{"id":39481,"date":"2017-05-12T06:51:57","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T13:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=39481"},"modified":"2017-05-12T06:51:57","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T13:51:57","slug":"plumbing-101-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/plumbing-101-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Plumbing 101: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plumbing
There are any number of different hoses available today. The reality is you have to be extra-careful when picking hose. The difference in quality and capability can be staggering. This example is Earl\u2019s Perform-O-Flex, and it\u2019s one of the best, if not the very best, high performance hoses available today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a couple of past segments right here on RacingJunk, we dug into the whys and hows of AN fittings. It\u2019s a pretty easy (and logical) system once you get the hang of it. After the various styles of adapters and hose ends in your system are selected, you have to figure out which type of hose to use. And you’d better believe there are differences in hose. There are lots of different hose configurations out there. For the purposes of this plumbing series, we\u2019ll look at two of the very best choices out there for hot rods or race cars: Earl\u2019s traditional Perform-O-Flex hose and Earl\u2019s latest Ultrapro hose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perform-O-Flex Hose<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Plumbing
Perform-O-Flex hose is manufactured with a protective sheath of stainless steel braid embedded in the Perform-O-Flex liner during manufacturing. The inner part of Perform-O-Flex hose consists of a synthetic rubber tube that has a “clean” inside diameter and flows very well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most common performance hose you\u2019ll run into is one with some form of rubber liner wrapped with a stainless steel braid. I typically use a lot of Earl\u2019s Perform-O-Flex hose since it\u2019s easy to obtain and very high in quality. Perform-O-Flex hose in this range is based around a special synthetic material for the elastomer (inner hose). In essence, this inner hose is a synthetic rubber tube that has a “clean” inside diameter and flows very well.<\/p>\n

A partial-coverage protective sheath of stainless steel braid is embedded in the Perform-O-Flex liner during manufacturing. The reinforced hose liner is then bonded to a full-coverage outer protective sheath of high tensile stainless steel wire braid. This is likely the toughest hose you can find. Earl\u2019s points out that Perform-O-Flex, with its inner liner, remains flexible at temperatures between -40 and +300 degrees F.<\/p>\n

Perform-O-Flex hose is intended for use with Swivel-Seal, Auto-Fit and Auto-Mate hose ends only. No other Earl\u2019s hose ends are intended for use with Perform-O-Flex hose. The use of other manufacturer\u2019s hose ends is not recommended.<\/p>\n

Earl\u2019s Perform-O-Flex racing hose is engineered to operate continuously in a temperatures range of -40\u00b0 F to over +300\u00b0 F. Aside from the wide heat range, this hose is capable of withstanding considerable pressure (it has a maximum operating pressure of 1500 PSI) and vacuum. By design, it is unaffected by most fuels, oil and coolant. As a result, it can be used for almost all automotive fluid transfer applications except<\/u> brake lines and air conditioning hose. That means it can be successfully used in conjunction with race gas, pump gas, methanol\/alcohol, E85, diesel, engine coolant, oil and automatic transmission fluid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ultrapro Hose<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Plumbing
Ultrapro Hose is one of the latest designs from Earl\u2019s. It has been engineered to be lighter than most hose. Aside from this black fabric liner, it\u2019s also available with a stainless steel outer braid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the years there\u2019s been a trend to move toward lighter hose in racecars. At the same time, today\u2019s high performance vehicles require a plumbing system designed to withstand today\u2019s modern \ufb02uids, harsh environments, brutal vibration, \ufb02ow requirements and extreme pressures. Even the best synthetic hose in the world can eventually become compromised by the petroleum blend we now call gasoline (the chemical mix in certain fuels is responsible for this and the mix is ever-changing). The Engineers at Earl\u2019s Performance recognized this and set to work on a lightweight hose that wouldn\u2019t be affected by harsh chemicals. What they came up with is the Ultrapro hose line.<\/p>\n

\"Plumbing
Internally, Ultrapro hose includes a PTFE (Teflon) liner. The liner is pretty much immune to degradation from fuel containing alcohol (methanol too).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ultrapro features a PTFE inner liner that is impervious to all known fuels, oils and coolants used in automotive applications (race and street). It was designed from the beginning to withstand harsh environments, brutal vibrations, high flow requirements and extreme pressures. Where regular PTFE (Teflon) hose is very stiff and has difficulty making tight bends, the double-helix ribbed inner hose liner used in Ultrapro offers extreme \ufb02exibility and full \ufb02ow, making difficult plumbing jobs a snap. The liner is reinforced with an outside glass-\ufb01ber wrap for additional strength and integrity. Meanwhile, the PTFE inner liner is carbon infused for static dissipation. There\u2019s more too: Earl\u2019s looked at flow through various convoluted hoses and they learned that the actual shape can have an effect upon laminar flow. That resulted in a redesign of the liner. The proprietary shape of the PTFE liner used in Ultrapro ends up with ultra-low coef\ufb01cient of friction to promote maximum fluid \ufb02ow through the hose.<\/p>\n

\"Plumbing
The unique aspect of Ultrapro is that it can make tight bends that aren\u2019t possible with regular Teflon-lined hose.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ultrapro hose is compatible with all automotive applications except for brake and air conditioning lines. Polyester braid Ultrapro hose has a maximum rated pressure of 250 PSI and a maximum rated vacuum of 28-inches HG. Meanwhile, stainless braid Ultrapro hose has a maximum rated pressure of 500 PSI and a maximum rated vacuum of 28-inches HG.<\/p>\n

Ultrapro is assembled with an olive that threads onto the double helix ribbed inner liner of the hose for positive engagement and retention of the hose-ends. It can be assembled by way of crimp on hose ends or twist on hose ends (we\u2019ll dig into these later). It\u2019s currently available with a black polyester braid that proves up to 67% lighter than traditional rubber hose with stainless steel braid. It\u2019s also available with a stainless steel braid that is up to 37% lighter than traditional rubber hose with stainless steel braid. Available diameters include -6, -8, -10,
\n-12, -16, and -20 sizes in both woven polyester braid and stainless steel braid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne Scraba shows you what kind of plumbing you should run on your ride in part 3 of this 4 part series.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":39482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5028,5008,17,11,3470],"tags":[281,5303,4764,321],"class_list":["post-39481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fuel-delivery","category-engine","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-news","tag-how-to","tag-plumbing","tag-tech","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/3-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-agN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39487,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481\/revisions\/39487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}