90° hose options?

[Tom Baker]

I heard some people are using the regular 17mm coolant hose and placing a spring inside for the 90° hose. Anyone out there using this method? The last 90° hose I put on I had trouble with it not sealing up. Tom

[Roger Lee]

Hi Tom,

 

Two things here. The constant compression clamps seal much better if you put them right up to the edge of the flare end on the pipe. I have had a few leaks when placed back away from the flared ends.

The spring in the hose is used on two hoses on top of our engine. It is used in the #1 & #4 cyl. 17mm hose. This keeps them from collapsing at bends. The 90 degree hose is technically a Rotax part and is supposed to be kept the same. The other side of this is that the spring in the hose will work very well without any issues.

[Runtoeat]

Hi Tom. During our rubber replacement, we observed that the bulk coolant hose was collapsing when we attempted to install this with any high angle bend. There is one hose I recall that was especially kinked which runs from the expansion bottle down to the engine on the left side. I called Arian at FD and he asked me if we had "used the spring"? This took me back but on further discussion with Arian I discovered that if we checked the removed hoses, we would find that there is a spring inside. Lo and behold, we found the spring. This spring is almost magic in the way it prevents kinking. Acutally, this coolant hose that runs from the expansion to the left side which I've described has a 180 degree (or more?) bend which is greater than the small pre-bent hose which I purchased as a Rotax part and which cost close to $50. I would say that there is no need to buy any pre-formed hoses and just use springs inside to prevent kinking on all of the 17mm coolant hoses. Based on the factory spring, my mechanic found door springs at the local hardware store which matched the OD of this. He stretched these out so the coils were similar spread apart as the factory spring. This is a neat way to prevent kinking. I understand that there are also external springs that one can use which do the same thing. They prevent the hose from going oval which allows kinking.

[Roger Lee]

Hi Dick,

 

There are external springs for hose. They have them at auto parts stores. The problem with external springs is if they are in the wrong spot they will chew things up from vibration.

 

You should have two hoses with internal springs. The top #1 and #4 cylinder coolant hoses.

[Tom Baker]

I know about the 2 hoses with springs. The 90° hose from Rotax is used on our installtion, but had heard that some were changing out to a standard hose with a spring inside to replace it. Just wondered if anyone here was doing it.

[Runtoeat]

Tom, I tried to indicate that I have used the springs in bulk hose in my above post but maybe I didn't present it the right way. Another try...based on my use of springs inside 4 of the coolant hoses which were 17mm bulk hose that was provided to me by CPS for the rubber replacement, I would suggest that a straight, non-formed hose that has a spring installed will function the same as a formed hose. I applied a spring to the upper hose which takes a 180 degree turn from the expansion bottle to the LH cylinder and it worked perfectily - i.e., the bulk hose with spring was routed with a 180 degree bend without kinking. Based on this, I would say that the formed hose purchased from Rotax, which has less than a 180 degree bend, can be replaced with a section of bulk hose with spring in this application.

[Roger Lee]

The spring in this #2 cyl coolant hose instead of the Rotax 90 degree hose will work, it's just up to you if you want to venture there.

[Jeremy MacGregor]

I've tried both set ups for the #2 top coolant hose and they both do the job. However, if you do decide to go the route of an internal spring, make sure that the spring is not in contact with either of the fittings on the cylinder or expansion tank, this can cause unwanted chaffing which can led to debris in your coolant system.

[180 Degree Hose]

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[Roger Lee]

You can’t just put any hose on here if you are SLSA.

[Roger Lee]

Hi Tom,

i cut the narrow ends way back so it is more on the thicker part. I then push the hose way up on each fitting. I have never had one leak this way because the clamp works better on the thicker part. It is usually one of the harder hose to get off if done this way.

[Tom Baker]

3 hours ago, Roger Lee said:

Hi Tom,

i cut the narrow ends way back so it is more on the thicker part. I then push the hose way up on each fitting. I have never had one leak this way because the clamp works better on the thicker part. It is usually one of the harder hose to get off if done this way.

Roger, the original post was from 2012. Rotax has changed back to a thicker wall hose. No more need fore the new smaller clamp from Rotax.

[Roger Lee]

I never changed the clamps. I always used the ones that were on to start. I just cut the skinny part off.

[Tom Baker]

2 hours ago, Roger Lee said:

I never changed the clamps. I always used the ones that were on to start. I just cut the skinny part off.

Good for you. I had at least 2 90 degree hoses that I  got from Lockwood that required the new clamps. With the hose cut to fit and the old clamps you could literally slide the hose off the fitting over the bead.