[sparks2]

Hi there
Can anyone help please.
On TC I have seen a natty little item I can only describe as an in (fuel) line coupler / de-coupler.
An item that 'splits' a fuel line with a twist or bayonnet action.
At the time I put the link into favourites, but since have had computer troubles and have lost favourites.
Thanks in advance.
Regards
Sparks2

[tony1]

search 'motion pro fuel line coupler' .... any bike dealer should be able to get them.

[sparks2]

Thanks Tony

[MichaelMoore]

Here's some information on the fuel line couplers I pulled together a few years ago:

It appears these couplings (as commonly sold by various aftermarket motorcycle places) are made by:

http://www.colder.com

These are CPC's PLC series, made of acetal. The PLC series is good for -40->180F and 120 psi of vacuum. According to their product info, acetal is "excellent" for unleaded gasoline and also seems excellent for acetone, benzene, ethanol, and methanol, so maybe we can use it on our fuel drag bikes.

I note that some of the aftermarket m/c packages on the couplers are marked "viton" and others aren't. The standard o-ring is Buna-N so they may have supplied those in the earlier days and then wised up to the fact that the Buna-N didn't hold up that well. I know I've had several O-rings swell up to the point where they tore when I pushed the coupler back together.

They do have metal couplers (aluminum and chrome-plated brass - what appears to be shown above) as well as multiple line couplers and other whizzo things.

Replacement O-rings are offered for 80 cents each by the motorcycle places which seemed a bit high so I pulled some of the O-rings off and measured them.

It appears the 1/4" connector uses a #008 O-ring and the 5/16" appears to use a #011 ring.

A bag of 100 #008 Viton O-rings (5/16" OD x 1/16" stock) from MSC (09265083) is $8.36
A bag of 100 #011 Viton O-rings (7/16" OD x 1/16" stock) from MSC (09265117) is $10.24.

caveat: I make no claims to be an expert at measuring O-rings, and there may be secrets to it that I've not discovered.

MSC (a US tool/industrial supply house http://www.mscdirect.com ) has several pages of CPC products and you have to order either side seperately so you can get a one side or two side shut off set:

1/4 hose barb body $8.22, insert: shutoff $8.07, straight through $1.73
5/16 hose barb body $8.22, insert: shutoff $8.07, straight through $1.77

Chrome-plated brass are roughly $22, $14, and $6.36

There are right-angle inserts too, as well as couplers with NPT threads

An aftermarket place sells the single sided 5/16 for $16.95 and the double 5/16 for $21.50

$5-6 savings per coupler would add up pretty quick, and certainly pays for the bag of spare o-rings (since they'd come with Buna-N it might be best to just swap them out right at the start).

cheers,
Michael

[copemech]

MM is usch a wealth of info! Screw it, I have to ask the question, Is this the REAL MM from the left wing movies and such!

[MichaelMoore]

I don't have a moving picture camera, and I'm told I'm better looking. Other than that there's not much difference.

cheers,
Michael

[sparks2]

Thanks MM
I will print the info off and digest when I have the odd 2 hours to spare.
And I always thought it was the MM of motion picture Fame.
Ah well. Thanks again.
Regards
Sparks2

[MichaelMoore]

I'm not the former Australian politician either.

Accept no substitutes! Insist on the real Michael Moore!


If you've got multiple bikes you'll probably want multiple couplers and that gets pretty expensive when you pay a retail price that is 2-3X higher than the normal price. A little work with Google tracked them down and the information seemed like something worth sharing.

cheers,
Michael

This post has been edited by MichaelMoore: 01 August 2010 - 04:38 AM