Hi,
Does anyone know if it would be acceptable to use steel p-clips (no rubber lining) to secure rubber fuel hose to the chassis? Also, since it is rubber hose (10mm inside diameter) which is obviously flexible, it is very difficult to stop the hose from touching the chassis where it runs parallel to it. Would this fail and if so then how can I get around this other than to clip the pipe every 2 inches? Note that there are no sharp edges anywhere near the pipe, it is just rubber pipe against 1" painted box section.

Any tips/suggestions greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Craig.

I would say that the clips need a non metal cushion of some sort preferably rubber. And the pipe must not touch anything no matter how non sharp it is.
Steve.

[Edited on 6/8/06 by stevec]

Normally you would just use rubber pipe where you need the flexibility, eg between hard pipe and pressure regulator and in that case, no clips are needed. If you are thinking of a run of pipe I would have thought hard pipe would be the answer and that would be clipped to the frame using lined P clips. From experience, I have found it best not to rivet P clips because sometimes for whatever reason they need moving which of course involves drilling out generally in the most inconvenient places. Nowadays, I tap the chassis tube M3 (yes 1.5mm wall will take a thread) and screw in the P clips. This of course ensures they never have to be removed!!

John

Hmm, I'll need to have a good think about it I guess.

What I have actually used is some rubber lined 11mm p-clips with the rubber lining removed to allow room for the rubber fuel pipe. These are a perfect fit in that the rubber pipe cannot move once the p-clip is tightened up and yet the clip does not distort or crush the rubber pipe. I have an SVA manual but I can't find any rules/guidelines on this sort of thing.

I hear what you are saying about using hard pipe but I don't really have anything with which to flare the ends properly (I have used my brake pipe flarer gently for this purpose in the past) and I would prefer to just have a single length of rubber hose between tank swirl pot and fuel pump inlet rather than have two additional joints where the hard pipe goes to rubber at each end.

Does anyone out there know from experience if my proposed method is a definite SVA fail or if there is anything I need to do (eg. use a rubber pad between hose and chassis) for it to pass.

Cheers,
Craig.

I have exactly the same set-up between tank swirl pot and pump inlet. My pump is about 8 inches from the tank outlet. I cannot remember the ID of the pipe but it is fairly large maybe 3/8" and fabric braided. I have done exactly the same as you have with a metal P clip that is a perfect fit over the pipe. I cannot not think SVA would have an issue over what you have done if it is a relatively short length of pipe and it cannot chafe . My car was pre-SVA so I cannot be certain but my advice, for what it's worth, is go for it.

John

If you are useing rubber pipe the one thing that the SVA inspector will definately require is that the pipe is marked clearly as fuel pipe, be warned just any old rubber pipe will get you a fail. Regards Ray

I don't "think" that you will fail for the pipe touching the chassis between p clips, that would be downright daft. it does on many production vehicles.

Likewise you can clip wiring to the chassis and it will touch, this does not fail. If it did then the p-clip would also be classed as a chafe point!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basically stick to the "less than 300mm" rule for p-clip spacing and spirap the pipe on sharp bend near sharp things or chassis corners etc and you should be ok.

Hi guys,
Thanks for all the advice but in the end I decided to do a "proper job" and got some 10mm microbore copper pipe from B&Q. I have used 3/8 inch plastic p-clips to clip the copper pipe to the chassis where necessary and have used a piece of rubber pipe at each end to connect to the tank and pump respectively. I soldered a couple of compression olives onto the ends of the pipe to retain the rubber hose firmly.

All in all it is a much neater job as I took lots of time to bend the pipe neatly. B&Q also supplied a little spring bender quite cheaply which made bending the pipe much easier. Only downside was that I had to buy 10m of pipe when I only needed about 1 meter.

Cheers,
Craig.

Well look on the bright side, you won't have to buy any more pipe for your next one!!

John