Manifold pressure line

[Steve]

I've been using a copper tube running between #2 cylinder and the firewall mounted G3X transducer on my 9A. Is there an alternative to the copper tube? My tube broke at the compression fitting just aft of the cylinder twice over the last 16 years.
Steve

 

[TS Flightlines]

I've been using a copper tube running between #2 cylinder and the firewall mounted G3X transducer on my 9A. Is there an alternative to the copper tube? My tube broke at the compression fitting just aft of the cylinder twice over the last 16 years.
Steve

Copper tubing work hardens over time, and with vibration will eventually fail. Hose works well

 

[Desert Rat]

Tom isn't going to pimp his own company in a post (above) so I'll do it

TS Flightlines made me a braided hose. They will do whatever length and with whatever fittings you need for this. I want to say I went with a -3 but I don't remember for sure without lookin it up. Anyway, you can see it in this picture coming off #3 and going to the transducer on the engine mount. Works great.

 

[mburch]

Tom isn't going to pimp his own company in a post (above) so I'll do it

TS Flightlines made me a braided hose. They will do whatever length and with whatever fittings you need for this. I want to say I went with a -3 but I don't remember for sure without lookin it up. Anyway, you can see it in this picture coming off #3 and going to the transducer on the engine mount. Works great.

I did the same, and bought Tom's slick restrictor fitting as well. My hose runs across the firewall to the Van's sensor mounting manifold, but if I was doing it again I'd probably use a shorter hose with a remote-mount sensor like yours, on the starboard side of the engine mount.

 

[Desert Rat]

I did the same, and bought Tom's slick restrictor fitting as well. My hose runs across the firewall to the Van's sensor mounting manifold, but if I was doing it again I'd probably use a shorter hose with a remote-mount sensor like yours, on the starboard side of the engine mount.

Yeah, not using that sensor manifold was one of my best decisions. It saved having 3 more lines running every which way across the already crowded space back there. It's much more efficient and opens up some space to have shorter hose runs and locate the transducers closer to what they're measuring.

 

[NTex]

Tom isn't going to pimp his own company in a post (above) so I'll do it

TS Flightlines made me a braided hose. They will do whatever length and with whatever fittings you need for this. I want to say I went with a -3 but I don't remember for sure without lookin it up. Anyway, you can see it in this picture coming off #3 and going to the transducer on the engine mount. Works great.

I'm interested in those sensor standoffs you have on the engine mounts, did you make those or purchase them?

Thanks

 

[Desert Rat]

I'm interested in those sensor standoffs you have on the engine mounts, did you make those or purchase them?

Thanks

I bought them from Show Planes. The manifold pressure one integrates a barbed standoff for the vacuum line to the Pmags which is nice as well. They were $50 a pop, and you could accomplish the same thing for 10x less with just a couple of adel clamps, but I already had the checkbook smoking from buying a thunderbolt engine, so I figured I was already all in with making everything pretty in there.

However you do it, going with transducers located closer to the source allowed me to have nice short lines from TS flightlines and helped keep the area behind the engine as uncluttered as possible.

 

[Toobuilder]

I've been using a copper tube running between #2 cylinder and the firewall mounted G3X transducer on my 9A. Is there an alternative to the copper tube? My tube broke at the compression fitting just aft of the cylinder twice over the last 16 years.
Steve

First off, did you have an adel clamp to absorb the loads near the compression nut or was the tube unsupported and allowing the tube to fatigue? Keep in mind that solid copper tubing has been used for MAP, primer and oil pressure since nearly the beginning of aviation. It works if fabricated and secured properly.

To answer your question directly, there are plenty of alternative solutions - silicone, rubber, plastic, aluminum, and yes, braided hose. And while I continue to be a fan of Tom and his products, IMHO, using braided hose here is like trying to kill a fly with a shotgun.