Silicone hoses on the Esprit..

[Jacques]

Hi all,

I am thinking of changing every single rubber hose I can get my hands on, to "modern" silicone hoses, before mine leaks, blows, breaks, stiffens etc. I already changed soem parts here and there to new rubber, so can see it coming, as others here have experienced.

 

I previously had some Samvo on my earlier car, and they never blew, leaked or anything at all, but working as intended.

 

Now, I cannot find Samco hoses for my 1990 Esprit SE, but seen both here and elsewhere set from china... Downer.

But are thy worth anyting?

I mean, do they split, tear, are thy fewer layers? Are they stable?

Or any other problems with them?

They seem to be the only ones available (I live in Denmark, so would have to order online.).

 

All views appreciated.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[DaveyT]

Hi Jacques,

I'll be doing the same when mine goes back together. Have been looking at these guys:

http://www.autosiliconehoses.com/silicone-hose-shop/performance-silicone-hoses.html

UK based, no kits as such but should be able to provide appropriate runs, even if it mean coupling with alloy in parts.

Dave

[Jacques]

Thanks Guys. But I am wondering f those sets (2) that covers the SE, from china, is the same quality, thickness and resistance?

 

If not, I will do as you two did and make my own. But if I can buy two ready made sets, then I'll do that to avoid extra couplings.

Normally it's best to have a slightly increased diameter (a bulge so to speak) at the end of metal tubings, to secure the hose better. Srooy, donøt know the English Word for it.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques

[mdw]

I have the China set in black. After 1500 miles no problems. They look the same no of layers as a samco one.

[Simon350S]

Flare i think it's more commonly known. Some call it a swage.

Those Chinese kits arrived on the scene after I did my car, I did as the others have said, lots of elbows and couplings, it's not ideal, especially seeing as how bad out original alloy hopes corrode!

I'm sure someone on here has used them and said they were fine. Can't for the life of me remember who.

If I were doing it again, I'd be buying a set of those hoses on eBay and probably feel a little better at the fact I've got a lot less joints in the system to cause future issues...

I have the China set in black. After 1500 miles no problems. They look the same no of layers as a samco one.

Perfect timing Dave

Your name was on the tip of my tongue but didn't want to say it was you in case I was wrong....

So there you go Jacques, a recommendation for the owner of one of the shinyest Esprit on the forum

Edited September 20, 2014 by Simon350S

[Jacques]

Thanks a lot Guys. I will go for the two china sets then. But I will try to buy stainless clamps from somewhere else. I bought some for the exhaust and fuelhoses from car builders solutions, and they are very nice made, and can be tightened without destroying a snail-drive.

I use them on the chargecooler hoses in the enginebay too. I hope to find the right sizes.

Maybe someone knows another place to get something like that? Thay have to be slightly upswept at the edges, to avoid cutting into the hoses. Guess how I know

 

Does it look stupid in other colours than Black?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Simon350S]

I used blue, mainly because the car is blue, and I painted the cam covers blue too....

It's not going to look stupid as long as you like it....

I'm looking at getting orange for my Black MR2, I think it'll look cracking but it depends on what accent colour I use on the rest of the engine bits. Hopefully I can find an orange anodised paint finish to go with it

[Chillidoggy]

I bought the set of red hoses from China. £56, took a week to get here. They look pretty good to me.

[top-plumber]

I have a full set of imported hoses on my car. They are great. Nearly 2 years and no problems. Use stainless steel hose clamps though. They have a wider band and just seem more secure. The shaped hose from the water pump to the feed hose that passes through the bulkhead is a perfect fit. Just watch it doesn't rob on the cam belt and make a hole which happened to me. At that point I put a swaged aluminium connector in and two clamps. Perfect fix.

[top-plumber]

Just took a look at the eBay sets. Wouldn't fancy the £50 set as they don't look reinforced to me.

[Chillidoggy]

My set is definitely reinforced.

[red vtec]

I'm going to fit silicon hoses when rebuilt, I think Mike 6 also has them fitted. You can use Gates powergrips instead of jubilee clips. With jubilee clips only use good quality ones. the cheap ones are rubbish.

