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Fuel Line Questions

B

Brambo

Well Known Member
I?m working on the fuel lines in the forward cabin and have a couple of questions.

1) I can?t find anywhere in the plans where the fuel line penetrates the firewall. Is it engine specific? I am using an AP boost pump not Van?s fuel pump. In the plans it looks like the fuel line goes from Van?s pump to an area where the Gascolator will be. Does the Gascolator attach to the firewall like the brake reservoir?

2) I?ve had trouble with the fuel lines that go from the valve to the wing tanks and so have decided to go with the Aeroquip hose. Am I right to assume that the fire sleeve is only required in firewall forward applications? It seems to me that if there is a fire in the cabin hot enough to burn through the fuel line I?ll be dead by then anyway.

Bill Rambo
RV-7A
 
Bill:

Carb or FI? They are different.

Either way though, the fuel line pass through drawings and gascolator mount are included in the FWF kit.

O-360 is on sheet OP-28. It gives the exact location and shows the VA-161 gascolator bracket in the engine compartment.

IO-360 is shown on sheet OP-32. This locates the hole and shows a builder-made doubler.

I have an unused gascolator and VA-161 bracket I would love to sell at Van's price, I'll even cover shipment. I'll send the drawing (or a copy) with it. Send me a private email.

Jekyll
 
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tank to selector valve fuel lines

Bill/Others
I also am having problem with fuel lines. Did the aeroquip hoses work OK? Any idea how to get that rigid 3/8 AL tube through the holes and around the corners and gear leg brackets? The design is a piece of work with interference fits and no room to work.
Thanks,
Gary
 
Brambo said:
I?m working on the fuel lines in the forward cabin and have a couple of questions.

1) I can?t find anywhere in the plans where the fuel line penetrates the firewall. Is it engine specific? I am using an AP boost pump not Van?s fuel pump. In the plans it looks like the fuel line goes from Van?s pump to an area where the Gascolator will be. Does the Gascolator attach to the firewall like the brake reservoir?

2) I?ve had trouble with the fuel lines that go from the valve to the wing tanks and so have decided to go with the Aeroquip hose. Am I right to assume that the fire sleeve is only required in firewall forward applications? It seems to me that if there is a fire in the cabin hot enough to burn through the fuel line I?ll be dead by then anyway.

Bill Rambo
RV-7A
Click to expand...

On the line routing, look at your engine driven fuel pump and use the easiest routing to reach the pump inlet. On my carburated airplane, the easiest route is along the right side of the cockpit.

Regarding firesleeve, I think your assumptions are reasonable.
 
I also have just finised the fuel, brake,fuel inj purge on aRV7A it is a lot of work . It helped to use the AN bulkhead fittings in several places to break up the longer line runs, this also secure and stabilizes and secures the systems. Good Luck Benfra
 
benfra said:
It helped to use the AN bulkhead fittings in several places to break up the longer line runs
Click to expand...

I was able to get the fuel lines in per the plans, but ironically, I had trouble with the brake lines. I used extra AN bulkhead fittings and it made it much easier. If I had to do it again, I would use them on the fuel lines, too. There was a story about this in the RVator awhile back.
 
Brambo said:
2) I?ve had trouble with the fuel lines that go from the valve to the wing tanks and so have decided to go with the Aeroquip hose. Am I right to assume that the fire sleeve is only required in firewall forward applications? It seems to me that if there is a fire in the cabin hot enough to burn through the fuel line I?ll be dead by then anyway.

Bill Rambo
RV-7A
Click to expand...


Your right firesleeve FWF only.

Once again here is my plug for your local hydraulics shoppe. They will sell you flexible lines which to the naked eye are identical to the Aeroquip hoses except they will have Steel hose ends and they are MUCH cheaper than a named brand and are exceptionally good hoses.

Guys around here buy all of their hoses there.

Frank
 
For a fuel injected XP360 with no gascolator, and an AP high pressure pump, where do you exit the firewall at? Is it best to bring the fuel line at the exact location of the gascolator or should it be brought somewhere else?

I too am running the 3/8" fuel lines from the tank through the gear legs and into the main switching valve. I don't see how it is humanly possible to do it with one piece of tubing.
 
No Gascolator

You dont need, or want, a gascolator. The RV7 plans showed exactly where to put the bulkhead fitting so you might call vans for the sheet number or I can get it for you tonight. Not sure if it shows RV7A or not.
 
Dean said:
For a fuel injected XP360 with no gascolator, and an AP high pressure pump, where do you exit the firewall at? Is it best to bring the fuel line at the exact location of the gascolator or should it be brought somewhere else?

I too am running the 3/8" fuel lines from the tank through the gear legs and into the main switching valve. I don't see how it is humanly possible to do it with one piece of tubing.
Click to expand...

See the second post for the plan numbers and info for FW penetration.

I routed my fuel lines around the front of the gear mounts vs. through them. Very easy to do.





Jekyll
RV-7A
 
I think I've figured out the trick

I'm working on this task right now and while I've blown one run of tube on it, I think I've got an approach that will work and will conform to Van's plans. I'm using one special tool (spring tube bender) but I don't think it's strictly required. Here's what I'm going to do tomorrow when I work on it again:

  1. Measure out how much tube you're going to need to go from the selector to the wing, include plenty of extra for bends. Include about 4-6" of 'waste' for the end that needs to go out to the wing. The end will get trashed.
  2. Start by running the tube through the first bracket and get all of the bends in place for the fuel selector. You should do this end first because once the tube is out to the wing you can't pull it out far enough to get clean bends on it. I'm using an Andair selector so it's even harder than it would be with the normal Home Depot selector that Vans provides with the kits.
  3. Once all the selector bends are in place, start routing the tube out to the wing. When you get behind the landing gear bracket, clamp onto the end with some piers and use that to get the torque necessary to start the bend forward to the pass-through hole. As you feed the tube through, be careful to not collapse the tubing. This is where the 4-6" of slack comes in ... you're going to jack up the end with those pliers.
  4. When you have enough pulled through, slide the spring bender over the tube and start working it around the gear bracket smoothly to start a proper bend.
  5. Once you're to the pass-through, work it through with the piers. Once you can pass the tube through the hole you're in great shape.
  6. Slide the spring bender back so that it wraps around from the pass-through to behind the bracket. From here, just keep working the tube through, bending around the bracket and out the hole until the selector end of the tube is in proper alignment. Try not to bend the tube anymore than you have to outside the pass-through until you've got alignment at the selector. The tube is being worked enough as it is.
  7. Now that the selector is aligned, tidy up the bends around the bracket and out the pass-through so you've got good clearance all around and a nice perpendicular tube run out the side of the fuse.
  8. Finally, let the cramping in your hands subside before you attempt the other side! :)
On the tube that I jacked up I managed to get it to properly exit the fuselage side to the wing without any trouble. Where I messed up was getting it to hook up to the Andair ... there just wasn't enough room to get proper bends in place. I think that when I follow the flow I've described here it'll be magnificent! :cool:

-Rick
 
fuel line thru the firewall

I would suggest that is doesn't matter where you put the firewall bulkhead fitting for the fuel. But, it does make a difference how close it is to high heat sorces - i.e. exhaust. Make sure you have a suitable distance. You may have to provide heat shielding and/or cooling -- depending. Vapor lock on the supply side of the fuel pumps to a fuel injection engine or any other for that matter is not good. I have an auto motive conversion and this was a concern, so the engineer recommended fuel pumps inside the cockpit. Yes I know, that raises alarm flags, but there are many planes operating with this config without problems.
Regards,
John S.
 
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