Clothes Pins On Fuel Line

[davehc]

Heard about this from a fella at a local show , and wondered if you guys had ever heard of it , and if you thought there was any merit to it .
Was looking at the engine of an "A" , and noticed that there were about five , "wooden clothes pins " , clipped to the gas line just ahead of the fitting in the carb . Asked the guy why , and he said that he was having trouble with it stalling on him after driving short distances and couldnt figure out why . Then he remembered his Grandpa doing it with his car back in the day , saying it drawed heat away from the fuel line .
He said he hasent had the problem since putting them on . ??? I enjoy hereing these old remides , whether they work or not .

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by davehc

Heard about this from a fella at a local show , and wondered if you guys had ever heard of it , and if you thought there was any merit to it .
Was looking at the engine of an "A" , and noticed that there were about five , "wooden clothes pins " , clipped to the gas line just ahead of the fitting in the carb . Asked the guy why , and he said that he was having trouble with it stalling on him after driving short distances and couldnt figure out why . Then he remembered his Grandpa doing it with his car back in the day , saying it drawed heat away from the fuel line .
He said he hasent had the problem since putting them on . ??? I enjoy hereing these old remides , whether they work or not .

I always thought the clothes pins were supposed to be wet to dissipate the heat from the fuel line.

The topic about the engine stalling has been argued to the hilt here in the past as to whether 'vapor lock' is the cause for this. Interesting reading if you are a by-stander IMHO!! Some (-me included) feel like a good chassis & body ground, along with engine pans will usually cure this problem.

[amodel25]

I can remember my uncle's '51 Ford V8 back in the mid-50's. He must have had 20 clothespins on his fuel line between the pump and the carb. Remember him telling my dad how it stopped his engine stalling (vapor lock?) problems.

[Richard Wilson]

Rusty water blowing back from the leaking water pump should keep the clothes pins wet? Just a guess.

[MikeK]

Good place to hang freshly laundered shop rags. The fan and hot air dries them quickly. When your rags are dry the fuel line will heat and vapor lock, automatically shutting off your drier.

[steve s]

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This and numerous other alleged vapor lock cures have been discussed here many times. I can tell you that from a scientific viewpoint, the wooden clothes pins make no sense. Wood is an insulator, so it's hard to imagine it would help radiate heat away from the fuel line. Even if it did, it would be working in the wrong direction; the problem is due to heat from the engine compartment getting INTO the fuel line, not fuel that was heated elsewhere needing to cool off as it traverses the engine compartment. While wetting the clothes pins down would provide some very short term evaporative cooling, wood absorbs so little water that that rationale just seems silly to me; wet rags are a proven short term fix, but I don't believe anyone advocates driving around with rags on their fuel line.

The only basis for the clothes pin trick working that I can conceive of is possibly as a vibration dampener on the fuel line: vibrations will encourage bubble formation in an otherwise metastable slightly superheated liquid. But, that too seems pretty farfetched to me.

The whole business is very controversial. Some folks even claim that it's impossible for a gravity fed-no fuel pump system to have vapor lock (by their definition). Search under "vapor lock" and you'll hear it all. However, there is no doubt that fuel vaporization can occur in the fuel line, whether or not it causes a problem is another question. Here's a picture of a vapor bubble I could watch build up in the top of my sediment bowl, and then burp on down the line, and repeat endlessly with motor idling smoothly on a hot day.



The problem is undoubtedly aggravated by addition of ethanol to gasoline, which raises the fuel's vapor pressure. Gasoline starts to boil around 100 degrees F, then boiling point goes up as the lighter fractions leave.

There's always a rash of vapor lock threads on the forum about this time of the year, as folks burn off their winter blend gasoline and the gas stations transition to the higher-boiling summer blend. Paradoxically, folks who live down south often report never having vapor lock issues even though it's much hotter down there. I believe that's because they only ever are sold a higher-boiling blend.

