I currently have some old braided stainless hose and I can’t recall the brand of fittings I used a bunch of years back. I’m thinking of changing over to a non stainless setup and I don’t like working with the braided stainless lines as they are so inflexible and abrasive.

Any opinions on a good fuel line and what fittings are popular these days. Earls gets a lot of mentions when I look around but curious about brands others love and why.

 

Summit Racing offers a large variety of good fittings for reasonable prices. I've used a lot of them on my F2000 racecar (pic in my avatar). The Fragola fittings seem very well made and work well. Just make sure the hose you get is rated for use with fuel.

 

I have been using Earls and Russel until i was introduced to the XRP ones. I use those almost exclusively. I have been very disappointed with the aeroquip ones

i would still use Earls , i have also used Fragola and they seemed to work well. All brands have some slightly different products , depending what you are trying to do so mix and match may be necessary

see what you can find locally because very often when it comes to fittings and lines your original plan may not work .

 

Russell, vibrant, fragola are the top 3. Vibrant nylon hose is going to be the nicest of the bunch. The Russell pro classic hose is good and less expensive. Fragola is if you want to be a baller and say you have fragola parts. Mix and batch for the best pricing but russell is going to be the best balance between quality and price followed by vibrant then fragola

 

This is great feedback all. I had in mind to go with nylon hose and am familiar with most of the brands but don’t have hands on experience with all of them so I’ll check availability and prices to figure out specifically what to go with.

@R-R-Rx7 I’’m curious what disappointed you with the aeroquip. Did they leak or are the connections hard to mounttmate?

 

I have used this style of fittings for my vacuum lines. Every single one broke. Replaced them with aluminum 4an (the one pictured is 3an) and never looked back

 

That is a ptfe fitting. Theres no reason to use a ptfe line for air...... in a car. You were using THAT exact fitting?

 

i am so glad i was not using it on brakes!!!

reason or no reason thats what i was using back then and Yes those were the ones at different angles. Absolute GARBAGE



overkill on paper, ticking time bomb in reality

 

After trying a ton of different styles and types, I exclusively use “AEROQUIP SOCKETLESS” hose. The push on fitting are a very solid connection. Throw on some oetiker clamps and it’s not going anywhere. I have been purchasing the hose, fittings and any other associated parts from “ BAT “. Great selection and customer service.


https://www.batinc.net.


~ GW

 

I use "Pushlok" type hose and fittings that I buy from Summit Racing on my racecar. The braided SS-covered hose is a giant PITA, IMO, both because it's hard to work with and because if it rubs on ANYTHING after it's installed, it will either rub thru the braid, causing a failure, or damage what it's rubbing on. Push-on hose, OTOH, is very easy to use, is robust, and much less likely to fail in the above manner. A trick in using push-on hose is to gently heat (I use a heat gun) and lube (oil, etc.) the hose end and the barbs on the fitting that you're going to connect.

I usually hold the fitting in a vise, and then push the hose on with just my hands.

 

The trick I use is to put the end in boiling water for a couple minutes and then seat the push on fitting. Slides right in and form fits. Just make sure to index the fitting position if not using a straight.

I will echo Davew. The braided are a bear. Once I switched, I haven’t looked back.


~ GW

 

We also use push lock hose for all our oil lines. Push lock is way cheaper than AN, easier to assemble, maintain and has a smaller footprint. Still using AN for fuel lines to get style points. For budgetary concerns, we did convert everything that would be AN to 5/16 barb for one customer. It actually came out pretty nice.