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Aircraft Specialty FWF Hoses

TimO

Well Known Member
Wrapping up my Firewall Forward, one of the things I needed to get done was install all of the hoses. I had used Aircraft Specialty for all the brake and fuel hoses inside the fuselage, so I wanted the same known quality on the FWF. Additionally, I really like the idea of having firesleeve on EVERY hose, not just some of them. Steve at Aircraft Specialty feels the same way, so it was a good match to have him make my hoses.

For my hoses, there may be 2 differences from some builders' installations. One of them is that since I'm using a grand rapids EIS for an engine monitor, my sensors are not all the same. For my fuel pressure hose, I was able to go with a shorter hose than some people would need. For my manifold pressure sender, mine is mounted aft-firewall, so I used the same bulkhead style fitting as was used on my RV-10. In almost every aspect, this RV-14 is a copy of my RV-10 build.

As in my post about the Vetterman Exhaust, please note that when these pictures were taken, many extraneous things were not complete, so ignore any disconnected wires, loose nuts, or other things you may see. Just look at the hoses. It's a bit hard to get a good photo of the oil cooler hoses, once installed. Also, any green push-pull cables you will see are old ones that had melted or become stiff from my original RV-10 install. Today I have brand new black ones installed, so ignore any routing of the cables. They were there so that I could test for any interference with the hoses. Additionally, I feel it will be very important to heat shield the fuel hoses on the left side of the engine, and future photos I will take will show some good heat shielding.

For now though, know that if you choose to get top quality hoses, or have any special hose length needs due to your individual routing or construction, Aircraft Specialty and TS Flightlines can take care of you.

Here are the photos:

IMG]http://www.myrv14.com/postpics/hoses/IMG_8659.JPG[/IMG]

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Just to piggyback on what Tim has said, my experience with Steve at Aircraft Specialty was very similar. Steve went FAR out of his way to ensure I got the hoses I needed, and then over-delivered in terms of delivery schedule, all while keeping the quality level right up there with the best. I'm a very satisfied customer.
 
I do intend to replace most of the fittings with steel. Van's always includes aluminum...I replaced many of them on my -10 too. I just have to remember to add it to my next order. That's one of the reasons I haven't tightened all the fittings yet. I wanted to have all the hoses routed and done so that I could ensure the fitting selection would be correct. The last thing I need is a fuel fitting cracking in half.
 
The last thing I need is a fuel fitting cracking in half.

-6 aluminum fittings are pretty massive and extremely unlikely to fail in applications like this.
There is no relative motion between the two ends of the hose. What could cause the fitting to fail?
 
As a follow-up, if someone is following this thread and wants to replace their fittings with steel, you may want to leave the fittings out of your kit.
I just added to my cart all of the fuel and oil fittings, starting at the one on the firewall, and the total for all new steel fittings for fuel and oil is approx. $125.
The steel are usually around 1/3 more expensive, so you''ll save at least $50-75 if you go steel, by not buying the aluminum and then tossing them in your bins, like I'm doing.

As Scott said, the aluminum are probably strong enough for the fuel flow meter, due to the lack of relative motion, but I do prefer the steel into aluminum anyway, because aluminum into aluminum tends to gall a bit more.
 
Steve

My experience with Steve was the same as Tim and Mark. Steve goes out of his way to get you exactly what you need asap. His prices are the best I could find too.

Spence
 
Those are beautiful lines. Tom will be setting me up in the near future for my -7A as well. Excellent products and service.
 
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