Fuel and Return Help
Turbo Mini Forums

My self perceived abilities exceed my capabilities.
I have been trying to do the feed and return line for a Traveller in a close to professional fashion.
My tube bending skills are poor. I did a pretty ggod job at the front:


But failed on the back:


I am looking to remedy this as the bends on the back don't match up and fit through the body and subframe nicely.

I am thinking to cut them off a few inches back from the floor/subframe and use either a connector or rubber hose to connect them to a rebent piece to fit through the body and subframe. I know I cannot use rubber hose as it will collapse on the sharp bend. I see people over here in the US using semi rigid tubes for FI projects, so that could be a possibility if I can get a connector to go from the copper nickel pipe/tube to semi-rigid TPFE or what ever it is.

Any suggestions are welcome.
Terry

Why not braise 90 degree unions in to form the bends?

What is the actual problem ? and are you using a suitable pipe bender ?

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

If the pipe is standard central heating microbore (8mm in the UK) then I would use soldered elbows instead of trying to bend the pipe,pretty much as Andy suggested.

I have a good bender, it is my accurate bending skills that are weak. Keeping the tubes parallel and with the correct radius bends through the whole run was the problem. To really keep them parallel you need slightly different radii for the inside and outside bends.

The pipes at the rear ended up offset and are rubbing on the subframe, neither pops up exactly where it should.

Doing it in two lengths of pipe and brazing together seems like a doable process even by me.
Nothing in modern fuel to eat away at solder these days?
Terry

Actually the 90's made with the bender are quite good, just my placement of the start of the bend is off.

On another side note...anyone know what the hole in the heel board is? Just to the left of the tubes...

I guess patience and practise as to where the bends end up.

Or you can buy some rollers to straighten the tube again ( would only work for mild bends, not a full 90 though )

As for the hole near the floor ?

I think some cars may have had a brake like tee piece there ? Splitting to the two rears.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

The trick to ensure the radius of the bend fits between the subframe and heelboard/floor without being too low is to replicate the factory run in so much as it turns 90 degrees out towards the side of the shell before doing the 90 degrees upwards.



Not perfect, I had real problems with the 8mm (I thought the 10mm would have beeen harder to get right) but it clears the subframe with ease.

Or, as Andy and David say, just use preformed elbows. Use the "end feed" type (if that's what you call them over the pond), rather than the ones with the solder ring, the end feed type are much more compact.

Don't know about the hole, the Tee piece or bias valve is bolted to the subframe on saloons (but I've never seen an estate shell, maybe they are different).

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Thanks everyone!
Rod I wish I had seen that photo with the additional bend in it before.

I probably could have matched the outside radius of some of the angles better by making two bends with a very short straight section in between.

I would just like to remove the subframes one last time and finish this part up.

Oh and I tried this in stainless first a few months back and that was a total failure.
There is post somewhere

Edited by TurboDave16V on 2nd Nov, 2013.

Stainless was harder to bend for me than the copper nickel and I could not keep the radius correct at all after a couple of bends. Any of them would work Ok for a single line but not the pair.

In reality it probably is something I should have paid someone to do.

Oh.... uh oh... I've just mounted my rear subframe and didn't even think of the fuel lines... will I be able to put the lines in without removing the subframe again?

(sorry, not stealing your thread... I promise)

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Bollocks! In my 'keenness' to get the subframe on to have a look I completely overlooked the fuel lines.... Not that it's a major fook up, just don't fancy doing it again.

A lesson learnt... More haste less speed...

I don't look at it as a thread hijack at all, just contributing to the general knowledge.

I think 3 Ps as mentioned above: patience, perseverance and practice

Indeed!!

This forum saved me from making another mistake as I was ready to take it all out and start over or have some one else do it.

After looking at Rod's photos the solution was simple and obvious, just add a slight bend to the tubes aiming them towards a line perpendicular to the center line of the car. This allows them to be bent at different angles so they line up close to the body.

Probably can't tell from this photo


But it looks like it will work.

I think you've done a great job. It's not easy getting them perfect like the factory ones. I ran 3 lines and had tried to get them all lined up and it turned out ok bit definitely not perfect.

There is a couple of good photos in the link below from when I was restoring my mini.

http://www.dutchysmini.com/page-7---the-assembly-begins.html

Had thre fun of making lines on my mini a couple of years ago.

Came out quite well after a couple of attempts, copied the old lines and fitted near enough perfect.

Now got to remove them and make new ones copying the MPI lines in 8mm for the turbo conversion.

What the mind can conceive the mini can achieve
MITP 2012 17.01 seconds 1/4 mile against "The Don"
MITP 2013 16.83 seconds 1/4 mile