This is copied from the Vintage race list
Marc
I spent some time over the last couple of days looking at the fuel
line dry-break quick disconnect couplers I've got, and I thought I
would share my findings.
It appears these couplings (as commonly sold by various
aftermarket motorcycle places) are made by:
http://www.colder.com
http://www.colder.com/asp_main/GeneralPurp...asticProducts.a
sp
http://www.colder.com/asp_main/FeaturesBenefits/PLCFBInd.asp
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 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 -
might be a bling bling auto/motorcycle market for those) 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.
MSC has four pages (4196 seems to be for this line) of CPC
products and you have to order either side seperately:
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).
I feel like this was actually a productive way to spend an hour or so
this morning.
cheers,
Michael