Hey Y'all -
I've just come back from 2 weeks of jury duty and it's taken 4 days to
get through the digests. There was a thread a week or so ago about
fuel lines (copper, rubber, steel). My apologies for resurrecting this
thread, but I have a concern that I didn't see addressed in that
thread.
I'm in the final stages of completion on my '70 Spit and installed a
copper fuel line that I fabricated from 1/4" copper tubing that came
from the local Orchard Supply Hardware, so you know that it is soft
copper intended for water plumbing use. About two weeks after I put it
in I came across the following bit of information which was nestled in
the "Brake Plumbing" article at the Dimebank Garage website.
". . .little or no warning. (Copper also catalyzes the auto-oxidation
of fuel, the mechanism of sludge formation. Copper should never be in
contact with fuel.) The British have developed . . . ."
I haven't gotten to the point of filling the tank and firing the
engine up, but with today's reformulated fuels this comment kind of
scares me. The last thing I want in my car is something that is going
to clog up my SU's.
And now to the concise questions -
Vicky Brit sells copper fuel line kits. Do they use a special alloy
intended for use in fuel systems?
Are there any chemists out there who can explain the above
parenthetical quote?
In this context does "fuel" refer to racing fuel and not pump gas?
Do I really need to worry about this and yank the copper tubing and
install steel?
Thanks in advance!
Tom
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