Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line

smhoff2019

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Hi All -- Thanks in advance for reading. My kid is 10 and totally into small engines. He's fixing a neighbor's John Deere push/self-propelled mower (GX14SBC281584) with a Kawasaki FC150V-FS00, E/No: FC150VE48442 engine in it. It was a pretty easy fix for him, he basically unclogged a carb jet and the thing came back to life. He wants to replace the fuel line because he can see it's getting bad. The current fuel line is black. He wants to replace it with the same thing if possible. Does anyone know the specs on fuel line for this engine? Is there a good reason to replace it exactly with black fuel line? (I'm guessing it's braided, maybe stronger than Tygon). Where's a good place to buy it? He wants it reasonably quick so he can get the mower back to its owner. Thanks again.:smile:
 

cpurvis

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Auto parts store or hardware store. You'll need to know the I.D.
 

smhoff2019

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Auto parts store or hardware store. You'll need to know the I.D.

Thanks. What's the best way to measure inner diameter? Seems just a little tricky if it's just a 1/16" difference between 3/16 and 1/4. Any important difference between something like Tygon and the black line?
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
The bum end of a twist drill is the easiest way to measure the id of a small pipe.
Tygon is better than the black rubber but having a thinner wall thickness you need to get new clips.
The black, neoprene over nitrile is just cheaper and having a thicker wall is less likely to kink.

With the exception of Honda all mower fuel line is 1/4" id.
Honda uses 5mm metric tube .
Don't know about the Honda clones as I rarely work on them
 

smhoff2019

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
The bum end of a twist drill is the easiest way to measure the id of a small pipe.
Tygon is better than the black rubber but having a thinner wall thickness you need to get new clips.
The black, neoprene over nitrile is just cheaper and having a thicker wall is less likely to kink.

With the exception of Honda all mower fuel line is 1/4" id.
Honda uses 5mm metric tube .
Don't know about the Honda clones as I rarely work on them

Bert -- Hi Again -- We can't thank you enough. He bought Tygon for one of his old MTDs (he's got 9 cast-offs now, 3 riding mowers, 2 rototillers, 1 weed whacker, 1 walk-behind weed trimmer, and 2 Chinese knockoffs (?), a.k.a. newer Predator engines), but he doesn't have new hose clamps to go with the Tygon -- no problem yet, but you're saying that there will be down the road, right? I'll tell him to get Tygon and new clips for the John Deere and for his own stuff. Our local logging supply store doesn't even carry the black line -- now I know why, I think. _o_
 

tom3

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Usually cut the black line away from the end to get an actual size with the drill bit deal, good tip there. Any auto parts store has this fuel line and clamps to match. Get a package length or they will cut it from a big roll. Biggest trouble with the Tygon is that there are all kinds of look-a-like stuff that doesn't hold up well, the black fuel line has a spec. printed on it for gas.
 

smhoff2019

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Usually cut the black line away from the end to get an actual size with the drill bit deal, good tip there. Any auto parts store has this fuel line and clamps to match. Get a package length or they will cut it from a big roll. Biggest trouble with the Tygon is that there are all kinds of look-a-like stuff that doesn't hold up well, the black fuel line has a spec. printed on it for gas.

Thank you very much. I can see people have differing opinions on fuel line. If my kid wants to go with the black line, we will understand all the options better now.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Newbie and 10 yr old son have a question about fuel line
Usually cut the black line away from the end to get an actual size with the drill bit deal, good tip there. Any auto parts store has this fuel line and clamps to match. Get a package length or they will cut it from a big roll. Biggest trouble with the Tygon is that there are all kinds of look-a-like stuff that doesn't hold up well, the black fuel line has a spec. printed on it for gas.

All the genuine Tygon line I get here is also branded.
If I get a roll that is not branded and has no batch number in the box, I send it back.
And yes a lot of celluose plastic fuel line out there in "popular yellow colour"
 
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