I DON"T HAVE A HACKSAW with me at school! I do however have a Dremel! Just a cutoff wheel work for it? Won't be installing till Sunday at the earliest... will probably end up being a week-long project for me too... just in amongst other stuff.



Oh, RASP showed up today too! All I have to say is WOW! If that little thing can move that much fuel, it's awesome!



Josh

 

[SRadke]

I had my local hose/fitting shop make mine. The ends are clamped on in a hose press like hydraulic fittings. Just give them the length and tell them what you want on the ends They cut the hose with cut off say so I see no reason a dremmel won't work. A word of caution I neglected to think about, STAINLES LINE CONDUCTS ELECTRICITY!!!!! Now that was in interesting fuel gauge install.



-Scott

 

[snowracer69]

hydraulic shop here in town looked at me and said "what kind of fittings?" "AN -6" "Never heard of them" Nobody else in town ever had either... had to go out of town to order them.



I'll get through it... . sure hope this RASP is worth it.

 

[lmills]

yeh a dremel will cut it nicely

 

[Hohn]

AN fittings are known under other names in different cases. In Racing and aviation, AN is common (AN= Army/Navy). Hydraulic shops may know them as a JIC fitting? This is somewhat mysterious to me, too. The hydro shop may also want a DIN or ISO fitting description...



The Dremel will cut fine-- just go SLOWLY. Masking tape and duct tape work well for the ends, but I've found that Strapping tape (the strong stuff with the bands in it) is the best by far. If you cut between the bands, you make a clean cut and still have the braid wrapped tightly.



I've also used a large countersink drill bit to chamfer the edge of the Nut part-- it makes it easier to slip the hose in. To me, getting the nut over the hose is the toughest part. The trick is pushing it in hard and being able to twist it at the same time.



What ultimately worked for me was a hard flat surface. I put the fitting face down on the table and grabbed it with vise grips. Then I pushed the hose in from the top and put my weight behind it (grabbing the hose with pliers or channel locks will help). With your weight pushing the hose into the fitting, twist the fitting (with the vise grips- in a continuous screwing action), letting it spin on the hard flat table. Once I did this, the hose ends popped right on!



Braided is cool when you're done with it. But it's a PITA before that point!



jlh

 

[lmills]

I have done a lot of this on may cars and never really thought it was that hard to do. They also make an assembly lube to help with assembly.

 

[snowracer69]

well, hope it doesn't take me all day to do this... i'll be screwed! Should be starting about 10 am this morning... need it done by 6:30 pm. We'll see... .



thanks for the tips fellas.

 

[nickleinonen]

AN and jic fittings are interchangeable. both are 37° flares...



at work, i use a lot of the reuseable jic fittings... the hose we use isn't stainless braded outside, but just the blue [or green with the new stuff we have] nylon fabric brade on the outside. we cut the hose on a chop saw. it does a nice job of cutting it [although the burning rubber smell isn't that nice] and the fittings we have seem to be different that what you are talking about. ours the outer sleve is screwed down on the hose anti-clockwise till it just bottoms out, then the center barb is screwed in clockwise into the outer sleve locking everything together nicely



simple AN to JIC conversion table



–04 = 0. 25 (1/4")

–06 = 0. 38 (3/8")

–08 = 0. 50 (1/2")

–10 = 0. 63 (5/8")

–12 = 0. 75 (3/4")

–16 = 1. 00 (1")

–20 = 1. 25 (1 1/4")

–24 = 1. 50 (1 1/2")

 

[lmills]

Yeh Nick they are very similar to what you just described until you get to the outer shell piece. It just slips over the hose end then the barb piece threads in. I can usually get them together pretty quick. The worst part I hate about doing stainless line is the frays will poke a whole in you quicker than you can see it coming.

 

[willyslover]

and the larger AN you use the easier it is to put'em together

regular oil works well for assembly



FYI for those that like hard line as far as you can go Summit now sells a 37 degree flair tool for like $37. 00 [about 1/5 the price of any other I have found], and also the sleeves and nuts if ya want to assemble hard line with fittings to AN [JIC]

 

[nickleinonen]

here is a quick pic of the type of fittings i am talking about...



that is one of the fittings i am going to use when i put a vent line in my fuel tank. i have everything i need except for a bulkhead fitting... and i've been too lasy to go get one...

 

[rbattelle]

I recently got some braided line and -4 AN fittings and attempted to make my own. I found it rather difficult. As soon as I took the tape off the end of the hose, the braiding began to open up and I found it absolutely impossible to shove into the fitting. Cut with a hacksaw? Yeah, right. I don't know how anyone manages to do that because I tried it and the saw just grabbed up the wire strands rather than cutting them.



So I re-taped the end of the fitting and used a Dremel with cutoff wheel to make a clean cut. Shoved the hose into the fitting with the small piece of tape still on it, and did the same with the other end.



How are you supposed to remove the tape when the braiding immediately begins to unravel making it absolutely impossible to shove into the fitting!? Is there some tool that makes this process possible? I'm so confused.

 

[y-knot]

SnowRacer,

The SS braided lines you ask about are not hard to work with, but they do require a little experience to get the hang of. I have used Earls, Aeroquip, Russell's,and Jeggs. While they all share the same basic philosophy, there are differences between manufacturers. I would go to the brands web site for which you have and look up there installation instructions page. Each brand is a little different and I have found it easier to read there instructions then go back and fix a bunch of leaks. All require the use of a lubricant while making the end, and most will want you to mark the hose to insure the fitting did not slip. I love the stag of car building when I get to make up hose ends, it means most of the work is finished and we are down to the fun stuff. One piece of advice for anyone that will ever use An type fittings, plan the routes. This fittings and hoses are very expensive, before you by anything sit down and draw out each route you have for each sub-system. Go over it and list every fitting, there are many different types of fittings. list the hose sizes and length needed for every run. Then make your purchases, you will usually get a discount for large orders. Our last car when built had over $4500. 00 in hoses and fittings, they add up fast. The key is to plan it all out on paper, there changes don't cost anything. Good luck

 

[lmills]

Our last car when built had over $4500. 00 in hoses and fittings

I can believe that!

 

[MKoth]

At the shop we always used pb blaster, or a good penetrating oil as the lube to get the hoses to slide onto the fittings. It also helps to use a rachet and socket, or a wratcheting wrench to thighten everything up.

 

[snowracer69]

yknot, lots of good info, thanks.



I did it all today... . spent from 10 am till 6:45 pm working non-stop on my RASP system to get it installed. I'm miserable and tired right now and don't want to look under my hood for a month! but I'm having some issues so will have to tear into it tomorrow anyway.



I drew out my plan, twice! And then I still ran short on hose. I made it work, but 3" more would have been nice. I tried to build exactly like another person had done and explained to me and I must have done something at least a little different. a couple different fittings would have helped greatly, but I made do. I will probably re-do everything sometime in the future anyway to make it cleaner.



Anyway, I'm off to bed. Big day Saturday w/ more DTT parts gettin' thrown in... we'll see if the RASP can handle the power!