Steve

[H. L. Chauvin]

Humble Opinion:

One may say that in the past 5 years or so, the two (2) Model A Forums have advertised more about buying clothes pins to place on Model A gas lines than the clothes pins manufacturer's have advertised about buying clothes pins to place on clothes line.

[Bill Steiner]

60 years ago it was done a lot. Don't know if it did any good. I never did it back then LOL Bill

[Rock Hornbuckle]

Post #6 by Steve S is spot-on. There are many old wives tales still circulating amoung us. Such as "heat rises". First year engineering students would fall for it every time.

[Patrick L.]

Its always seemed to me that the clothes pins would be insulating the fuel line. Wood sure isn't a good conductor.

[Keith True]

I saw that lots when I was a kid,I would ask what they were on there for and somebody would answer,vapor lock.Years later I found I was getting half of the story.The clothespins were on there to keep the tin foil wrapped around the line from unraveling.The foil would fall apart anyway,but the pins would stay.I think a lot of that kind of stuff got instilled into us as little kids and we would take it as gospel.Kind of like the old guy here that says Ford used the old packing crates to make the wood frames for the bodies,he was told that in 1940 and you will never convince him otherwise.

[TDO]

My first car a 1950 chevy back in 1962, especially on hot days it would vapor lock (at least that's what we called it).an old man told me to put clothes pins on the fuel line . I did and know more trouble. Can't explain the reason why it worked . If anyone is having trouble with (vapor locking). Or thinks that's what it is , try the clothes pins. whats it going to hurt.

[Mikeinnj]

The concept is absurd.....

[Glenn C.]

The addition of Marvel Mystery Oil to the fuel, seems to alleviate some of the ethane problems, but not all. I use a braided type material that is used to wrap small steam tracing tubing lines that are used in many large industrial process plants. The material is a braided replacement for asbestos. 1" wide x 3/16" thick. Wrapped around the tubing, and wired tight at both ends. IMO I don't believe they had that much problem with the heavier fuel of days gone by, and with the first cast iron design sediment bowl. For the mechanical engineers on this subject.....does NPSH enter into this at all ?

[springerpete]

Sounds to me a bit like the man running down the railroad track waving a clothes pin in his hand over his head while trying to warn the engineer of an approaching train that there was a wash-out on the line ahead.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Chief put a clothespin on a stray cat's tail, he NEVER came back! Bill W.

[ford3]

vapor lock is real, but not in the fuel line, its in the fuel pump, vapor there causes the pump to lose its prime, fuel pumps wont suck and pump vapors, model a,s with no fuel pump doesnt have that problem, it has the problem of the carb getting hot and boiling the gas in the fuel bowl, thus no gas there to be sucked into the engine to burn, only vapors, the vapors in the fuel bowl has enough pressure to stop any fuel flowing into carb ( thats my story and im sticking to it )

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by ford3

vapor lock is real, but not in the fuel line, its in the fuel pump, vapor there causes the pump to lose its prime, fuel pumps wont suck and pump vapors, model a,s with no fuel pump doesnt have that problem, it has the problem of the carb getting hot and boiling the gas in the fuel bowl, thus no gas there to be sucked into the engine to burn, only vapors, the vapors in the fuel bowl has enough pressure to stop any fuel flowing into carb ( thats my story and im sticking to it )

Yo, Ford3, yep, that's what Ol' Bill tole me! Buster T.

[Jazzjr]

Never had Vapor Lock with my A, Even in High 90's in Florida.
Years ago, saw some of these being used, at the Drag Strip, filled with ice. Maybe those that think they have Vapor Lock, could build a smaller Version than the one in the Photo.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Jazzjr

Never had Vapor Lock with my A, Even in High 90's in Florida.
Years ago, saw some of these being used, at the Drag Strip, filled with ice. Maybe those that think they have Vapor Lock, could build a smaller Version than the one in the Photo.

Yep, called a "COOL-CAN" common at the strips here in the HOT valley. Bill W.