Anyone tried splicing hoses before?

[Oscar]

Hi all.

I have a disintegrating oil cooler hose on the new lump. I can't find a replacement but have a Xantia equivalent which is almost the right shape but not long enough. Is it possible to lengthen it by cutting it in half and jubilee-clipping each half to a length of copper pipe? Is anything terrible going to happen, like the copper melting the hose under heat and dumping all the water or something?

Cheers

O

[Mothman]

Hi buddy,

i am no expert but it seems like it would work ok till you find the correct pipe.
Obviously, the copper pipe would have to be of similar size but cant see a problem as long as the clips seal tight. Its the sort of experiment that would have to be done in an emergency to get you home and i reccon it would too.

Andy

[mat_fenwick]

It will be fine. Ideally if you can solder on half a solder ring (Yorkshire) pipe joining fitting to each end it will give the hose something to grip on. Glad it doesn't sound like the HG!

[Oscar]

Jury's still out on the HG Mat. This is a separate issues that I've known about for a while. Top tip about the fittings, thank you.

[Stinkwheel]

You will be fine on this Oscar.

I had an old V8 oldsmobile that i fitted a totally un-related oil cooler to. Your described method is exactly how i did it.

[stuart_hedges]

I bought my BX with a copper-pipe bodge in the cooling system, and it\'s still there two years on! It\'s starting to go a little green so I intend to sort it properly soon.

The chap who did mine drew marks on the copper pipe in marker pen so that he could see if it started to push itself out of the rubber hoses.

[Mothman]

A few years ago now, whilst on the way to Cornwall from Sussex i had a rather nasty leak from the suspension system at about 5pm on a Friday. Absolute sods law at on that day at that time.
Anyway, the long and the short of it was i found a Citroen specialist near Langport who did a 'bodge' using brake pipes, brazing and rubber tubing which cured the problem and was still working 5 years later. But for him i would not have made the fishing trip albeit a little later than planned.
What makes me remember it so well was the fact that none of us smoked, he had no matches and we had to resort to using a grinding stone on a drill to produce enough sparks to light a piece of paper to get his gas welder going to braze the pipes together. He wouldnt accept anything for it either as he was so into BXs. A memorable trip just for that. Caught and released a 100lb Blue shark too next day.
So, such repairs can and do work and well too.

Andy

[Mothman]

I also remember that at the time, this was about 10 years ago, that the gearbox was also a bit crunchy on changing and he sorted that out too in a minute or two and it was fine thereafter.
I didnt ask him to do it, he did some fiddling about with the linkages very quickly and hey presto, done.

Andy

[Defender110]

Caught and released a 100lb Blue shark too next day.

Andy

Star man for releasing it,

[Mothman]

Caught and released a 100lb Blue shark too next day.

Andy

Star man for releasing it,

Always do bud, all tagged as well. Even had a tag returned from Venezuela 2 yrs later. Fish had doubled in weight. Unfortunately it was caught on a longline and killed.

Andy

[Vanny]

To put a flare on the copper pipe, i usually select a suitably flared socket (eg 10mm socket on 1/2" drive) fit it little end into the copper pipe and give it a good clout. So far this has always held. I've tried just straight bits of copper, but over time the clamp/hose slips off the end.

[Oscar]

Nice one Vanny, cheers. I shall get some copper pipe and start messing about.

O