Clutch and Brake Reservoir Hose Debate

I did a quick search on this and from what I can see fuel hose is a no no. Unfortunately for me I think I might have used fuel hose on my clutch reservoir when I replaced the MC last year. It looks ok with no sweating, but it is only a year old. I also would not be surprised if this was on my brake reservoirs as part of the brake overhaul a long long time ago. I searched the retailers and they sell them, but it also looks like BMW uses a braided hose for some brake application that might also work. BMW parts on a Jag…should I dare? Anyway I was curious what flavor hoses you have used on your cars. I was going to replace my ugly old reservoirs with some new ones I have. Thanks, Skene

Years ago I panicked then reading about the type of hose to use for bottle lines. Had been using fuel hose for many years ( fuel injection type) Replaced with EPDM hose, but the hose I removed showed no signs of swelling or dissolving.

Glenn

I bought hose from SNG made specifically for brake fluid. Pegasus Racing, Summit Racing and other supply houses carry the stuff as well. It may even be available at NAPA. Just google “rubber hose for brake fluid”. I’ve never found it at the places like Autozone or Pep Boys; they’ll try to sell you gas line instead. It will probably work but if hose that is guaranteed to resist brake fluid is available why not buy it.

Evening Skene,
Don’t know if this will help but I have found it useful in the past when I was trying to figure out which type of hose or ‘O’ ring to use for a specific application:

Hope it helps,
Cheers,
LLynn

http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2305&p=15015&hilit=Sweating+Brake+Fluid+Hose#p15015

This link to the UK website by Pete C covers the topic fully. Simply put Coolant hose ( EPDM ) is the correct hose to use in conjunction with the fluid resevoirs. It is is possible that fuel hose ( NBR ) might work if the Nitrile level is low, but you never know what the Nitrile level actually is so its use is a crap shoot.The sad thing is that some retailers don’t know anything about the rubbers in their products. and some folks get royally mislead!!

Jaguar, vintage 1969:

But I keep an eye on them for signs of trouble. Certainly a small enough (short enough) and important enough application that it is worthwhile seeking the right thing.

For the OCD among us I purchased the correct black EPDM hose and used a yellow fat tip paint pen to draw the yellow stripe so it looks OEM. :man_facepalming:

That really looks good.

It could be said…they get hosed?

:grin:

I only have about ~2in of hose between the reservoirs and the metal lines that run to the MCs. XKS has hose with the yellow stripe for the OCDs among us :). For me black will work fine. I will see if NAPA has some today. If not I will just order some. Thanks for the info.

On the 2" hose on the 3.8 cars, the really OCD among us use NOS hoses because they have a yellow and dark brown stripes. Well… I bought a lot of NOS inventory and they were there so I used them on my '61…

Phil.

Looks like the brake hose I ordered from SNG only took about 4 months to start leaking.

Would something like this work?
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/til-74-221?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google--shopping--srese1-_-tilton-engineering&gclid=CjwKCAjwpfzOBRA5EiwAU0ccNz6GeWSquvNc-5kOjh99NK871wLqC0hxnKKGUQywGldkPFUN4RLEjRoCB9IQAvD_BwE

Does anyone know the correct inner diameter need for front brake reservoir hose? This one from Summit Racing is .313", but I am thinking it might need to be closer to .25"

It’s 7mmx13mm, since no one knew…

I just received some EPDM material hose from SNG. Hopefully it does not leak prematurely. Currently brake fluid and gasoline are the two fluids that do not leak on mine.

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Is it the fabric covered hose, or the smooth hose?

The fabric covered one seems to be the problem child. The smooth stuff says Cohline-2337 EPDM on it and should be good for the long haul.

I tried to keep it original looking with the fabric covered one, but I am going to replace it with the smooth hose.

That is exactly what I have. Thanks.

Hi Skene, I am not sure what you meant by the above statement.Of course the EPDM hose is correct for glycol coolant, it is not suitable for gasolene, for which you need NBR hose! Regards, John H.