It is best to use as little rubber fuel hose as possible. I like steel best, although aluminum is easier to bend but with the right bender it easy enough.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

My experience with aluminum is that it is easy to tweak for clearance, but to form anything other than a large radius bend requires a bender. Without a bender, the tubing just collapses. My experience is the same with bending steel but I'm not strong enough to even tweak it.

I used bulkhead fittings which ft into brackets which were welded to the frame. The brackets are painted so there is no direct steel to aluminum contact. Rubber bushings of some sort maybe a good idea if you have an electric pump as the fame really amplifies the sound of the pump motor.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie;

The new gas tank in the coupe uses a 3/8" NPT fitting for the fuel line. My plan was to use a 3/8" adapter to a Russell 3/8 compression fitting for the aluminum tubing. Then use 3/8" hose clamps that are rubber insulated down along the inside of the frame rail stopping just opposite the fuel pump. At that end of the tubing, I would slide on a 3/8" tube nut and double flare that end, then use an Edelmann 3/8-24 inverted flare push on barbed hose fitting and connect to the tube nut. I'm using a 3/8" barbed hose fitting on the inlet to the fuel pump. There would only be about 10" or less of rubber tubing then between the fuel pump and the aluminum tubing and the rest of the tubing would be pretty secure I think.

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Charlie, Probably newer even. The fuel requirements increase with E10 and the ECU's and fuel pumps will not compensate, evidently. the Other, younger Charlie could help us here.
Hey, I have a factory OD cable, Do you need it?

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

I'm confused.


Lawrenceville, GA

your not alone.

The question is why doesn't the newer cars accommodate E15, as well as the E10. Is it because the fuel system can't pump enough, or some other reason. I've seen several examples of newer vehicles where the 15% ethanol fuel is not recommended. Why is this?

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

There are 2 issues at work here: 1st, the materials used in fuel systems are engineered to withstand E10 except in flex fuel vehicles which can handle up to 85% ethanol. 2nd, anything over 10% ethanol will cause driveability problems and set a hard code (check engine light) on some vehicles because it causes a lean condition that the ECU can't compensate for by increasing injector duty cycle. It's beyond the limits of ECU programming. You might be able to reflash the ECU but you would still have the materials issue.

Besides the ‘safety’ factor going down significantly with the length of rubber hose being used for a fuelline, the rubber hoses have a real problem with ethanol laden fuels versus what you’ll find with aluminum tubing being used instead. In short, minimize the amount of rubber hose being used.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Well, I'm a Charlie, so I'll give it shot.
The only issues I've heard of so far are incompatibility with rubber and aluminum, poor mileage and power loss of which, I have experienced none of the above in anything I own.
The fuel system is another plausible cause for concern. We know that with carbureted vehicles, when the switch from gas to alcohol is made, larger jets are required. I assume that means a larger volume of fuel also needs to be provided to the carburetor via the fuel pump. If the same holds true for ethanol, then it is possible that the injectors and fuel pump will not be able to provide enough fuel once a certain threshold is reached. Further, the 02 sensor may not provide the computer with the correct info for the alcohol content but I’m not sure if that will tend to be lean or rich.
I wold expect this to be easy to overcome in most newer vehicles. I would also suspect that most cars built in the last 10 years or so are designed for E10, so E15 really should not be a big deal for those. It is the older stuff that may have issues. That's my opinion.


Lawrenceville, GA