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Rotax 912 Conductive Teflon Fuel Hose Retrofit

Piper J3

Well Known Member
Aircraft Specialty just announced their new Teflon Fuel Hose kit http://aircraftspecialty.com/rv-12.html to satisfy the Rotax 5-Year Rubber Hose Replacement. Back in the early spring I was asked to test a new installation kit that included original style banjo fittings. This hose kit is a direct replacement for the original rubber hoses with barbed banjo fittings. Installation took 3 hours start to finish.

Performance duplicated the original Rotax fuel pressures ? 2.9 psi electric fuel pump only and 4.5 psi with both electric and mechanical pumps running together. I now have 53 flying hours on the new hoses. My Annual Condition Inspection is due next month. With new lifetime fuel hoses there is one less SB to keep track of.

Three years ago I installed Aircraft Specialty Stainless Braided Gear Leg Brake Hoses. I did not like the soft aluminum tubing exposed in such a critical location. The Teflon hoses with stainless braid eliminates the worry of fatigue and damage.

Aircraft Specialty Teflon Fuel Hose kit
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New fuel pump fittings and restrictive fuel orifice
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Carburetor with banjo fitting
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Fuel pump with new flare fitting on top and old barb fitting on bottom
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Finished installation...
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Aircraft Specialty Stainless Braided Gear Leg Brake Hoses
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Tom and I would like to extend a very sincere "Thank You" to Jim for his tremendous help in verifying the fit and performance of this new RV-12 Fuel hose package.

We also truly appreciate the time and efforts of so many of you in the Van's community that help us to update our product line by continuously innovating and improving.

As Jim mentioned, we released the new RV-12 fuel hose kit yesterday. It is the result of customer and OEM requests for a Rotax fuel package that replaces rubber fuel hoses, but is compatible with OEM Stratoflex Rotax carb lines. We are able to offer this kit as an extremely high quality alternative to other options on the market at a very compelling price point.

For more information on this hose kit, here is a direct link to our press release.

http://aircraftspecialty.com/PDF Documents/Rotax Banjo Press Release.pdf

More information can be found at

http://www.aircraftspecialty.com/rv-12.html

Videos of our product fabrication can be located at

http://www.aircraftspecialty.com/howwemake.html

Please feel free to contact us with any questions
Steve and Tom
 
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Two questions regarding this option... First, would installation pre certification negate E-LSA certification and result in EAB certification? Second, is the same package used on the iS engine? Thanks.
 
Bob,

Great questions. As of now, this kit is designed as a retrofit for the many existing RV-12 ELSA aircraft that still have all rubber hoses, or all rubber hoses with Teflon carb lines.

Vans must sell all components to the builder or they will not issue the paperwork for initial ELSA certification. Though this kit would offer a builder several advantages and a better price point, it can not be used for initial certification unless Vans wanted to utilize it as an approved package.

Regarding the iS engine... We have plumbed several iS engines on other aircraft and the fuel system is different. We do not currently have an iS Fuel/Oil hose package for the RV-12 available. However, we are working on it and will have more data on that over the next few months. That will be mainly for builders who are registering as EAB.

Steve

P.S. I'll be out of the office for a lot of the rest of the day and evening. I'll be back tomorrow and will respond to anything that I missed.
 
I was under the impression that Rotax cancelled their requirement to replace the fuel hoses. See Rotax SI-912-022. Anyone?
 
Marty, that cancellation is for the Rotax OE teflon hose, mainly the carb hoses.
Most all the airframe manufacturers provide the other hoses, as all the lengths and configurations are different.
Steve and I have always used teflon hoses in our packages.

Tom
 
I was under the impression that Rotax cancelled their requirement to replace the fuel hoses. See Rotax SI-912-022. Anyone?

I believe Rotax is referring to Teflon Vs. rubber hoses. Canceling the 5-year changeout for Rotax Teflon hoses adds validity to Aircraft Specialty's claim for lifetime limit.
 
I was under the impression that Rotax cancelled their requirement to replace the fuel hoses. See Rotax SI-912-022. Anyone?

I believe Rotax is referring to Teflon Vs. rubber hoses. Canceling the 5-year changeout for Rotax Teflon hoses adds validity to Aircraft Specialty's claim for lifetime limit.

Jim is absolutely correct. Rotax cancelled the 5 year hose replacement on THEIR FUEL HOSES when they swapped over their OE carb lines to a CONDUCTIVE TEFLON hose assembly.

All our Fuel and Oil hose kits have always utilized ONLY Conductive Teflon hose assemblies. There is no benefit to a non conductive assembly other than cost.

The VA-216 hose that was originally supplied by Vans was a rubber assembly. It has since been changed over to a Non Conductive Teflon assembly. I don't know if they have published a replacement schedule for that assembly or not.

In short, this hose kit is for a few groups of aircraft owners

1. Builders who are going EAB and would like the highest quality hoses possible with a 10 year warranty at a significantly better value proposition than OE hoses.

2. Owners of EAB and ELSA aircraft that still have ALL original rubber hoses.

3. Owners of EAB and ELSA aircraft that have Teflon Carb hoses, but Rubber hoses for the rest of the fuel system.

4. Owners of EAB and ELSA aircraft that would like to swap out their VA-216 assembly for a conductive Teflon assembly with AS1072 Firesleeve and an external restrictor.

I hope that answers the question. Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Steve
 
This newer version came as a request from some ariframe manufacturers, utilizing the Rotax fuel block assembly, similar to the RV12. Some, however, dont use the fuel block, but use brass tees and other assorted fittings to connect the hoses.

