Today was a full day of making fuel lines. I’ve remade a couple, and need to remake a couple more. There are a few noteworthy points that I’ll pass along about the process. First, bending the 5052 is a one-time operation. Since it work hardens after bending, if you bend it to 90 degrees when you really only wanted 87, you can’t unbend it by 3 degrees. The best that you’ll be able to do is put a 3 degree bend in the opposite direction right next to your 90 degree bend, and that looks pretty tacky. Second, using a welding rod or coat hangar as a template is worth it, even if you have to toss out the wire after a few lines worth because it is all bent up. This is in addition of course to the all important advice of making sure that you put a nut and sleeve onto the tube before you flare the end, but I’m sure you’ve heard that one before.
Here are a few pictures of my progress:
I had trouble coming up with a good way to route the line on the right side so that it would be out of the way of the cargo door. I cut this notch in the door sill in hopes that I’ll be able to route the line through there, but it is a tight corner going forward.
While I was at Oshkosh I also picked up a piece of 1/4″ aluminum to make the door jamb fuel line shims out of. I started filing them down, but it is a long process.