Hey all, This is probably a long shot, but, I figured I would give it a try to save some time and prevent 'reinventing the wheel'. I am looking at replacing as many of the hoses in my '99 355 with stainless steel 'race look' braided ones as possible. I've found a pretty good selection at Summit Racing & Jegs, but, I just don't know what to order. I think this will look nice and perhaps last longer than the stock hoses. Has anyone done this? If so, would you happen to have a list of lengths and diameters necessary? Again, I'm sure this is a long shot, but, I would really appreciate the help! Thanks! Larry
Be Forwarned that what you are wanting to do is extremely expensive and time consuming. You will also find that you are going to be dealing with metric threads and pitch issues and that summit is not going to be an exclusive source and may be limted on what you need. Both Phil and I took on projects going to SS hose and fittings and we both recommended that you buy suppliers stock because after you realize how much money you have sent these suppliers their stock is bound to go up. I was lucky as an internet and catalog company called British American Transfer (BAT) has their operation just down the road and they supply every strange and unknown metric SS hose fitting you could ever imagine, they actually build alot of the fittings themselves. I would just go down there and look into their bins in order to come up with solutions. The lengths you need are not going to be the same as what is currently on the car as you must take into account fittings that you will be using. Aeroquip makes a booklet on how to build hoses that include measuring techniques, the whole process is rather tedious but when done it almost seems worth the time and expense. With the exception of sources for supplies there is not much other info that I can supply. This is a seat of your pants project. Good Luck Paul
Thank you, that is awesome info! What about the stainless hose COVERS? Not the actual hoses, but, the stainless covers which you can buy to 'prettify' the engine compartment? Any idea what size/lengths I would need?
Actually, if you look under the engine cover of any modern / current race car, you will hardly see any satinless braided hose. Most new hoses have gone the lightweight high strength fabric. Stailess is old school tech. Also the extra weight of metal vs fabric in a race car is not a good thing. Metal braided hoses are just plain heavy. ANother thing to consider is the braided hoses, unless place very carefully can cause severe abrassion of any surface adjacent that is allowed to rub against it. Routing is musc more critical with stainless. For me, too many pitfalls for a bit of bling that has no real world benefits over alternatives other than lightening the wallet. Also to remember under the engine cover of a 355 gets VERY hot. Stainless retains heat far longer than most metals and the heat transfer may be a problem. .02 jd
IMO that stuff is not what I would put in a Ferrari, I think you would take alot of flack for using the fake racer stuff. Paul