So, with both kits, we have a solution for all the 912ULS engines in use. The AN fitting version is extremely customizable since the cross fittings are used instead of the fuel block, that sometimes isnt supplied anyway. The ULS engines that Vans supplies are equipped with the fuel block. The version 2 of this package uses the dual stem banjo fittings as shown in Jim's pics.

Tom
 
Hose Replacement

Checking on this yesterday, I called Van's about hose replacement. The person told me that the hoses Van's furnished with the kit are already Teflon.

So I went back to the plans to see what was Van's and what was Rotax. I see Van's part numbers on the oil hoses so I expect they are already Teflon. The Rotax parts list shows a Rotax part number for the hose supplying fuel to the carbs. It appears to be Teflon on my airplane. I need to verify but so far, so good.

My question is about the other fuel hoses. I see no Van's number in my plans book and no part number in the Rotax parts list for them. Who supplies them (did I miss a Van's part number?) and are they Teflon or rubber?
 
Keith--
The oil hoses from Vans are teflon. When Steve and I were working on the fuel hoses, they were rubber with firesleeve. Since we came our with our original teflon package, Vans updated their fuel supply hoses and the return/fuel pressure hose. The VA216 return/fuel pressure hoses werent conductive teflon. Carb hoses from Rotax were orange integral firesleeved teflon hoses. We upgraded our package to stainless banjo fittings, designed for teflon hose as shown in Jim's post. Hoses are conductive teflon.

WE'll be glad to look at yours and tell you what you have. Just email us some pics.
Tom
 
Fuel Hoses

Thanks, Tom. That is what I want to know. I will send some pictures in an email in a day or so.

I was very happy with the hoses you made for my "6" a few years ago.
 
Can you clarify? I originally installed my hoses in 2012. In 2017 I replaced all the fuel hoses with TS Flightlines Teflon hoses. In 2022 when I replace the oil lines will the ones from Vans be Teflon that eliminate the ten year replacement requirement?
 
I am pretty sure that the current iteration of oil hoses that vans is selling is Conductive Teflon. They charge $950+ for the three oil lines. We will be releasing a kit to replace the rv-12 oil lines (for anyone that needs/wants to replace oil lines) starting at $550.

As with all our hoses, these will carry a 10 year warranty and be “replace on condition” without a 10 year replacement requirement.

Hope that helps
Steve
 
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Hi Tom, On the oil hoses, if the hose ends are stainless, they are teflon. Vans always supplied them that way. Other manufacturers used push on hose ends with rubber hoses.
The fuel hoses from Vans are alittle more difficult to tell to the inexperienced eye. They were generally using steel fittings, but could have changed now. Even the carb hoses, made from Stratoflex 101 integral silicone firesleeved hose, use steel banjo fittings. So, its knowing whats in use out there. Circa 2012 hoses were rubber, with firesleeve and steel fittings.
Ours have always been conductive teflon.

The hoses that we provide in the updated package, like the pics that Jim posted, use conductive teflon, with stainless banjos, both the single stem ones for the carbs, and the dual stem ones for the fuel block. We had some requests from some airframe manufacturers to make a package that accepted the Rotax fuel block that more companies were getting on their engines. Some, were NOT getting this block, so the use of our other package was a great option to using rubber hose and pushlock fittings. its very adaptable to several different aircraft.

The 912IS takes a completely different package, as the injection system plumbing is simplified, FWF anyway.

Tom
 
Is there anything in the works to provide coolant hoses that don’t require replacement every 5 years?

This is something that Tom and I have been discussing. Yes, there are ideas in the works BUT we have no definitive idea of a potential release date as not much progress has been made. We are so busy with different projects that this has been pushed back several times. However, we do recognize the value to rv-12 owners in doing this and will keep moving forward.

Steve
 
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Fuel return fitting tiny hole.

Rich---email me and I'll give you some ideas.
Tom
Tom, I installed your fuel line system last year and enjoy its strengths! Do you offer the fuel return fitting with larger orifice? I?m experiencing spiking fuel pressure indications in the dynon/green-yellow band with aux on and off in various phases of operation. Could this cause a slightly rich fuel mixture?

Thank you!
Doug
 
HI Doug. right now we dont, BUT the good part of our fitting is that you may drill the orifice to a slightly larger size if you wish.
Tom
 
HI Doug. right now we dont, BUT the good part of our fitting is that you may drill the orifice to a slightly larger size if you wish.
Tom

Tom, thank you for that ultra thin bit. Will it fit in an electric hand drill? I don?t have a press. I guess I could go to a machine shop. From which end do I drill?
 
Doug....

Good afternoon. You need an air drill to drill it out as the drill bit is really tiny.

I drilled one out for you today and if you send me an email I will send you the new restrictor with a larger hole. The new restrictor fitting is drilled out to .020-.021 which is slightly larger than the .015 that is specified in the Rotax manual. However, it matches the orifice size that is actually being shipped by Rotax. Their manual and actual restrictor orifice sizes differ. We have tested both orifice sizes and have noticed no appreciable difference between them.

Have a great week and take care,
Steve
 
We have had a number of inquiries on this package in the last few days.

I wanted to make sure that everyone has seen the Rotax fuel/oil hose guide which helps builders/owners determine what kind of hoses they currently have on their engines and whether or not they are nearing "scheduled" replacement.

http://aircraftspecialty.com/PDF Documents/RV12 Hose Guide.pdf

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all regarding these kits.

We currently have one of the Fuel hose kits left in stock and will be building several more next week. We try to keep stock on a few of them, but ask for about a 1 week notice prior to shipment to ensure that we don't make anyone wait.

Thanks again to everyone and have a great week
Steve
 
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