Yep, sad but true. This weekend I stripped the top end down to replace the spark plugs and plug leads. All went well, replaced the leads one at a time to avoid confusion, and everything went remarkably smoothly. Now, I was wondering what had happened to the Pain Quotient (which is the thing that makes something painful happen no matter how trivial a job you are attempting). No plugs snapped off down holes, no cross-threaded spark plugs, and I even managed to get all those infernal fuel distributor hoses back into something like their original homes. Until....
Karma was restored when the a fuel feed hose to the fuel metering head literally fell apart in my hand. The fat one that goes from where it is anchored on the RHS rocker cover that goes up to the big fat union on the fuel head (the union that has two fittings on the one hollow bolt) and has snapped in two rendering the whole thing useless.
So - does anyoine know where to get one - either a ready-made replacement or where to get a new one made up?
Help! Thanks team!
Rich
Either SpecialT auto does S/Steel ones;
http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean-pa ... ction.html down the page it shows you can buy the frequency valve hoses seperate to the rest of the kit, I think this is the one you are talking about. John post's fairly quickly and by normal USPS so you dont get caught for import duty.
Martin@delorean may also still sell them.
Chris
I think its that one. I've had a look on Delorean.com and they don't seem top specifically refer to that hose by iteslf.
In this picture:
http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean-pa ... n-dist.jpg
Its the one that shares a union with the hose marked 'return to tank' although in the particular pic it is hidden from view by the one marked 'Main Fuel line....'.
You can see the union head though just under the hose with the 90degree bent union - think it's a 19mm one. Anyway, it goes from there down onto the right hand rocket cover where it is joined up to what looks like an electromechanical valve and from there it disappears into the depths, possible to the fuel tank itself?
hi
when i wanted propper fuel lines to the pump mage, a went to speedflow.co.uk
they are great, and had a proper fit banjo, with a screw compression fitting (not the welded specialTauto banjo or standard which slipped of and flooded petrol everywhere)
so if you sent them the old one, i am sure they will make a braided upgrade. (and a touch longer if you want more 'play'.
Really were good, and very quick. i looked at specialT but would have to wait a couple of weeks, and as i said my fuel line slipped of the banjo end, as it really was too short.
a heartstopping moment with the pump running!!!.
Steve
ex vin 1621
Great stuff, thanks folks! Sunday evening must be a good time to have problems!
sorry about the spalling mastakes previously...sometimes type and not look till hitting send.
basically the fuel line burst off the banjo at the pump as there are not many 'barbs' for hose grip.
the speedflow compression fitting were great, as i knew they could never fail like that.
worth talking to them, and for me were next day turn around.
Steve
I do still do my fuel hose sets and they're all listed on my parts page. In fact I sold a complete set recently to someone whose frequency valve return hose made a slurping noise when disturbed. My thinking is: If this one leaks with just a little movement (and that's a low pressure hose too), what are all the others like? The whole reason I originally had them made up was because I experienced a nasty high pressure fuel leak on my own car.
Anyway, mine are all professionally made using swaged collars; the engine bay hoses are all made in a high pressure (~200Bar) thermoplastic, with the exception of the hose in question which is rubber and comes with an O-clip to fit to the frequency valve. I've assigned the part number 102395A where 102395 is the entire frequency valve assembly. The fuel pump and accumulator hoses are all a flexible rubber hose rated to 25 bar. The highest fuel pressure on the car is 5 bar. I buy in original 45 degree banjo ends from Texas for the fuel pump hose. I found John Hervey's steel ones to break really easily.
Rich, Post-orifice willing, you'll have your hose by the end of this week, hopefully Thursday.
I'd stick to OEM from my own personal experience......... upgraded hoses were fitted on Flopsy
back in the DMUK days, and one of them split at a car show one day spraying fuel onto a very
hot engine.
Luckilly Chrispy had some spares, so RichH went over to Derby and got one for me, then came
back to the show and we fitted it, and no probs since.
Just my 2pth, and my own personal experience of course.
Flopsy had two different types of hose in the engine bay and I suspect your injector hoses are still the thermoplastic ones I make and sell to this day. These are the hard shiny black type.
The rubber hoses I have made now use a different type of double braided hose.
Either are more reliable than the orignal nylon by an order of magnitude.
As you say most are probably better than sticking with nearly 30 year old origional. I had not seen anything about John's S/S ones breaking. on any forum, however I could have missed it. Personally I think these are great really look the part to.
Chris
hi
i do think the banjo on the pump is too short (the cranked one from specialT)
don't get me wrong, i have many parts from specialT and all seemed great.
just this and the clutch slave extension piece that broke the first use, good idea though.
Steve
ex vin 1621
I looked into having the stainless ones made but they're actually quite a lot more expensive, esp when you buy in metric stainless ends, and the swept end on the return line is a big problem. Making something that improves upon but looks similar to the originals is a good solution IMO. I *personally* don't like the look of the stainless hoses. Too skinny somehow...
For anyone thinking of having their own hoes made, you can NOT replace the injector lines with regular fuel hose, it must be something that has no "spring" to it otherwise it causes the injectors to pulse.
There's an off-she shelf setup from Renault used in the later cars that puts the clutch slave bleed screw under the gearbox. For the number of times the slave needs bleeding, it's not really worth the effort I reckon...
stunned_monkey Wrote:Flopsy had two different types of hose in the engine bay and I suspect your injector hoses are still the thermoplastic ones I make and sell to this day. These are the hard shiny black type.
The rubber hoses I have made now use a different type of double braided hose.
Either are more reliable than the orignal nylon by an order of magnitude.
the ones that were fitted on Flopsy were the original 'prototype' ones that you and Dave
had made in the early days of DMUK. I cant even remember who made them to be honest!
I've had no issues with the OEM hoses that are back on my car, however I'm sure that your hoses are
fine and up to the job and have been tested thoroughly so will not cause any problems.