vm26ss fuel tee

The fuel tees on my carbs were completely dried out and cracked. so decided to make some nice serviceable brass fittings. Here is how I did it.

Took some 9/16" brass and cut it to 1.5" long , then turned both ends down to about .39" dia x .5 deep. Put two grooves on both sides 2mm wide to a dia that would allow the 7/16" OD o-ring to be around .460" after installed. The ID of the carb bore is .435ish so that gave me just the right amount of o-ring compression. 


 
 

Then I bored a .375" hole into the side to a depth of about .410" from the top 

 

After that I turned the barbed fitting side. Made the OD of the press a few thou over the .375" bore in the main body for a nice press fit. 

 


Next I pressed the two together until the barb side bottomed out . 

 

After that I had to drill through the main body side. 

 

Finished !! I had to grease up the O-rings with lucas assembly lube so that they slid into the carbs without a fight. 

 

Beautiful.  I've made a few but they don't look quite that nice.  When I make them I braze the cross tube.  How did you make the hole?  Mill it?  Milling will make a more rounded hole than drilling (which is what I'm limited to.)

Really nice. Two creative comments. How do you seal Tee section. Isn’t the barb on the Tee facing the wrong direction. 

Very nice job although your barb tapers appear to the orientated in the wrong direction.
That's how i make mine but i prefer aluminium and the barbs the other way round for ease of hose install and to anchor the hoses.
What's going on with the brass carb breather tube in this pic ?
Unless it's the angle of the pic it looks like it's been shortened so that it can't take a breather tube and is just open to atmosphere.
If that's the case it isn't a good idea as it will allow airborne particles etc to enter the float chamber and possibly contaminate the jets etc.
At the minimum those should have a short tube attached hanging vertically between the carb bodies to prevent heavier than air contaminants entering the float chamber.



 

haha Yes indeed the barb direction is wrong and I realized this as I was making it.  It is the result of the turning tool relief angle as I was plunging it into the diameter. If you take a look at the picture of the original there is no directional barb at all , just two bumps. I test fitted the fuel line and its nice and tight and with a hose clamp it wont fall off. I thought about silver soldering the cross piece on but I felt that the bore was true enough and with a tight press fit it will not leak especially since there is no fuel pressure at all, just gravity. The aluminum aftermarket ones appear to be just pressed as well. 

Brass carb breather tube is there I just inadvertently angled the camera so that It looks like it's cut off. 

Speaking of hose clamps, where can I get small fuel fitting clamps for these hoses? I don't want to use traditional hose clamps that you use a screwdriver to tighten. 

 

I got my clamps at a place called Belmetric.com

Rick H.

That's some really clean work.  Kudos!

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

I agree that it is only gravity feed. Still there is fuel in the tee 100% of the time. When the floats close the fuel will stay in the tee. Even when the tank petcock is off fuel will be captured in the tee. Temp changes could result in pressure build up. I’d error on the safe side and at least set up a test and observe it. Fuel on a hot engine is not something you want. JMO.

Nice work, i also make mine the same way, but i do use solder on them as a precaution, 

M2C... I actually purchased a set off Ebay done the same way with a press fit in the T. What I found was that the T would pull out when removing the fuel lines and pulling straight up on them. Seller replaced and all was good, but that was my experience with that style.