Is there any reason I shouldn't use some 90* elbows when routing my rubber fuel hose? I want to keep things tidy and keep the line as short as possible. Since rubber hose has a large bend radius, I was thinking some 90* brass fittings would do the trick. Anybody think it's a bad idea?? I am not sure I've seen it before, and want to make sure there isn't some reason like flow restriction.

 

Well certainly it's going to restrict flow more than if you just run the hose around the corner. You've got a 460 there with, I am assuming, a 4V carb, so demand is fairly high at WOT. Depends on how big of a fuel line you are running, I guess.

 

So you would advise against elbows in a 3/8" rubber setup? The truck already hesitates at WOT, likely due to a 600 CFM carb that needs to be fine tuned. I know there is a lot of discussion out there on pressure vs. flow, and I can see how decreasing square inches of the hose profile keeps the same pressure with lower flow...I was hoping to hear it doesn't matter because I want to tidy up the hood, but I guess I'll plan on using straight hose, aside from the return that exits at a 90* angle from the fuel flow. Maybe the solution is a number of clamps attached to the firewall to bend the hose as best as I can to keep the radius down.

 

...ok, just did a bit of research - a 3/8" NPT elbow is 3/8" inner diameter, which is the same as the fuel hose. So, since there are no restrictions in diameter, would it still restrict flow??

 

You still have a restriction in that the fuel has to transition to the elbow and also make the sharp turn. It's probably not enough of a problem to even measure, so maybe the answer is, in actual practice, no. However, I am having a hard time visualizing where you have this mass of fuel line that needs taming.