Reservac vacuum hose help

[Heuer]

Can anyone shed any light on my current 'Factory Fit' conundrum? The vacuum hoses from the Reservac were originally cloth braided and the one going to the servo was a different length for LHD and RHD cars. This is the Jaguar diagram:


Given the drawing office employees drew every part exactly as it was given to them you will notice part #3 C17493 has a 90 degree elbow at the end. This is because the inlet on the Kelsey-Hayes is at the top and the elbow was required to ensure the hose did not foul the bonnet or put any stress on the inlet casting. The hose currently available from the usuals is straight and therefore has to be bent which causes it to kink as you can see, possibly affecting efficient servo operation:


So the question is does anyone have an original vacuum hose to verify if the elbow is indeed pre-moulded in? The LHD part should also have the same moulded elbow:


Something like this I guess, except longer and cloth braided:

[mooney1el]

Just to verify, here is a picture of my '64 FHC brake booster hose showing the molded bends. This is as original since I am only the second owner and know the first never changed the hoses :)

This is my first post here so it is somewhat of a test to see if I can actually post without error.

In other projects I have done, I have been able to "mold" my own hose bends by using a filler in the hose (I have used sugar, salt and sand) and heating the rubber. Bend the hose about 20-30 degrees beyond where it needs to be as upon cooling it will relax. I have had to cool in a fixture for some large or unwieldy hoses.

[Heuer]

Thanks Richard and great first post! I was wondering how I could 'mould' the hose into shape - never occurred to me to use a powder filler. Anyone with a RHD car picture?

[abowie]

In other projects I have done, I have been able to "mold" my own hose bends by using a filler in the hose (I have used sugar, salt and sand) and heating the rubber.

Brilliant!

How do you heat the hose? In the oven or with a heat gun?

[mooney1el]

Just locally with a heat gun, watching that you don't get too hot. You have to plug the open ends so the filler material doesn't scoot out when you bend the hose. The filler keeps the hose from kinking. Allow to cool while holding the desired radius+. I am not sure it will work with the cloth braided hose. Recognize that the rubber is an elastomer and thus not as easily formed (molded) as a thermoplastic like nylon, PVC etc.

This technique also works for bending metal tubing without kinking, but you do not need as much over bend.


Richard Gray

[steve3.8]

Fitting a copper tube inside then bending it would work , you get the shape and it won't collapse .

[Heuer]

Yes, but how do you get it out afterwards?

[kingzetts]

Another option would be to use the coil springs you can buy for bending copper pipes. However that would only work on hoses of suitable diameter (15mm and 22mm ID coils are readily available) so the sand idea is probably better.

[steve3.8]

Yes, but how do you get it out afterwards?

The idea was to leave it in,

[timhum]

In my experience with model engineering (live steam locomotives) I've found that relatively small bore copper pipe will easily collapse at the bend unless pipe benders are used. The outer covering of hose would, I reckon, preclude the use of a pipe-bender. An alternative might be to bend a short length of copper pipe, of the correct internal diameter, into a right angle and then slip hose onto either leg with clamps to secure them?

[Heuer]

Nice but not original! Leaving the copper tube in-situ would mean it would be difficult to fit on the pipe to the servo inlet.