Every single car in the pit area has some sort of fluid running through it. That means your car has at least one hose. Most of us have a huge variety of hoses. Any one of these hoses could put an early end to your weekend.The purpose of a hose is to get fluid from point A to point B. Think of them as a liquid transfer system. Because you have a variety of different liquids running around your car, which means you’re going to need a variety of hoses. The secret is to use the proper hose for each type of liquid.
Brake Hoses: The suspension of your car moves independently of the car’s body. That means you’re going to need a flexible connection at some point. Your car has three or four brake flex hoses. Most of us use a Teflon hose that is covered with a stainless steel braid. Others of us use the standard OEM brake hose that’s available from the company that built our car.
A standard OEM flex hose may not be available for your vintage car. That means you’ll have to have a hose manufactured just for your specific application. You can actually make your own hoses at home or you can have someone such as Pegasus Racing make the hose for you. The advantage is that Pegasus will pressure test your hose before they ship it to you.
Keep in mind that more brake flex hoses are damaged in the shop than on the track. These flex hoses are designed to transfer fluid not be a handy hanger for the brake caliper. You should never let your brake calipers hang by the flex line. You knew that didn’t you? You would never do that? Right?
Coolant Hoses: You should be running pure water in your racer. Most tracks get upset if you dump antifreeze on the track. Actually the driver directly behind you might be the most upset since he’s going for a wild ride. The reason I mention this is that the flexible hoses in your cooling system actually prefer water to anti-freeze.
- not in the middle. Check for any difference in the feel between the middle and ends of the hose. If the ends are soft and feel mushy, chances are, the hose is deteriorating
Oil Hoses: Oil Hoses seem to last forever. There’s an advantage in using a PTFE, or Teflon, lined hose. The smooth inner liner will provide enhanced flow over a traditional hose. This type of hose is more expensive but when you consider your annual budget it’s not a very large number. If you want to avoid the bling of stainless you can use a Kevlar braided hose, which is just as strong as the steel braided hose.
Fuel Hoses: Fuel lines come in two types. The less expensive hose meets SAE 30R7 standard and then we have fuel injection hose that meets the requirements of SAE 30R9. The difference is in the pressures that can be contained. Hoses rated 30R7 normally operate at 50 psi. That’s fine if you have a carburetor. SAE 30R9 hoses are for fuel injection systems and have an operating pressure of 100 psi. There’s also a huge difference in the price of these two types of hose. Fuel injection hose is normally about twice the price. There’s no real advantage in using fuel injection hose if you’re using carburetors.
Ordinary fuel line hose is designed to handle fuel on the inside only. The hose inside of your fuel cell is submersed in fuel. Gates Submersible Fuel Line Hose exceeds the SAE 30R10 rating and is capable of handling fuel, alcohol-extended fuel or diesel fuel in fully immersed, mobile, stationary and marine applications.
Always use lines larger than 3/8-inch between the fuel cell and the fuel pump. Keep in mind that your engine determines fuel line size not your vehicle. Since most of you are getting more horsepower out of your car than it produced when it was new you’re going to need more fuel than the stock lines allow.
You might want to consider the fuel hoses that use Teflon or a PFTE (Polytetrafluoroethylene). The variety of fuel additives being used in today’s gasoline don’t affect these hoses.
Clamps: You’re going to have to seal off both ends of any hose, which means you’re going to need clamps. The variety is just tremendous. A lot of us want to use the same clamps that were installed on our cars during the original build. That’s just fine. Those original hose clamps were very effective – when they were new. Don’t use twenty-five year old clamps to just look period correct.
If you’re going to use new clamps give a lot of thought to Oetiker hose clamps. Oetiker clamps don’t cut into the hose the way traditional screw clamps do. The downside is you’ll need a special crimping tool for installation. The tool is normally less than $40.00.
Maybe the most important thing about your plumbing is that you check it every day at the track. Create a checklist and go over every single fitting each morning. A leaking hose while on track is a very unpleasant experience. At the very least it’ll be the end of your day on the track. At the very worst you could encounter some significant bills. Most of you already know it’s not the big things that put you on the trailer. It’s usually a $2 part that you forgot to check in the morning.
