Hello brains trust,
Well i am getting to the point very quickly when I am going to mothball my S again as I have had enough of trying to get parts to fit that Mini Specialists tell us are correct. I recently purchased 2 short fuel hoses from pipe to carbs and the longer one from the main fuel pipe to the carbs feed pipe.
On initial inspection of the new parts I though to myself "these hoses look smaller in diameter than the old ones" - even the rubber end caps look oversize on the hose and the original green clips are not going to work due to the reduced diameter of the replacement hose.

Being the eternal optimist I decided to press on and see if they would fit. The hose should be 1/4 inch or 6mm , however the hose I.D. is only 5 point something in diameter and just will not go onto the 1/4" dia fuel tube! Am I doing something wrong here? If I push like sh#t the braid binds up, no matter what I do (I even used rubber grease after I decided these are going in the bin now) but no go.

I then removed the braiding from the hose and compared it with others that I have kept (refer to pic) and the hose that is used now does not look like any SAE fuel hose that I have seen before, looks more like EFI hose found on 70's Euro cars. I understand that the orange stripe on the braid indicates that the hose is now ethanol compliant but I do not understand why this also means that it has to be manufactured in a smaller diameter? I have emailed the Mini Specialist concerned with my findings but they have gone radar silent. Or it could be due to the fact that the NSW/Vicco border is closed and my email was not received. Benefit of the doubt as always.
If anyone has any advice or has the correct braided hoses with the red strip around it for sale, I am happy to buy them!

regards Gavin

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Are they big? I like 'em big!

I know of more than one Mini specialist that is slow or non-existent on emails. I would telephone them.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

You have some reputable spare parts suppliers in Vic, don't you?
Otherwise, I'd call Karcraft. You get to talk to someone, every time. That's the way you are able to correspond.

Had exactly the same problem with the braided fuel hoses. Impossible to fit so ended up using non braided fuel line from super cheap auto

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

As above, for the carb end of the system I went and bought some 6mm (Not 1/4”) hose - that is a really nice fit.

I had lots of struggles at the tank end - all the suppliers list 1/4” braided hose as the right size, but the link pipe and tank outlets are all 5/16”

You’d think after 50+ years they’d of worked it out

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I used a couple of those hoses on a GT and after about 6 months that started leaking fuel through the rubber. The excuse for rubber actually started to break down.

John

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1965 MK1 English Morris Cooper S (Downton)
1967 MK1 Morris Cooper S
1972 Clubman GT (6/72 Cadiz)
1968 MG Midget

Had no problems with the fuel hose from super cheap, been on the car over a year

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

Hi Gavin

PM sent

Pete

Had similar issues with braided hoses, including not realising the tank fittings are all 5/16inch until trying to fit 1/4inch to them. Ended up buying braided hose (1/4 &5/16) by the metre from Holdens in UK and making my own. Also bought the end cap finishers to suit the 2 sizes:

https://www.holden.co.uk/p/1_4_in_bore_ ... sae_j30_r7

https://www.holden.co.uk/p/hose_finishe ... se_015_282

These have been on the car for 2 years now, look similar to factory and there have been no issues.