One of the few remaining tasks was to hook up the fuel line from the fuel tank to the fuel pump housing. This is just a short length AN-6 hose, nothing complicated, but I was not entirely certain that it would actually be possible to get access to tighten the AN fittings.

After receiving the fitting a few days ago (I don’t know how many times I’ve ordered a fitting that “clearly” is the only remaining one I need for this project, but it’s getting a bit old) it seemed like a nice, easy vacation task for today.

After mounting the tank in its place, I marked the required length on the hose, cut it, pushed the fittings on and tried it… only to find that it was way (like 15mm) too short! Oh well, I must not have accounted for curvature or something…

After carefully cutting the hose to get it off the fittings, I cut a new length, 15mm longer, and tried it. Still about 5mm too short! Finally, I realized the problem: when the hose is pushed on the fittings it’s stretched radially, which shrinks it length-wise. By about 10mm on each side, apparently.

The third time I knew to add 5mm to the cut length of the old one, not the length as mounted, and got something that fit well. 104mm ended up being the magic number.

This is the fuel supply line going from the fuel pump housing visible on the right to the fitting on the tank (not visible in this view.)

I’m also pleased to note that it’s not going to be a problem to get access to the hose. The swiveling fitting on the tank means it’s possible to swing the tank upward and slightly rearward and get access to the fitting.

The swiveling fitting on the tank attachment lets the hose rotate down when the tank is lifted.

Here’s the hose, attached on both ends, with the tank lifted. There’s plenty of access. In fact, I think there’s more room than there was getting to the old fuel hose going to the carburetors.

The hose also maintains a nice slope between the tank and the fuel pump, so it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a problem getting the air out.

I’m still waiting for one of the AN-4 fittings for making the hose going from the fuel pump to the filter do the 180-degree turn under the seat. Unfortunately it’s not going to get here before the new year, so that’ll have to wait a bit.