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MG MGA - Supplying new Fuel Lines

I was inspecting my rubber fuel hoses in the engine compartment (metal pipe to carb and carb2carb) and they are becoming perished.

I was wondering if you can suggest a good source for these fuel hoses. I looked in moss and it seems expensive for piece of piping (like $30 for the carb2carb). Maybe this is the regular price?

I have seen some people using steel braided ones which look nice, and I would like to find similar ones.
I guess I could just buy some rubber ones too from a local autoparts store, but I was really looking for the braided ones.
G Ramos

Original hoses were steel braid covered. I bought replacements from Moss Motors in late 1986 that have stainless steel braid and are Teflon lined. They are still going strong after 23 years and 230,000 miles. Even at today's prices they look like a real good deal to me.
Barney Gaylord

Ok, if you say it is worth it Barney, I will purchase them.
I guess that the carb to carb line has already the banjo bolts attached on each side so there is no need for fittings.
How would I do it to keep the fuel filter before the carburetor? I guess you don't want to cut the braided hose...
G Ramos

Gonzalo, It might be worth you checking with Clarke Autospare for these because some time ago they were planning to make exact replicas of the original Petroflex lines.

If you've not bought any MGA spares before bear in mind that sometimes the quality of the parts is not the same as the original. For example I bought a braided carb to carb hose from Moss (over here of course) and it is longer than the original and bows upwards too much when installed.........mike
m.j. moore

Gonzalo,

If you want to install a fuel filter you have to do a Mikey Mouse adaptation (I donīt know if the term is familiar) but you have to open the main line and install some connectors for the filter. You can do that in the engine bay or closed to the fuel pump.
Hope someone has a better idea!!!
R Garcia

Gonzalo,
If you have not yet done so, get a catalog and price list from Scarborough Faire. In many cases they have better prices and, I my opinion, better quality than Moss. I'm not knocking Moss, they are easier to buy from and have a great web site. Just suggesting that you compare. And beware, use Scarborough's toll free line to order parts, cause if you get Cecilia on the line it will be a while before you hang up! She's very helpful, but quite a talker.
Cheers,
GTF
G T Foster

Ok I will look into it and see if I can put the filter next to the pump outlet.

By the way I also found out why the front carb kept getting the float needle stuck.
The metal screen on the entry port in missing.
Anyone has a spare one they can sell me? otherwise I will order it from moss. I just placed an order yesterday so I will wait until I need to place another before to maximize the shipping cost.
This weekend I will also empty the fuel tank as it has too many particles coming out.
Would you recommend to do use a slushing compound? I guess I need to take the fuel tank off the car to do that, right?

Well, see how it goes.
G Ramos

If you want to be cheap or for temp use. You can cut the fuel line off the fitting and use bulk fuel line and some hose clamps. Done this way it is easy to put an inline fuel filter in the first one.
R J Brown

Gonzalo,
It should be enough to drain the tank, put the bung back, and put about a gallon of clean fuel in. Then rock the car from side to side, and drain the fuel out again.
Do NOT use tank lining compounds. Eventually these break up, and then you have one hell of a problem with bits in the fuel.
My in-line fuel filter is one with the out pipe 90 degrees to the fiter, and it is fitted just below the heater shelf on the right hand side. The steel pipe has been cut where it is vertical (just behind the starter switch), and short pcs of rubber hose fitted to the steel pipe and filter with hose clamps. It is almost out of sight in this position.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

Thanks Peter!
I will have a go at emptying the tank and 'rocking' the car... lets see what comes out. this will be the first step.
I am glad you told me about the lining compounds cos I was going to order them soon otherwise.

Some people say they put in a bunch of nuts & bolts (and even a chain)inside and shake it like hell to work on the inside. Then wash. But I guess that may not work in this case as I understand the tank has baffles inside, right?
G Ramos

Gonzalo,

Yes, there are baffles. I had a heck of a time getting a stray washer out of my tank with the tank out of the car and the sending unit removed.

Ken
k v morton

If you use a tank lining compound, be sure to buy the entire kit that includes the acid etch solution, and follow the directions to the letter. I used one of the kits about 15 years ago to restore a rusted ATV tank (built like a motorcycle tank), and it is still leak free, and I've had no issues with the liner coming off. The ATV in question sits through -40F winters at my cabin, and the temps get up to the high 80s in the summer, so it lives a rough life. I don't remember for sure, but I think the kit I used was made by POR-15.
Del Rawlins

I am going to do the basic clean-up first of the tank and then I will see if I really need to coat it.

Last night I started to empty the fuel tank, and 'as expected' as I unscrewed the bung, the sealing washer desintegrated... So no even if I close the screw tight it still has a leak (like 2 drops a minute), so tonight I have to design a temporary solution until I order a new one.
I thought about drilling a copper washer to size or use the 'plumbing horsehair with sealer paste'.

