Itinerant Air-Cooled

What is the best fuel hose for fuel injection (size and brand)?

Pelican Parts was selling the Porsche spec Fuel Injection hose last time I ordered from them. Its rubber coated acid resistant reinforced hose so it won't crack or split or if battery acid drips on it it stays intact to resist those famous engine fires that the Porsche 914 was famous for.
Don't use that grey fabric fuel line that is still around as it was the cause of those fires. Fabric soaks up crap, cracks and splits.....
Check with Scott at German Supply too and buy the right fuel clamps.

Definitely avoid the grey braided stuff for FI.

Plenty of knowledgeable people on the vwtype3.org list use good quality (Gates, Goodyear) 5/16" fuel hose on these systems. Yeah, the stuff that has "Not For Fuel Injection" printed on the outside; it can easily handle the 32-35PSI of D-Jetronic .. as long as you stick to good quality brands not offshore sh*t.

Russ Wolfe on the t3.org list worked at Mahle-Parr Filtering in Iowa until he retired a couple years ago; they regularly pressure test fuel hose until it burst. Gates & Goodyear easily withstood over 150PSI, and the fuel-injection-rated stuff withstood at least twice that .. so if you really want peace of mind the FI-rated stuff is fine, but it's a waste of money on D-jet...

I always thought one of the criteria for f/i hose was that it was capable of handling the elevated engine compartment temperatures of an air cooled engine . . . not only the elevated fuel pressures . . . .

midatlanticys wrote:I always thought one of the criteria for f/i hose was that it was capable of handling the elevated engine compartment temperatures of an air cooled engine . . . not only the elevated fuel pressures . . . .

Exactly, this was the cause of all the early fires in FI'd VW powered cars. High temps in the engine bays broke down the hose fast drying in out and it cracked spraying gas onto the HE's. Use the proper hose not stuff rated for carbs! Its not the PSI but the quality of the hose to resist heat and cracking.

Thing is, I've used the FI-rated hose on fuel-injected Type 3's in the past, both Gates and Goodyear brands. In my experience the FI-rated hose didn't hold up any better, or any longer, than the non-FI-rated hose did.

It still cracked through to the inner braiding within a year, it still stiffened up from the heat .. it just cost more money to replace every year. Which has led me to believe that regular inspection of the fuel lines is more important than what hose is used .. as long as you stay away from the crappy cloth-braided stuff "just for Volkswagens!" that doesn't have any actual reinforcement.

Try the Porsche stuff, 5 years and still like new.

When I get the car back together I probably will. It's been parked over six years, needs bodywork, there's about 3/4 of an engine on the bench...