Some days you're just lucky!!

[PCHunt]

I always thought that fuel lines from the spider to each injector were stainless steel.

Originally Posted by walkman

Interesting to me as I work on my rsa fuel injected airplane. I have braided steel over Teflon everywhere except from the fuel distributor to the injectors, which are copper lines with as silver soldered ball end like a primer line.

Has anyone used a flexible line in this application?

[Jrskygod]

Just a point of clarification here before everyone gets confused and goes off on a tangent. The line that cracked was the fuel pressure sense line that connects the mechanical fuel pump to the manifold on the firewall where the pressure sender is located. It was a copper line that had two vibration loops and was well supported. Usually copper lines tend to crack at the flare but in this case it cracked under the sleeve. I have seen these lines crack before and that is why I was intending to change it out in a couple of months. Primer lines will crack also but they are not under pressure except when in use. Normally the service life of the primer lines is very satisfactory and they can be found on your pipers, cessnas etc. I did not build my plane and this item was a concern but I thought that with the planes low time it would not be a problem until I changed it out.

My point to bringing my story to you is that copper or nylon lines have no place in this type of application. Primer lines ok pressure lines no way. They can cause you great harm if you are not as fortunate as I was. Fuel was spraying out on the accessory case and running down the hot exhaust. What kept the thing from catching on fire is beyond me. I'm so fortunate that I postponed my trip as a fire at 10,000 feet would have been the end of me. The good lord was looking after me today.

PS. MEK took the stains right off. Thanks for the hints.

[bhester]

MEK would not be a good choice on paint.
MEK will take everything off. I guess you got lucky and did not leave it on very long. Mineral Spirits or gas would most likely have done the trick and not harm the paint.

[glenn654]

About primer lines, I've had 3 breaks over the ten years I had my -4 and upgraded the lines with SS injection lines and flew for 2-3 year before selling.
Problems solved as far as I know.


Glenn Wilkinson

[flyinga]

I would not use any "hard" line from the engine to the firewall; too much vibration.

[Epepperman]

If you have anything other than braided lines from your engine to the firewall, you are holding a ticking time bomb with a short fuse. This is no reason to wait, change them now or ground the airplane. I am scratching my head on why you waited.

End of safety manefesto.

[David-aviator]

Ted,

Thanks for reporting this event and the obvious reason it happened.

It is remarkable that there are airplanes flying today with hard lines between firewall and engine - there have been many failures with this installation.

Seems like old habits won't go away even though they are really dumb.

[gmpaul]

Yes you were very blessed and as far as the blue stain don't worry about it sun light will take care of it. My blue stains vanished in just a couple of weeks.
G.P.

[skylor]

Originally Posted by gmpaul

Yes you were very blessed and as far as the blue stain don't worry about it sun light will take care of it. My blue stains vanished in just a couple of weeks.
G.P.

It seems like he would have to spend a lot of time flying upside down for that to work