There was definitely a lot of crap in the tank our of the first fuel I took out.
G Ramos

Gonzalo, fabricating a copper washer is fine, but otherwise there are very few sealants that will work with petrol. At best they will leak at worst they will turn to a sticky mess in your tank returning at a later date to haunt you!
Neil McGurk

I would think for a temporary fix that making a cork gasket and using some hylomar: http://www.hylomar-usa.com/ would do the trick. It works fine on the sending unit. This should be OK until you can order a replacement washer.

Cheers,
Christopher
Christopher Wilson

Gonzalo,
If you only have a couple drops/minute leak, a good temporary repair is Sealol, available at any auto parts.
I had punctured my fuel tank, with a steady stream leaking directly on the exhaust system, and used a screw with Sealol on it. It stopped it completely, and was still fine 2 years later when I sold the car. While I left it as permanent, I wouldn't recommend it, but it did the trick.
Mike Parker

Last night I fabricate a copper washer and cleaned the tank. There was quite a lot of additional sediment in there.
Well, as Chris Wilson expected the copper washer did not do the trick. and was leaking the same.
However the plumbing 'horse hair' did work! Just like what you would put on a high pressure water pipe at home.
Now I just need to order a new screen for the carb. float.
Cheers for the suggestions.
G Ramos

Gonzalo,

Just for future reference copper gets hard when you work it and needs to be annealed to make it soft again. If you have a copper washer that refuses to seal try heating it to cherry red and let it cool back down; that will make it back soft and more likely to seal.

Regards,

Rich
Richard Taylor

You need to quench the copper in cold water while it is red hot in order to soften it. It sound wrong as compared to steel stuff but that is what you have to do to anneal copper.
Ed Bell

Gonzalo,
If you have an in-line paper filter, as suggested in an earlier message, the mesh filter cone and spring in the carb inlet is not necessary as the crud will have been caught earlier.
A fibre washer would probably work on the bung, and should be available from an auto parts store, as would a new copper washer. Just don't over tighten the bung.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

Gonzalo, congratulations on getting your "A", it looks good and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun once you sort out the inevitable problems that always seem to come with a car that's been "sitting around" and not had much love for a while!
When I first got mine, I had all sorts of problems with crud in the fuel line. It jammed the float needles open (a previous owner had seen fit to leave out the thimble filters in the float chamber unions) causing flooding, and also got into the fuel pump valves and stopped it pumping. My fuel pump is an after-market one and is not fitted with a filter, so I fitted a glass bodied in-line filter between the tank and the pump to catch the bits before they can cause any trouble. Over a period of a few months I regularly cleaned out the in-line filter AND the two carb filters and eventually the crud stopped coming. I hardly get any debris in the the filters now when I check them at the 3,000 mile service, so you may find yours is the same once you get using it regularly, but do fit an in-line filter in front of the pump, if you use a glass one you will be able to see when it needs cleaning, but make sure it can't rattle against anything hard and fracture, I found out the hard way!
Enjoy! Lindsay.
Lindsay Sampford

Just a reminder:
Lindsay was OK with an aftermarket pump but NEVER put a filter in front of a OE pump it will burn it out when the filter plugs.
With the tanks clean to start with I never found it neccesary to put in an extra filter.
If you do find a filter helpful put it after the pump.
R J Brown

Good point RJ, I didn't know about that issue. I had to fit my filter in front of the pump because it had no filter of its own and the debris was causing real problems, the pump would run constantly but no fuel got moved! But the valves in a "proper" SU pump are protected by the built-in filter so an external one should not required.
Lindsay Sampford

Thanks for the advice once again.
Today I took the car out of another drive and the fuel feed seems to be getting better. The car ran well without cutting out, but however it did at some point (for like 1min) start running on 2cylinders ( guess this is the float needle getting stuck) and then back to normal again.
This is all with the flushed fuel tank and a brand new in-line filter before the carbs.
I guess that as Lindsay was commenting this is probably going to be an iterative process until all the 'crap' gets flushed out of the system.
I ordered a float bowl screen in any case.
G Ramos

Those float bowl screens are real important Gonzalo. Even with an in-line filter I was still picking up crap in them. With both those screens in place you shouldn't have any trouble with carbs flooding UNLESS your float needles are worn. It's easy to see wear on the standard float needles as a little "step" forms on the taper. I fitted "Grose" needle/jet assemblies to mine and have had no troubles at all so far, they are supposed to be better than the standard items but I have read mixed reports about them. Do check the screens frequently to start with in case they are picking up lots of crud, they are very small and can quickly fill up with rubbish! Lindsay.
Lindsay Sampford

This thread was discussed between 01/03/2010 and 07/03/2010

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