Big Blue's Transformation

[1986F150Six]

While waiting on the new Flexzilla hose to come in I received the new Four Seasons 74612 heater control valve from Amazon. This is the correct one as it is normally open and closes with vacuum.

It took me maybe 30 minutes to install it as I already had a shut off valve there. But here 'tis with a view from the front. I used a 3/16" x 3 tee and 3/16" vacuum line. The factory fitting that normally goes on the recirculate vacuum motor goes onto the tee perfectly and the vacuum lines then run out to the recirc motor and the shut off valve.

And here's a shot before I put the wiring back down in place, and then a shot with the wiring:

As always, your work is impeccable, Gary.

[Gary Lewis]

As always, your work is impeccable, Gary.

Thanks, David. Just trying to make sure there are no problems with anything I do. Sure don't want to have any failures on our trips.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, David. Just trying to make sure there are no problems with anything I do. Sure don't want to have any failures on our trips.

Got the Flexzilla hose in and installed. It held fine and the compressor kicked off at 200 psi like it was supposed to. But I have a small leak that I need to sort out. It appears to be where the safety/popoff valve screws into the manifold.

I may get to work on that tomorrow morning, but a friend is coming over so we can drill ninety six 5 3/4" long holes in 6" long 2x2's. (He's making menorahs for Bible camp.) Not sure quite when we will start, but I might get to work on it before he comes.

Anyway, here's what it looks like now. Oh yes, the copper tubing is hot where it goes into the cooler. So hot you don't want to hold your hand on it. But at the exit of the cooler you can hold you hand on it easily.

[Gary Lewis]

Got the Flexzilla hose in and installed. It held fine and the compressor kicked off at 200 psi like it was supposed to. But I have a small leak that I need to sort out. It appears to be where the safety/popoff valve screws into the manifold.

I may get to work on that tomorrow morning, but a friend is coming over so we can drill ninety six 5 3/4" long holes in 6" long 2x2's. (He's making menorahs for Bible camp.) Not sure quite when we will start, but I might get to work on it before he comes.

Anyway, here's what it looks like now. Oh yes, the copper tubing is hot where it goes into the cooler. So hot you don't want to hold your hand on it. But at the exit of the cooler you can hold you hand on it easily.

Well, is one step forward and one backward progress?

Got the safety valve off, cleaned up, and reinstalled today and it no longer leaks. So I left the system sitting at 200 psi and worked on something else, and after ~15 minutes a hose blew off again. Obviously Jim was right, I need the Oetiker clamps. I've ordered the set Jim recommended before: VIGRUE 115Pcs 304 Stainless Steel Single Ear Hose Clamps.

And they are the single-ear style. After thinking about it I realized that some of the places I'm going to clamp will be difficult to get to for one ear, but almost impossible for two. So, thanks to Jim for both the recommendation of the Oetiker style clamps as well as the single-ear style.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, is one step forward and one backward progress?

Got the safety valve off, cleaned up, and reinstalled today and it no longer leaks. So I left the system sitting at 200 psi and worked on something else, and after ~15 minutes a hose blew off again. Obviously Jim was right, I need the Oetiker clamps. I've ordered the set Jim recommended before: VIGRUE 115Pcs 304 Stainless Steel Single Ear Hose Clamps.

And they are the single-ear style. After thinking about it I realized that some of the places I'm going to clamp will be difficult to get to for one ear, but almost impossible for two. So, thanks to Jim for both the recommendation of the Oetiker style clamps as well as the single-ear style.

I don't know that it will hold.

That depends on if the hose begins to flow when it gets hot and is under pressure.

But I can guarantee that the clamp won't slip or open up.

Also, that it has a lot more hoop pressure than you can develop with a jubilee clamp.

A cooling system is going to have ~13 psi max.

That's a far cry from 200. Like only 7%

[Gary Lewis]

I don't know that it will hold.

That depends on if the hose begins to flow when it gets hot and is under pressure.

But I can guarantee that the clamp won't slip or open up.

Also, that it has a lot more hoop pressure than you can develop with a jubilee clamp.

A cooling system is going to have ~13 psi max.

That's a far cry from 200. Like only 7%

Yep, the clamp is not going to open up. Hopefully I can find the clamp that let go today and see if it is intact, meaning if the screw had pulled out. I'd torqued the screws down pretty good and they are tiny - the head is 7mm.

So the new clamps will be far, far stronger. And I sure hope they'll hold.

But both times it has been the connection to the outlet of the that let go, and that connection should be pretty cool. So I don't think heat has been the issue - yet. But maybe later.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yep, the clamp is not going to open up. Hopefully I can find the clamp that let go today and see if it is intact, meaning if the screw had pulled out. I'd torqued the screws down pretty good and they are tiny - the head is 7mm.

So the new clamps will be far, far stronger. And I sure hope they'll hold.

But both times it has been the connection to the outlet of the that let go, and that connection should be pretty cool. So I don't think heat has been the issue - yet. But maybe later.

I'm just suggesting that the hose is going to be softer hot than cold.

Hopefully a stronger band will keep it in place.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm just suggesting that the hose is going to be softer hot than cold.

Hopefully a stronger band will keep it in place.

I hope you are right.

