How many of you racers and mechanics, shade tree or pro, have used AQP Socketless hose for fuel/oil/coolant lines?  What do you think of this stuff for airplanes?

I was in a local hose and fitting shop the other day (Oil Filter Service, Portland, OR) getting a short line for my fuel pressure sender on the RV-4.  I picked up 4" of -4 AQP Socketless hose, 3 brass AN fittings, and some fire sleeve.  They assembled it for me and it cost me a whopping $7.17.  Comparing this with steel braided high pressure hose with aluminum AN fittings we typically see on a lot of planes, this particular assembled fuel pressure hose from the Van's Aircraft catalog is $55 (14" long I think) with no fire sleeve and I don't have to pay for postage living just down the road.

This AQP hose has very good specs, 250 psi working/1000 burst and 300 deg F.  It was used on my oil cooler lines when I picked up my engine from a 1/4 mile racer.  I think this line can see over 150 psi and I know my engine has seen the north side of 10,000 rpm many times.

Also, the guys at the hose shop insisted that with the barbed "push-on" fittings I used it needs NO HOSE CLAMPS.  These do not have the collar that screws up onto the fitting like a regular AN hose end.  The hose is designed like a "Chinese finger trap" and tightens itself on the fitting barbs as you increase pressure.  I'll probably put some kind of clamp on it so my friend Das Fed doesn't complain.

Now, steel braided hose is good for 1000 psi operating/6000 burst.  And the abrasion resistance is obvious, but you still will probably put orange fire sleeve over it so the eye-candy value is low.  Also, the fire sleeve will show any abrasion long before the hose is in jeopardy.  In my (professional engineer's) opinion, a safety factor of 20 is a bit much.

Back to the AQP hose, it has a safety factor of 5 when the fuel pressure is 50.  For coolant lines at 25 psi the safety factor is 10.  It also is compatible with any fuels we would conceivably use and I'm even setting my machine up for use with 85% ethanol (just for kicks,, my own entertainment, don't start on the ethanol/gas mileage thread again).  The oil line at the cooler is potentially 150 psi so I might be talked into the steel braided stuff for that.

My apologies for the epistle.  Once again have any of you guys used this AQP hose and do you have any stories to tell about it?  How about these barbed no-clamp fittings?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike McGee, RV-4 N996RV, O320-E2G, Hillsboro, OR
13B in gestation mode, RD-1C, EC-2