pre-metric metal fuel pipes

[foxy99]

I have a 1974 Daimler Double Six and, now that the repairs to the body are drawing to a close, am looking at the other systems on the car which need overhauled. I had a look at the fuel lines and pipes first of all.

Inside the boot is like a snake pit but everything is fine because it is protected from the elements and the previous owner replaced several pipes trying to get to the bottom of a blockage problem.

There are really only two runs of pipe on the outside. The feed on the passenger side and the return on the driver's side.

The feed is 5/16" diameter and the return is 3/8" from what I can see


5/16" fuel feed pipe from engine runs under car and has join at rear seatpan area



male threaded fitting on end is soldered/brazed to pipe



2nd section screws on here....



....runs up over rear subframe....



....comes back down behind subframe....



....squeezes in through hole in boot....



....where it comes out and joins to 3rd piece via rubber hose



2 pipes with olives are feed and return pipes that sit inside boot connected to fuel pumps/valves then run under exhaust silencers to the fuel tanks. one with bead instead of olive is feed pipe (end which enters boot). middle pipe is larger 3/8"


As you can see in the pics the pipe is a bit crusty in parts and has snapped behind the rear axle. How would you go about repairing this. The Jaguar part nos are unobtainable (C.36431 for the short 2nd piece and C.37997 for the long front one). I don't really want to replace the whole system with metric fittings and you can't seem to get metal brake pipe now anyway. I have found these links for copper pipes and fittings in various sizes. Would it be possible to splice a copper repair section in using the compression fittings and olives available or would it be better to make a whole new one up in copper? Could it all be replaced with hoses?



www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/159-container-copper-tube-12
3/8" copper pipe

www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/158-container-copper-tube-9
5/16" copper pipe


www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/com-ol-container-solderless-fitting-compression-olive
olives


www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/deu-container-equal-ended-union
these things look like they could replicate joins

[chairchild]

If it was mine - I'd try to replace it all with new copper lines. But with the exception of soldering on some olives at the end of each pipe, and using a small chunk of rubber hose to join them.

Easier to fit, and allows some leeway when it comes to getting the "exact" shape of each pipe.


With the pipe being steel, and obviously having sheared already, I wouldn't be able to sleep , for fear of it happening elsewhere on the pipe, after repairing it. And the amount of work that's needed to remove the rear cage, I'd possibly want to burn the car afterwards if it broke again too....

[elmotheewokking]

Pretty much as he said above, adding about the potential for internal rusty gunk blocking things, just replace the word copper with kunifer for me. Granted, there won't be a huge amount of movement in a fuel line (or at least, there shouldn't be) so work hardening shouldn't be an issue, but I'd do it anyway.
There are rolls of it on ebay, in a variety of sizes and Akku recently asked about finding imperial brake pipe fixings, though I can't find the thread now. Rallydesign or their ilk will probably see you right.

[bortaf]

If your having fuel frrd problems inspect the breather system, they are rather convoluted (at least on the later cars they are, running up the C piller and all sorts of places.

[v8ian]

A good hydraulic shop will probably still keep imperial pipe, may well be called "Bundy"

[v8ian]

A good hydraulic shop will probably still keep imperial pipe, may well be called "Bundy"

[foxy99]

Thanks for the comments guys. I've convinced myself it will be easy to make the full set up very close to the original spec.

I won't be able to make the bead on the ends of the pipe at home but I reckon an olive could be fixed in it place and the rubber pipes could push over that. You can buy a Bead Form Junior machine to make the beads on small pipes....but the machine is over £500!!

I think the materials will come in under £40 which is fine.


NB. the car hasn't run since the mid eighties and it went off the road as there was sludge blocking the pipes inside the tank. It was never resolved but was one of the first things I discovered when I bought the car in 2000

[elmotheewokking]

I'm fairly convinced that you could just flare it like you would on a brake pipe... Though again, a decent flaring tool isn't exactly cheap. Don't bother with cheap ones, I wish I hadn't.
What does everyone else think?

[MrSpeedy]

I'd do exactly what I already did do on my Vitesse

Replace all the lines with Imperial copper pipe, which is readily available, as are imperial compression fittings to go with it.

[foxy99]

Yep. The imperial fittings in copper seem to be easily available. I think I was anticipating bigger problems than necessary.

I had visions of having to change things to metric somehow.

I notice that the fittings I have seen are 'solderless' but on my pipe the male fitting is soldered/brazed. For absolute originality would it be possible to get that type of fitting?