Aluminum tubing

[Mountain Gnome]

So I am just about finished plumbing my new tranny cooling system with the only bendable, flairable 1/2" tubing I could seem to find besides copper...aluminum tubing for fuel delivery from Summit Racing...


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g2512


It is a little firmer than copper tubing, but not much. I couldn't find soft enough steel, but since then I might have (no hand on yet)


So I'm wondering is this aluminum tubing gonna last? Will it corrode fast? Is it for race car motors that run a circuit one weekend and then get rebuilt? For show cars that stay garaged unless the sun is shining bright for a weekend parking lot show-off gathering? It says you can polish it.....


I'm thinking of hitting it with this fast drying paint made for shiny metals. Worth a $10 can? Or will this tubing last a lifetime. It is made for gasoline, so I would hope it is worthy of 10+ years, if not 20.



I'm just hoping that someone with...ahem...hotrodding experience...ahem...might know something.


Thanks!


[[pic shows hot line from tranny to pre-cooler on bottom, from pre-cooler (last bend and flair to be done today) to factory cooler on top. Return from factory cooler to oil filter housing mounted on the frame on the opposite side of the tranny is installed; it is two pieces joined with a double-male JIC 1/2" (-8 AN) fitting. Rubber 1/2" Power Steering hose will lead from the tranny to the hot line; crimped 5000+PSI hydraulic hose with the JIC 1/2" fittings from the filter back to the tranny]]

[o1marc]

I would not be concerned at all about that aluminum tube degrading over time. Aluminum tubes on 40 year old cars still look new.
I needed to flare the propane feed line, looked for my flaring tool for 2 days. Ordered another one, showed up 2 days later. Found my old one 20 minutes after the new one arrived. Wasted another $17.

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I would not be concerned at all about that aluminum tube degrading over time. Aluminum tubes on 40 year old cars still look new.

Thanks for the input.

Originally Posted by o1marc

I needed to flare the propane feed line, looked for my flaring tool for 2 days. Ordered another one, showed up 2 days later. Found my old one 20 minutes after the new one arrived. Wasted another $17.

you and me, brother....
I loose things all the time, only to find them in the middle of the floor, alone, in full sight, after looking for hours....

[Mountain Gnome]

Well, for future lurkers here on the sight wanting to learn a bit, here's what I learned:


The soft tubing is easy to bend, which is a blessing and a challenge. You have to be careful when installing and pulling it out, or stress can bend it out of shape, or cause a tight bend to collapse into a kink. The "roll" of tubing needs to be straitened, and because of this it can cause problems when flairing and cutting. If the tube is not strait, the tube cutter may circle the tube in a spiral fashion. If you tighten the tube cutter too tight too fast on the first go round, it can shrink the diameter of the tube and again cause it to spiral. Tighten the tube cutter very slowly or it will shrink the diameter of the tube at the cut and cause a hideous burr that needs to be ground out.


The clamp in the tube flaring kit I have slid down the tube at least once, causing an incomplete flair. The aluminum tube is so flexible that the clamp may shrink the tube diameter, instead of biting into it. It may also have had to do with not merely deburring the inside of the tube cut to a 90° angle, but continuing to use the deburring tool to round out the inner edge of the tube just a bit, thinning it just a bit, making it easier for it to stretch. Also, as the tube comes in rolls, as with the cutter, it needs to be strait to align the flaring clamp properly to make a non-lopsided flair.


I used these blocks of wood to help cradle the tubing while bending it, so the outside wall wouldn't crush. Laying it on flat ground was too hard on the tubing, and trying to use just my hands (like I do with brake tubing) did not give me enough leverage and pressure to avoid a minor kink in the bend.


The wood block with the hole though the middle was great for straitening the roll of tubing, and perfecting little spots, pressing it into the cradle block. It gave me great leverage in a small area without bending the tube wall inward. The cradle I made using a drill press to get a perfect half-circle the length of the block.


I could also use the cradle with the tube bender and a hammer to add a bit of a bend in places where the bender no longer would function...place the tube in the bender at the right spot, set the opposite side of the bender on a hard surface, and hammer with the cradle on the top to bend to tube.without destroying it.

[o1marc]

You need a spring tubing bender to keeps the sides from kinking. I used the same tools a yours for bending the 3/8" copper, had to go slowly, just till it wanted to kink and then move up a bit and continue.

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by o1marc

You need a spring tubing bender to keeps the sides from kinking. I used the same tools a yours for bending the 3/8" copper, had to go slowly, just till it wanted to kink and then move up a bit and continue.

I had several tight 90° bends to make. They couldn't be spread out. The cradle made all the difference.

[Mountain Gnome]

Working with brake tubing, replacing segments that run over fuel tanks on the way to the rear axle and such, I would bend the tubing in place as I go along. No can do with this 1/2" aluminum tubing. Gotta make a bend, install it, check the placement and figure the location, direction, and angle of the next bend, pull it out, bend it, reinstall.....again and again and again. But hopefully never again! And not on the roadside somewheres!

