I just went to NAPA to buy some radiator hose and the counter guy told me for the 1 3/4 hose it was $14+ per foot. Is that a joke? 1 3/4 for the bottom and 1 1/4 for the top is what his listing showed. I will drop a small block chevy engine and matching radiator in before I pay that.

 

Aye carumba. That IS quite expensive for just standard straight plain jane radiator hose. Man, I thought I lived in the sticks, but apparently you have me beat. No radiator repair shops, ridiculous auto parts prices, etc. Heck even we have a couple of radiator shops within a 30 mile radius. That hose here is like $2 per foot or so.

Don't forget you probably need flexible hoses if you're not gonna go with original radiator fittings and elbows. HOW ABOUT A PICTURE of your truck. I don't think I've ever seen a full picture of it. Who cares if it isn't finished. Show it to us!

 

Has he delt with you before?

 

The NAPA hose is that much because it's a high-quality industrial hose rated for 50 psi. I'm sure if you shop around you can find some Chinese-made crap that is half the price.

BTW a SBC lower radiator hose costs about $15

 

I believe retail sellers gets their pricing wrong sometimes. I recently needed a male oil rail plug that should have been a one dollar item at the very most, nothing special at all. The price was three dollars and sixty cents. I figured who ever put it in the system got the decimal point in the wrong place and the correct price should have been thirty six cents. I asked the counterman to verify price and he did. I was about to walk out but figured I could not drive anywhere else for the price differences.
Several years back I was working on my son's 8N Ford tractor and stopped by his local Ford, now New Holland, tractor dealer and the price for an axle nut was exactly ten times what the going price had been. I walked out on that one, ordered it on line. I like to keep money local but not this way.

 

I have the pipes so I just need some small pieces for the top. This is why farmers fart pieced the trucks back together to keep them running.

 

I just bought last week the same rubber hose (tops and bottoms for an 8ba) for the same price at Napa what was even worse is they where only selling it in 3 foot chunks and I need 4 ft. I called around and it was the same prices, looks like a common pricing as sad as that is.

 

When I bought mine, they'd cut off 1-ft chunks from the 3-ft sections. So I got a 2-ft piece of the big hose, the lower hoses are just under 8" each, so I have one spare. Why did you need 4'? For the uppers? NAPA sells 1-1/4" flex hoses that are the right length, if your not using the metal tubes.

 

It was a modified deal as my top metal pieces where wrong and I used a car stainless kit. Needed 22" for the bottoms (11" each) and 2 feet for the tops (1' each) you can look at the post I started if you want to see pictures of what I ended up doing.

 

Also Napa told me they could no longer cut hoses and had to sell 3 feet chunks. I even involved a manager.

 

That's BS, do you have any other NAPA's around? or a Carquest? Is this some OSHA thing, they don't trust their employees with sharp objects?!

 

Ya it's oSHA no sharp objects - This includes their wits

 

Management probably saw that they were accumulating various lengths of hose that were unsalable so they implemented the "no cut" policy. Sell it all or none.

 

that's what they told me. It does suck that I'm stuck with unused hose though.

 

Are the lowers suppose to have a bend in them?
Lower Radiator Hoses - With Original Script - Ford Flathead V8 Only - MAC's Antique Auto Parts