Is your Midget a fire starter? Fuel Pipe leak
Is your Midget a fire starter?
To save your car from a possible fire it is essential you change all rubber hoses to the new R9 standard to stop fuel leaks from your current hoses.
Even if your hoses look fine they can and will degrade inside from the harmful effects of ethanol and Oxygenator in current modern fuel which are chemically aggressive and have a tendancy to infiltrate and attack the Rubber compounds historically used to make fuel hosing, ‘O’ rings etc. These rubber components perish, swell and crack under the influence of Ethanol and ultimateley fail in their function.
My advice is not to use braided hoses as you cannot see what is happening to the condition of the rubber underneath and if you look at the photo below of a recent braided hoses on a Midget 1275cc you can see a spray of fuel coming out of the braiding almost on to the hot exhaust manifold!
From September 2021 normal unleaded will go to 10% ethanol so it’s better to use Super unleaded which will be kept to only 5% enthanol.
The Classic additive (previously made by Castrol) contains additives which they say will combat the harmful effects of the ethanol.
From my own experience it’s not easy finding the correct grade of hoses.
There are two manufacturers I’ve found Cohline and Conan,
Although beware of cheap fake versions of these hoses! Expect to pay around £15 per metre. Make sure they are a nice tight fit on the pipes and fittings and use a stainless steel clip of the correct size so it a uniform clamping force. Use too large a clip and it will oval and fuel can leak.
Check all hoses and joints regularly especially around the engine bay. Obviously it’s far more difficult to check the rear pipes near the fuel tank but do look under as best you can. I’d advise a proper close check on these once a year and the MOT test should pick up on these.
Being exempt doesn’t mean it’s roadworthy.
For £50 a MOT is a cheap safety check on your car and another set of eyes can spot items you may miss.