[Mountain Gnome]

I forgot to add that the tubing bender I got from NAPA was cast metal, and all the edges were sharp. I used a grinding stone on a Dremel to smooth them out, since they were gouging the aluminum tubing, especially at the "thumb" that sticks out to hold the tube for leverage.

[Booyah45828]

Your alloy tubing will likely be fine.

There should be very little pressure on the cooler circuit, it's just flow out of the torque converter, and if there was pressure, all of your add on coolers with rubber hose and screw clamps wouldn't work.

Just make sure your bending/flaring is in good shape. Vibration can wreck havoc on weak spots and it's not something you want to find the hard way.

For all reading this. Instead of using solid tubing, whether in aluminum, cunifer, or steel. I'd just use braided steel hose and AN fittings.

Doing it that way requires no bender, flaring tools, and would have likely taken a lot less time.

[Danjo]

You need to use a tubing bender that has a pressure die that keeps the bend round. I attached a photo of a bender with a pressure die.

When tubing is bent, the inside of the bend compresses and the outside stretches, making a thinner wall. The choice in wall thickness of the tubing should be considered to account for this.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by Danjo

You need to use a tubing bender that has a pressure die that keeps the bend round. I attached a photo of a bender with a pressure die.

When tubing is bent, the inside of the bend compresses and the outside stretches, making a thinner wall. The choice in wall thickness of the tubing should be considered to account for this.

that would be a real handy bender - for larger material, I'm going to turn my hydraulic wood splitter into a tube bender

[HazMatt]

That'll be a help the next time you have some culvert pipe you need to unstraighten.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by haz.matt.1960

That'll be a help the next time you have some culvert pipe you need to unstraighten.

I also build things like sled dog training carts - hard to free hand the curved pieces with a long handled conduit bender

[o1marc]

With that type tubing a spring bender would make your life so much easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaer_2RNuY8

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

With that type tubing a spring bender would make your life so much easier.

I had one of those - shorter than the one in the video - worked great, but don't try for a bend much more than 90 degrees, because the spring bender binds on the pipe and you cant get it off the pipe

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

that would be a real handy bender - for larger material, I'm going to turn my hydraulic wood splitter into a tube bender

I’ve used mine to bend 3/8 chromoly steel tube. Works like a champ.

Harbor freight and Home Depot have cast aluminum versions for 10 or 15 bucks that would be OK on lighter material.

[Sleddgracer]

a few videos about tube bending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWP_zEKLvyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O-oWztvUdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5C3edYvdIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6LrTAQyvb0

[CMORGANSKOOL]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

Well, for future lurkers here on the sight wanting to learn a bit, here's what I learned:


The soft tubing is easy to bend, which is a blessing and a challenge. You have to be careful when installing and pulling it out, or stress can bend it out of shape, or cause a tight bend to collapse into a kink. The "roll" of tubing needs to be straitened, and because of this it can cause problems when flairing and cutting. If the tube is not strait, the tube cutter may circle the tube in a spiral fashion. If you tighten the tube cutter too tight too fast on the first go round, it can shrink the diameter of the tube and again cause it to spiral. Tighten the tube cutter very slowly or it will shrink the diameter of the tube at the cut and cause a hideous burr that needs to be ground out.


The clamp in the tube flaring kit I have slid down the tube at least once, causing an incomplete flair. The aluminum tube is so flexible that the clamp may shrink the tube diameter, instead of biting into it. It may also have had to do with not merely deburring the inside of the tube cut to a 90° angle, but continuing to use the deburring tool to round out the inner edge of the tube just a bit, thinning it just a bit, making it easier for it to stretch. Also, as the tube comes in rolls, as with the cutter, it needs to be strait to align the flaring clamp properly to make a non-lopsided flair.


I used these blocks of wood to help cradle the tubing while bending it, so the outside wall wouldn't crush. Laying it on flat ground was too hard on the tubing, and trying to use just my hands (like I do with brake tubing) did not give me enough leverage and pressure to avoid a minor kink in the bend.


The wood block with the hole though the middle was great for straitening the roll of tubing, and perfecting little spots, pressing it into the cradle block. It gave me great leverage in a small area without bending the tube wall inward. The cradle I made using a drill press to get a perfect half-circle the length of the block.


I could also use the cradle with the tube bender and a hammer to add a bit of a bend in places where the bender no longer would function...place the tube in the bender at the right spot, set the opposite side of the bender on a hard surface, and hammer with the cradle on the top to bend to tube.without destroying it.

I've had one of these bender tools in my tool bag for years from back when I did a brake line job on a 72 Riviera, and I forgot what it was for!! lol
Thanks for the post.