I researched Oetiker clamps a lot before buying. One thing that confused me was that Oetiker gives two dimensions - open and closed ID. But all the others give what appears to be a range. For instance, the Vigrue kit has one set of clamps that are said to be 12.8 - 15.3 mm and another that is 15.3 - 18.5 mm. I'm guessing that instead of reading that as a range those are actually the open and close measurements. Right?

My Flexzilla hose measures 15.2 mm as best I can measure, which isn't easy as it is not quite round. So when slipped over a hose barb it'll be slightly larger. I'll measure it when slipped over a hose barb, but I'm guessing that it'll be tight getting the one that opens to 15.3 mm over the hose/barb combined, and it would really squeeze the hose.

We are headed out to run an errand, but I'll measure the hose over a barb and report back.

[Machspeed]

I hope you are right.

I researched Oetiker clamps a lot before buying. One thing that confused me was that Oetiker gives two dimensions - open and closed ID. But all the others give what appears to be a range. For instance, the Vigrue kit has one set of clamps that are said to be 12.8 - 15.3 mm and another that is 15.3 - 18.5 mm. I'm guessing that instead of reading that as a range those are actually the open and close measurements. Right?

My Flexzilla hose measures 15.2 mm as best I can measure, which isn't easy as it is not quite round. So when slipped over a hose barb it'll be slightly larger. I'll measure it when slipped over a hose barb, but I'm guessing that it'll be tight getting the one that opens to 15.3 mm over the hose/barb combined, and it would really squeeze the hose.

We are headed out to run an errand, but I'll measure the hose over a barb and report back.

I too was a bit confused about these clamps in the sizing area. They are much like one of the PEX clamps that I have worked with in plumbing but those clamps are sized to the specific PEX they are going on. Not so here, at least with those that I have looked at. I suppose if the outside diameter of the hose fits in the range of the clamp, we'd be fine. But, that is assuming and I get burned when I assume. Look forward to your thoughts on this. By the way, one of my power steering lines had one of those Oetiker type clamps on it. This was a factory connector.

[Gary Lewis]

I hope you are right.I researched Oetiker clamps a lot before buying. One thing that confused me was that Oetiker gives two dimensions - open and closed ID. But all the others give what appears to be a range. For instance, the Vigrue kit has one set of clamps that are said to be 12.8 - 15.3 mm and another that is 15.3 - 18.5 mm. I'm guessing that instead of reading that as a range those are actually the open and close measurements. Right?My Flexzilla hose measures 15.2 mm as best I can measure, which isn't easy as it is not quite round. So when slipped over a hose barb it'll be slightly larger. I'll measure it when slipped over a hose barb, but I'm guessing that it'll be tight getting the one that opens to 15.3 mm over the hose/barb combined, and it would really squeeze the hose.We are headed out to run an errand, but I'll measure the hose over a barb and report back.

I too was a bit confused about these clamps in the sizing area. They are much like one of the PEX clamps that I have worked with in plumbing but those clamps are sized to the specific PEX they are going on. Not so here, at least with those that I have looked at. I suppose if the outside diameter of the hose fits in the range of the clamp, we'd be fine. But, that is assuming and I get burned when I assume. Look forward to your thoughts on this. By the way, one of my power steering lines had one of those Oetiker type clamps on it. This was a factory connector.

Yes, the PEX clamps are made for a specific situation: PEX tubing on a PEX fitting. So they'd know what sizes they are working with.

 

But I'm not working with standard things. The fittings vary and the hose varies as well due to both the wall thickness and inside diameter differences.

 

So I've done some testing, calculating, etc. And the spreadsheet below holds my measurements, assumptions, and results. (I'd have "printed" it and shown you that, but there may be mistakes in it, so embedding it this way lets me correct or update things and they'll show up here.)

 

To start with, I have four barbed fittings and basically two different sizes within them. And I have two different 3/8" hoses with very different ID's and OD's. So my concern is how Oetiker-style clamps that appear to have only one "closed" size can properly fit a wide range of fittings and hoses.

 

Given that, I decided to see how well I could compress the Flexzilla hose on some spare fittings. I've included pictures of the results below the spreadsheet, but I tried both the clamp that says it is for 12-14 MM and the one that says it is for 15 - 17 MM. I lubed them with synthetic wheel bearing grease on both the screw as well as the two parts that slide on each other. And, on the smaller clamp I put 3 washers under the head of the screw and lubed them. Plus I used a pair of pliers to pull them together in addition to the screw. In other words, I went to lengths this time that I've not done before in order to get as much clamping force as possible.

 

Both clamps basically quit tightening at the same ID - .553". (By that I mean the larger clamp's ears were touching, and I didn't dare tighten the smaller clamp any more for fear of stripping the screw.) And yet they both were cocked on the hose, surely due to the twisting of the screw, so they weren't clamped evenly across. In any event, I think that if you went to the extremes that I went to in order to get maximum clamping force it might be possible to hold the hoses on with the EFI clamps.

 

However, it appears that the better approach is Jim's recommendation to use the Oetiker-style clamps. But which ones? In the bottom right corner of the spreadsheet you can see that the clamp I termed "#1", which is the 12.5-15.3 MM one, will have a .049" smaller ID than the EFI clamps. But the #2 Oetiker clamp, meaning the 15.3 - 18.5 MM one, will have a .049" larger ID than the EFI clamps. So I'll go with the #1 clamps since I don't think the #2 clamps will be tight enough. In fact, I think it would be about like the clamps that have already blown off.