McMaster is the king!

Yes, I'm sure you'll be able to get the footage you need, but it seems awfully thin walled for vacuum tubing.

 

Yeah, I was so excited to have found colored-stripe tubing for sale:



that I didn't really evaluate what kinds of tubing actually came in colored stripes. That McMaster-Carr site is pretty impressive with lots of choices, technical information, and a reductive product searching engine that really lets you narrow down your choices. They alse sell tubing by the foot, for reasonable prices I thought. I wandered around in that interesting website for an hour. Temperature, UV, ozone, chemical resistance, bend radius, it can all be known for the various tubing products on that website. Even "military grade" with FED standards #'s etc. Interestingly, "Gum Rubber" meets military vacuum tubing standards.

If you select "vacuum tubing" your choices really narrow down, with no colored stripes. But what McMaster-Carr considers to be "vacuum tubing" means industrial grade vacuum tubing, they give vacuum and pressure ratings, etc. I wonder what the vacuum ratings are for the chinese tubing available at my local Auto-Mart. I don't know if that tubing pictured above would really work for vacuum, it might collapse, although you can choose different wall thicknesses.

I think someone who really knew a lot about tubing and polymer characteristics could probably find good stuff there that would closely approximate the OEM stuff our trucks came with originally. For me it was a bit much, information overload. But I was impressed with the ratings for Silicone tubing given on the website, it is really heat resistant (+500 F), flexible (works with barbed fittings, good for automotive applications), and comes in some colors and a variety of I.D.'s and wall thicknesses. It's weakness seems to be it doesn't react well with gasoline or oil.

 

What have you got to lose? The line is pennies per foot.

The 20 or so "Hg that our trucks develop really isn't that high compared to lab or industrial equipment that is close to absolute vacuum at 29.92".

I don't know what the softening effect of underhood temperatures would be on that hose.

Another online favorite of mine is SmallParts.com: The Hardware Store for Researchers and Developers

 

Thanks, that place has a very extensive selection as well, good recomendation.

 

Application: Windshield Wiper/Vacuum
Specification: Similar to SAE J1037
Branding: None
Cover Color: Black
Tube: EPDM
Reinforcement: None
Temperature Resistance: -40°F to +257°F

Anyway, I am leaning towards silicone hoses for my vacuum system hose replacement. The advertisment hype for them is that they have a wider temperature range and are claimed to never harden or crack. They are available in different colors and wall thicknesses, and there are specific kits available for mustangs, corvettes, and various european sports cars. No kits for the Ford trucks, but places sell it by the foot. I haven't heard/seen of anyone else using silicone vacuum hoses on their Ford truck.

The original Ford color-stripe hoses have held up very well for a long time, but I don't know what they were made of and same-type replacements are not available anywhere I can find. It could be they were made in a time when better-performing ester plasticizers were permitted in industry, now outlawed due to environmental regulations. But that is speculation.

That's about the end of it for me. Sorry I highjacked your thread Lariat, thanks for starting it.

 

Windshield Wiper/Vacuum tubing.

Just to let you know in the olden days there was such a thing called Vacuum actuated windshield wipers. That just reminded me of them.

 

I looked all over the Internet for Vinyl Dye in the colors I need. Nope. It would be great if our contributors could actually say where to buy vinyl dye to mimic those colors. Just like our contributors that say "you should" be able to find those hoses somewhere. IF someone is selling hoses with colored strips precut for corvettes etc then they SHOULD exist. But I don't think these black vacuum hoses with a strip on them do exist. I bought a set of vacuum hoses that were supposed to work for my BMW and they will not pass, as they are all one color. RED. And since I spent 2 days getting my truck to pass, and getting flunked for "the wrong gas cap" and "vacuum hoses that are supposed to be rated on the hose and be black". I am speaking right from the horses mouth. Not what should be, but what IS. So if you live in CALI you are best off buying a classic car 1975 or older and then DMV will not even look under the hood. Then I could get a crate engine, and say sooooo longggg, Bush 2 and all the stupid laws taking our freedom in you admin.
I can just imagine how much time it will take to undo the damage caused by that era . I am 62 and for me, the salt of the earth type person, drove an old Ford Pick-up. Took care of his employees. And believed in America. Unfortunately those 3 things have all gone out of date.

 

So you can find a vinyl dye that will dye yellow over black? I would really like to see that!

 

You live in Kalifornia, and they can't be sold there.

SEM Products :: Vinyl Coat

EDIT: I see some of these colors are available in low VOC http://semproducts.com/product-catal...gs/color-coat/
Still don't know that they are compliant in Cali.

 

SEM products are Vinyl dye etc... You can also buy vinyl dyes of other manufactures. They sell them at most auto parts stores or paint supply houses. They usually come in a spray can. Colors can be limited though. As for yellow over black, a good quality plastic paint would do that fine.

I have never seen a 1/4 vacuum hose with a rating or a mark on it of anykind before, even from Ford factory. Only if it's reinforced 1/4 Fuel/emission hose. There are many factory equipped hoses that have no marks on them of anykind. California cannot force you to put something on your truck that did not come that way from the factory. They can force you to fix everything that doesn't work though.

Did you ever take the truck to a different shop like I suggested.

I've owned my 1981 for over 20 years of smog checks and never had a problem with my vacuum hoses not being marked for ratings or for having colored tape on the ends to mark where they go. The Factory originals were plastic color vacuum tubing that rotted away. I just got a smog check done in April of this year. They got me for two catalytic converters this year. After that no problem. Not even a mention about the rubber hoses at all.

Here's my engine with the color tape around the unmarked rated vacuum hoses. Infact you see the one that is completely red for the choke stove? That is a Ford factory hose. So them saying it has to be black and marked is quite absurd.



You see the hose with the yellow stripe in this picture going into the air pump?. It was dyed from the factory that way. It even has a motorcraft part number in yellow dye. CX-298



I would love to have your smog shop tell me I can't have colored striped hoses, because they all have to be solid black, or all the hoses have to be black, when factory original they were colored, like the Red hose in the first picture.

With the motorcraft number in possession, on the hose itself, I'd take it to the refferee, and the refferee would have that smog shops license pulled.

I would seriously go to another smog shop...



Well, I hear you there. California seems to be the worse offender of all states.

 

Yes, I've bought SEM products at the Auto Paint Supplier here. Yes they were low VOC. There are other brands that you can buy at O'Rileys etc... do not know how they work though.

 

The first ones I linked were 'Marine' products.
They can really help rejuvenate a weather worn cockpit.

And seem to hold up amazingly well in that environment.
Plus, boats tend to have much brighter and more colorful interiors.

 

I am going to try the vinyl dye that comes in sharpies. I have researched for at least 5 years. My goal is to be able to rebuild a small block F-100 5L to get more power and use less gas. I have tried to figure out a way to add more octane without buying it from the gas pump. (why give the oil company more money) I also love older pickups but want to build an engine with more get up and go, that uses less gasoline. More spark! Turbo? Bigger gap in spark plug (thus more spark) in other words, rebuild an older Ford to become as dependable and economical as a new Ford. Believe me, neither Ford, or Exxon is going to want me to do that!

 

Also, what is the year, and the size of your engine? Auto or Stick. V8 or inline?

 

Yes, of all the states I have lived in California, is the worse for about everything.