[Advantage]

It's worth pointing out that Jubilee Clips are a trade name and if you buy genuine branded Jubilee Clips you will have no problems. The replica hose clips which look and work in a similar way to Jubilee Clips may not perform in exactly the same way.

[MrDangerUS]

 

Thanks a lot Guys. I will go for the two china sets then. But I will try to buy stainless clamps from somewhere else. I bought some for the exhaust and fuelhoses from car builders solutions, and they are very nice made, and can be tightened without destroying a snail-drive.

I use them on the chargecooler hoses in the enginebay too. I hope to find the right sizes.

Maybe someone knows another place to get something like that? Thay have to be slightly upswept at the edges, to avoid cutting into the hoses. Guess how I know

 

Does it look stupid in other colours than Black?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

I have a set of "import" hoses (cost $95), no problems-so far. Was I Lucky?

In last couple of years, their quality has improved enough to justify the use.

Friend of mine told me that "the same factory in china makes them all; they just paint a different logos on them".

Well, they look the same to me (I.E. a $95 set vs. $299 set).

Clamps:

Buy "ABA" or "Norma" clips/bands "for silicone hoses" only.

They are stainless, have curled up edges and extruded threads. Plenty on USA eBay.

Clamps provided with chinese hose sets are dangerous to the integrity of any hoses.

Some owners use T-bolt clamps, which is definitely a total overkill.

Edited September 21, 2014 by MrDangerUS

[Simon350S]

I can assure you, that factory in China does not make them all..

There's a company not far from me who very much make their own, and the ones I'm getting for the MR2 are UK made as well.

They will look the same, they use pretty much exactly the same construction.

[Jacques]

Anyone else who may think the cheap set for 55 is not reinforced inside?

Or is it the same?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[mdw]

My china set were quite a bit  more than £55 a few years back but they do have 2 or 3 layers of reinforcing. 

[Chillidoggy]

Agreed, and for £55 I figured it was worth the risk.

Like I said, they look good to me.

[top-plumber]

That was my point really. I paid over £100 2yrs ago for imported hoses from china. They are all reinforced and have proved to be very reliable. If they have gone down to under half price and still maintain good quality then great. Perhaps I paid twice what they are actually worth.

[ragingfool35]

use t-bolt or, for small dia silicone hoses, fuel injection clamps.  silicone takes a lot more force to compress with a clamp than rubber.  also the worm drive clamps cut the silicone right under the screw.  hard to see but I learned the hard way, fully half of my hoses were cut there.  the t-bolt and fuel injection clamps are designed specifically to avoid these problems.  they are all over ebay

[Jacques]

Thanks everyone, I'll do that then.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[dodge1979]

I think Gary Kemp had silicone hoses made as the fitment of the china ones isn't always very good..a little too loose as Ive been informed. The best clamps to use are Mikalor

[rotaryspeed]

I have been bugged by a low coolant warning light and found the chargecooler expansion tank to be almost empty.

 

I was thinking of checking all coolant hoses on my SE and possible replacing all the hoses and clamps on the next service.

 

I made good experiences on my Mazda Rx7's with the original Spring Clamps. They fitted them everywhere on coolant hoses and fuel injection lines. They are self tightening and actually never caused any leakage. When I replaced the hoses with Samco silicon ones and worm style clamps I had leaks for weeks. So I went back to OEM and ordered all new coolant hoses. Needless to say all problems gone.

 

Cutting a long story short I thought it might be a good idea to replace all the coolant hoses and worm style clamps with self tightening spring clamps and new hoses. And yes, these clamps are strong !  No fiddeling with rusty screws or heads anymore when undoing hoses Quick and easy too.

 

Here is an image of the spring clamps in question: (source: wikipedia.org) 

 

 

[Loose Cannon]

Always found those to be a PITA to get on and off, unless there is a special tool? Agree very strong though, and no stripped threads or burred screw heads

[mdw]

There is a tool you can get on the end of a long flexi arm to get into those deep inaccessible places on an esprit!!