Real men may have hard lines but sometimes men, even real men, have to be flexible. One of those times comes, at least in a Bede BD-4C airplane, when you need to connect the hard line fuel lines in the fuselage to the fuel lines in the wings. That connection requires a flexible hose about a foot long.
I built my first pair of Aeroquip hoses. These beasts are tough, rated for 2000 PSI!
Once the hoses were fabricated, I installed the AN fittings on the hard line and flared the end. AN fittings use a 37 degree flare so it takes a special tool. The flaring tools available at the hardware store, and used for HVAC stuff, has a 45 degree bevel and cannot be used for the application.
The hard line comes out just behind the wing spar and the flexible line attaches to it.
These Aeroquip hoses do not look like much but installing four fittings plain wore me out. Take a look at this video to see why. Start watching at 5:25 to see how much pushing is required, and why.
Woh! That is *ton* of work! I had no idea it took that much to make one. Also… now I want to make some for my car 😀
You could build these hoses for your car, I suppose. AircraftSpruce.com has the parts. I used Aeroquip 303-6 3/8″ hose @ $8.50 per foot. Add an Aeroquip 491-6 fitting to each end @ $13.00 per fitting and you’ve got some mighty pricey automobile fuel lines.