Homemade oil lines-PowerGrip hose clamps

[shinyribs]

 I decided it would be a good time to replace my oil lines while the bike is down waiting on clutch parts to arrive. I considered converting to AN fittings and hose,but it priced out close to $125. Not happening. I ended up getting some Parker Pushlock braided hose rated for oil at $2.50/foot and some of the Gates Power Grip hose clamps.  These things are awesome. I had no idea how much they cost. The guy selling them just got them in a couple months ago and has been trying to find someone to test them out,so he gave the four clamps I needed for free According to Jegs they run about $4 each.  http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/KeywordSearchCmd?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&langId=-1&Ntk=all&Jnar=0&Ne=1%2B2%2B3%2B13%2B1147708&searchTerm=32922  I really think these clamps hold well. When I pushed the lines on the old fitting they were snug,but you could still rotate the hose on the fittings. After heating the clamps i could not rotate them no matter how hard I tried. My heat gun is a 750 or 1000 degree model. I used the 1000 degree setting per manufacturers rec. It takes about 30 seconds before the clamp is fully seated it seems. Nice clean look,no running back and forth to get hoses crimped in town ( and fear of the end getting rotated wrong) and you can do it at home for a few bucks. Four clamps and the hose would run right at $21.

This is the clamp before I heated it. It was not a very tight fit so I was curious if it would really shrink as much as it said it would.

Here it is after shrinking. It pinched down nice and even and you can see where it really bit down around the end of the hose. A little carb cleaner on a rag wiped the printing off.

[pat english]

thats pretty freakin awesome..so its like a heat shrink tubing for oil lines?...

how much longer then stock are youre oil lines now?

[shinyribs]

Oil lines,water,fuel. Anything that is not high pressure. They are stock length.

[Lucky 1]

Can you tell me what size the oil hoses are. I need to make some up too.
Did you get the hose through JEGS also?

[shinyribs]

I got the hoses and all local. I checked out the clamps on JEGS just out of curiosity of the price. The hose is 7/16'' id ,which is quite tight going on and maybe just a tad undersized from the originals. But 1/2'' hose was sloppy loose on the fittings. Any AN hose that JEGS will carry will be -06 AN (3/8'') or -08 AN (1/2'') so it probably wont fit right. It's an odd size. I'd almost bet it's Japanese or something...

[shinyribs]

Pat,these are the lines for my bike I'm riding now,not the one I'm building. Just clarifying.

[pat english]

ah ok..i think cycle x sells the right size line...where are you putting the oil tank on the bike youre building?

[sgtslag]

Be careful:  on DOHC's, the oil pressure is 72 PSI, max. at 7,000 RPM.  I tried worm drive clamps, and they did not work, period -- oil shot past them, in a jet-stream, making a nice puddle on the ground, right in the path of my rear tire...  This was while the engine was idling, at 1,000 RPM.  Fortunately, it happened immediately, while I was testing it, on the centerstand.  I had to use T-bolt clamps (the only way they will leak, is if the hose bursts...  or I over-tighten them, cutting through the hose!).  [EDIT:  This really only applies to my situation, with external oil lines, running between the filter adapter, and the oil cooler -- not stock.  Stock DOHC's don't really have rubber oil lines -- just an FYI, in case you are modifying a DOHC...]  Be mindful of the pressure within the lines, and use a clamp that is rated for that pressure.  Do your homework, and be safe.    Cheers!

[shinyribs]

That's a great point Sarge. I don't know if these would work on a DOHC or not. The oil lines on the SOHC are pretty low pressure. One side just drains back to the oil pan. If you have the cap off of the oil tank while it's running and Rev the motor you can see the oil swirl around, but its not jetting out of the lines. I don't know what the actual pressure is on that line, but is not the same high pressure that goes through the engine.

I plan to look up the specs on these this evening to see what pressures they will hold.

[shinyribs]

There's gonna be two tanks on that bike. Maybe work will let up some and I can actually finish building them. One under the gas tank and one above the tranny /ahead of the monoshock.

[pat english]

dang that sounds cool

[MarkPBG]

Worm drive clamps are only good to about 40 lbs of pressure, so any more line pressure than that will definitely squeeze by. (Hard to believe something that only gets torqued to 30-35 inch pounds can hold that much pressure.) There are other brands of worm drive clamps rated at 75 lbs, and 100 lbs, though I no longer have the links. Get some T-Bolt spring clamps (they look like the worm drive clamps, but with a different screw) which I've seen most able to hold 100 lbs of line pressure (torque varies from 50-80 inch pounds on these) Something like this....T-Bolt Hose Clamp- High Pressure

They're used in hydraulic hoses and fuel injection applications, so they should hold your oil line if you need a quick but ugly solution.

[shinyribs]

T-bolts are awesome,but I couldn't find any around here. Hard to believe,I know. I was hunting for t0bolts when I found these. I hate worm gear clamps. I had on blow on the lower radiator hose on the Olds one day and almost ate the wall. I havent owned a worm drive clamp since  I went to Gates website and tried to fin out what kind of pressures these clamps are good for,but no luck.

[sgtslag]

I had to hunt in the dark, myself -- I had never heard of a T-bolt clamp.  I went to an auto parts store, asking for high pressure clamps, after my oil cooler began leaking (I had two worm clamps on the hoses, but it was oozing oil out).  They showed me some smaller T-bolt clamps, intended for use on fuel lines, for fuel-injected cars.  The guy told me the injectors ran at around 40 PSI.  I bought a set, and used them to secure a bypass hose on the cooler, to get us home.  (The jet stream of oil running past the worm clamps had occurred earlier, and the use of two worm clamps seemed to be working...)

I could not find larger (1") T-bolts locally, and I looked -- I visited more than 6 shops, of varying types!  I ended up buying them off of e-Bay, and waiting for them to ship.  In the end, it was worth it.  I never knew (Thanks, Mark!) what their pressure limits were, but I knew they could handle far more than worm clamps!  They've been on the cooler's hoses for over 2,000 miles, now, without issue.  They come in different widths -- some are narrow, some have a 1/2" wide band around the hose.  They work, remarkably well.  I, too, hate worm clamps, as they are just not strong enough, for my comfort zone.  YMMV.

I checked into having a hydraulic hose company crimping on custom connectors for my oil lines, but each connector would have cost me $80!  I needed six of them, minimum...  T-bolt clamps were a whole lot more affordable (around $1 each, delivered).  Cheers!

[MarkPBG]

Those are just estimates of their pressure limits. I've never found real specs on it, that's just the range I can recommend based on selling them to racers for 16 years and seeing what they used them on at the track. I got a good feel for what works where as I've seen thousands of applications of clamps for dozens of purposes. I've seen guys with leaky early model efi lines (74psi) use TWO worm drive clamps on the one end with the screws 180 degrees apart and it held until they got home. I wouldn't recommend that for long term use though. Those pressure limits I mentioned are from experience of what I've SEEN hold up season after season without failing. I would love to see some actual published numbers from the mfr.'s though.
Hmmm, I have internet, and nothing to do.....maybe a project search is in order.

[shinyribs]

Well,I put over 100 (hard! ) miles on the bike today and no leaks. So far so good...

[TOOLS1]

I need some 5/16" oil lines, but I see these clamps only go down to 1/2"
TOOLS