From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: How to find (or repair) a specific part for old motorhome?
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 22:14:41 -0400

morphbird@my-deja.com wrote:

> Hi all...  :)
>
> Long story short... I have an old motorhome: 1974 Chevy Casual, 18-
> footer.  The rubber inflow pipe into the gas tank has fine cracks in it
> and it leaks.  The gas tank itself is fine... just the inflow pipe has
> a getting-worse leak problem whenever I fill up.
>
> Turns out there is NOWHERE in my town (Portland Oregon) which has a
> replacement part.  I called all the local major RV places.
>
> How does one replace such an old motorhome gasoline inflow pipe? If I
> have my mechanic remove it for me, is there a gasoline-resistant patch
> I can wrap around the length of it?

As others have mentioned, NAPA stocks fuel-resistant hose in
diameters up to perhaps 12" and sells it by the inch.  That will
work if the filler pipe is a straight run.

If the rubber piece has to make a bend, you have several options:

You may be able to find the exact part from a salvage yard or NOS
dealers.  For NOS dealers, I recommend getting a copy of Hemming
Motor News, the world's largest classifieds for old/antique cars and
other vehicles.

Check with either your airport FBO or Aircraft Spruce & Specialty co
(http://www.aircraft-spruce.com/)  Aircraft use a variety of
flex/angle bellows made from a variety of materials ranging from
silicone rubber to stainless steel.  I've used this resource
extensively to obtain bellows/connectors for fabricating custom
hotrod turbo intake manifolding.

Patch the old one.  The technique I use is to impregnate fiberglass
tape with fuel-resistant silicone RTV and then wrap the piece with
the tape.  The fiberglass provides the strength while the RTV forms
the hermetic seal.  I get the 1" wide adhesive-free tape from my
friendly local electric motor shop.  In small quantity, the Permatex
blue gasket RTV or red high temperature RTV works well and is
relatively economical.

John