Getting ready to put the return fuel hose to the tank back in and noticed that new hose and fittings look to have some sort of bushing, seal thingie around the hard line going into the tank. When I removed the old one, there was no bushing, seal thingie.
Questions:
Ok, that’s it for now. Thank you very much.
Now the pics…
Its a seal. Common for them to crumble when removing the line. Only some versions of the tank and lines had them.
That thingie is the viton or fkm rubber seal, usually for single use only, you can’t buy ot separately these days, you can make it yourself from viton rubber tubing. Viton tubing however is usually sold in length of 7.5m per unit whichakes it slightly expensive.As far as I am aware - all the replacement hose assemblier are having these to mitigate leaks / fuel smell in your boot.
I have been grappling with the same problem with my xj6 fuel tank.
That thingie is a compression fitting, probably brass. In my situation, I had to cut it off using a Dremel, and then fit on a new one. They are easy to find in hardware stores in the plumbing stores. They deform to make a very tight seal that withstands high pressure.
Bud,
I think he meant the greenie thingie on top… The compression fitting you’ve mentioned was an exact reason why greenie thingie was introduced…
Yup…
@BudFox - it’s the greenie thingie, not the compression fitting.
@jal5678 - nothing came out crumbly, all clean, and I suspect that greenie thingie is still in there - hence the pictures of the black hole…
@XjsBanger - yup… my follow up was gonna be where do I get it or build it. gonna dig around and see if I can find the tubing in that size - I’m thinking McMaster-Carr, but haven’t had a chance to dig. Will post if/when I figure something out.
Pirk,
You can use standard nitrile rubber instead and order 1m from ebay. It’s all about material’s permeability.
Believe it or not, soft round bar of polyurethane is your alternative (you just need to drill it and make the hole true to the OD)
Easiest source of o-rings it probably the little green ones used in Air Conditioning. You can get a box of them in assorted sizes from Harbor Freight or Autozone. I’ve used them in XJS fuel system no problem no leaks.
Fun part’s gonna be digging around in that hole to get the old crap out or maybe its long disintegrated.
On the compression fitting @BudFox mentioned - it’s a M14 x 1.5 thread. Several of the fuel fittings are that size on my Jag. I always forget to write that down, so hopefully now when I search the next time, this’ll come up and all is good.
Well, my bad. I have a 84 xj6. They have metal compression sleeves.
Funny they would use a rubber-type compound in contact with gasoline.
The same “sleeve” thing is on later 6.0 XJS’s on the fuel rail. I just ended up using two or three o-ring stacked.
Yupp, same as the XJSs use to. That’s the issue, it’s truly difficult to mess up your tank with rubber one, compression sleeve may do this instantly.
I began digging into the return line hose to see if I could extract or otherwise determine if there was still an “o-ring sleeve” into the return line connection to the main tank that looked anything like what @jal5678 and others suggested. Lo and behold, yup, it was there. Came out in a couple of pieces. I have new viton tubing that I think I’ll be able to cut to size.
I have more questions now 
Now, eye candy…
Do I just jack that in like that? ^^^
AFAIK, only that line ever had them, and only on some tank part numbers. They changed various lines a few times, presumably to prevent leak opportunities. A rusty tank i took out had them, but the replacement tank, with the same part number had a different fitting for that line.
Just slide them on the line, use some lube on the OD, and put it on the tank.
Both the return line to the main tank and the return line on the sump tank have these on mine.
Installed that and it just didn’t feel right, so I pulled it out to find that the Viton tune had been messed up. So I cut another piece, a bit shorter, and did it again. This time the tightening pushed the tubing back and over the flare. Is it supposed to do that - provide a seal around the flare?
In any case, with the tubing installed I could smell fuel vapor. With no tubing, no smell. I may try the tube installs again, but am tempted to leave off and go with what doesn’t smell.
Good part is that this is the last thing to tackle with the trunk fuel line replacement and updates…
Pics…
Pirk,
What type of tubing you’re using? Is it braided with fabrics?
Where did you managed to get that ‘viton’ tube from, by the look of shearing it seems to be poor nitrile…
What diameter of tubing you’re using?
Viton tubing was from Mcmaster-Carr, not braided or anything. Seems like plain ole tubing.
5102K44 HT-Temperature Viton Fluoroelastomer Opaque Tubing for Chemicals, Firm, 8 mm ID, 10 mm OD, Black, 2 ft. Length
I’ve actually got some of the same tubing, but it’s ‘soft’ and not ‘firm’. Might try that to see what happens.
These metal end fittings are 3/8th or 9.5mm on outside diameter, you’re using 8mm id / 10mm od stretched by 1.5mm which probably makes it drop into the tank.
Also, trim the length of the viton tube as it seems too long on the photos…
The hard line OD on my year for those are right at about 7.5mm. The Viton seals are a touch loose if anything, but seem to fit just about right.
Gonna try shorter tubing…
