Hey everyone, I was just finishing up the fuel system here on Stewie and I thought I
would take a minute to talk about the various types of hardlines offered by Earl's.
With all the choices and differences in tubing materials today, choosing the correct hardline
can seem a little bit daunting.
Each material has it's own pros and cons so you'll need to consider the specific application
or vehicle system that you plan to use it on before making your purchase.
Earl's carries a wide selection of tubing and a variety of materials and sizes for use
in most any automotive system, follow a long while I break down these tubing designs and
give you a better idea of their benefits.
Steel hardline is one of the most common types of tubing, it's used in almost every system
found in the automotive world and for a good reason.
To start off, it's typically the least expensive to purchase and it's fairly easy to bend,
cut, a flare with common hand tools.
Earl's offers two types of steel hard line, our zinc plated steel tubing uses a double
wall, carbon steel that is copper braised and then zinc plated to resist corrosion.
The other option is our olive steel hardline, it also is constructed of copper braised,
double wall low carbon steel, but it's also wrapped in a PVF or polyvinyl flooring coating.
The olive-colored PVF coating provides superior corrosion protection and is ideal for vehicles
exposed to snow, salt, gravel, or any other harsh environments.
Both designs are easy to bend, cut, and flare.
For your convenience, Earl's offers a large selection of tools to do everything from cutting,
bending, and flaring your hardlines.
Aluminum tubing is another popular choice that you will see.
One of the greatest pros to using aluminum is that it is easy to bend, so easy that you
can bend it by hand, but it can be difficult to get perfectly straight, especially when
purchased in rolls.
Aluminum is easy to cut and flare and you can even polish it to a high sheen.
Typically, only 37-degree single flare method is used with aluminum since it's such a soft
material and it's difficult to get quality flares when attempting the 45 double flare.
Aluminum tubing can be used for everything from fuel, transmission, and oil supply lines,
even vacuum and coolant lines, but aluminum tubing should never be used for pressurized
brake lines.
It's common to see aluminum fuel and transmission lines and Earl's easy bender tubing tool allows
you to connect a rubber hose directly to your aluminum tubing.
The tool creates a radius bead at the end of the tubing which can be used to retain
the hose along with the hose clamp.
To get the best of both worlds, Earl's offers easy form tubing.
It's tubing made from a copper-nickel alloy that's just as strong as steel but much easier
to cut, bend, and flare, much like aluminum.
Not to be confused with the typical copper tubing that you'll find at the hardware stores,
Earl's easy form tubing is composed of approximately 90 percent copper and 10 percent nickel.
It's so easy to bend that you can bend it with your bare hands, but using a specialized
bender can give you a perfect radius every time.
Companies like Volvo, Audi, and Porsche have been using this type of copper-nickel alloy
tubing since the 1970's.
One of the biggest benefits of easy bend tubing is that it doesn't rust or corrode and it's
also DOT approved for use in hydraulic brake systems.
It's ideal for use on all automotive hardline systems including brake lines, transmission
cooler lines, fuel lines, etc.
Earl's offers easy form tubing in most popular diameters.
Stainless steel tubing, despite it's higher initial costs, still remains a popular choice
among automotive enthusiasts.
Despite it being slightly more difficult to bend, stainless can be a great choice whether
you are looking for superior rust and corrosion protection or need a tubing that can be polished
to a show car shine that will last for years.
Stainless tubing performs well with single flares and can be double flared but will require
a high-quality flaring tool like Earl's part number 001ERL to perform the operation correctly.
When it comes to flaring any tubing, there are a few dos and don'ts that you'll need
to know.
The automotive standard is a 45-degree double flare.
Double flaring folds the smooth outer portion of the tubing inward to form a sealing surface.
This smooth surface, combined with the extra material as a result of the double wall thickness,
will give you a more reliable seal that is also less prone to cracking.
The double-flared method does not require the use of tube sleeves and is a good technique
to use when working with mild steel and easy form tubing.
Aluminum tubing is very soft and malleable making it difficult to perform quality double
flares.
The thirty-seven-degree single flare can be used on all three of the mentioned tubing
types but requires that you use a tubing sleeve and tube nuts to ensure a quality seal.
You should always double check the flared area for cracks and weak spots before final
installation.
Stainless steel is a considerably harder material and a single thirty-seven-degree flare is
usually sufficient.
When using a single flare method though, you'll have to use a tube sleeve and tube nut to
securely seat the flare to your fitting.
Earl's carries a variety of steel and aluminum tube sleeves and nuts for use with the 37
degree AN fittings.
You should never interchange 37 degree and 45-degree fittings, the difference in seat
angles results in a very narrow sealing surface that can fail under pressure.
Now if you simply don't want to mess with flares or flaring tools, earl's has an alternative
for you.
It's our complete line of compression fittings which are designed to adapt hardline tubing
to an AN style fitting.
They make it possible to easily adapt hardline tubing ranging from a quarter inch to a half
inch in diameter to an AN style fitting.
Earl's compression fittings are rated to 250 PSI and should never be used on a brake system.
When you've finished your assembly, don't forget to use our handy pressure test kit
to pressure check your work before final assembly.
It can save you time and money and prevent the loss of expensive fluids and don't forget
to securely mount your hardlines with our adel clamps or line clamps.
They help prevent vibration and excessive flex in the lines that can cause cracks or
even premature failure.
Just as Sir.
Francis Bacon said, knowledge is power, and I hope that with this information, and some
help from Earl's, you'll have a better understanding of hardline applications and compatibility.
Thanks for watching, for more information on these products, and to view our complete
line of hardline tubing and tubing accessories, visit our website at Earls.com