Mech. Oil Pressure Gauge , Copper or Nylon ???

I would like to know what most of you guys are using on your oil gauges? Nylon or copper tubing! My special order Stewart Warner gauges finally came in but the tubing kit was discontinued. I will need to order it separately so which should I order? I'll be hooking it up to a 250cid engine ...
Bob

 

Racetracks have to have copper, I just don't trust plastic with heat or vibration to make it a leaker. Copper or stainless hose looks much better,,, of course, my opinion!

 

I used braided stainless and I don't think it was more than $20. Already had the correct fittings on it, except I had to use a brass adapter at the block.

 

definately the copper

 

Copper is better to use.

 

When I bought my car the original owner put a nylon line on. I changed the stock points distributor out with an Accell distributor and in my workings I jiggled the nylon line loose from where they had it hidden. I proceeded to drive the car to work the next day and started loosing power, all my guages were normal so I just kept driving and by the time i hit work the motor had a noticeable tick.
What had happened is the nylon line fell down on the exhaust manifold and melted through sealing the guage side off with pressure still in the line so it kept a reading, the other side sprayed oil all over everything for about 15 miles of the 20 mile drive to work.
So I gave that motor away because of the tick, it sounded like it rounded a cam lobe, and just bought a roller motor instead.
Copper is better then nylon and arguably people can say that the electrical guages are better then both because it wont melt like nylon, and it wont crack due to the vibration like some people say that copper does. If electrical fails it still keeps all of your oil in the motor.

 

Braided stainless can handle the heat and the vibes. That is why I went that route.

And it looks cool, too!

 

Plastic should work fine on your 250 if it's just a driver. Since it's on the left side, you don't have to worry about any manifold melting the plastic. I have plastic on my 200 and no problems. Use some zip ties to to secure the hose. Put that extra $15 into your pocket or back in the family budget.

 

Here's another better choice than copper..........steel brake line. Copper will work harden from vibration and movement over time and fail just as easily as nylon tubing. I ran steel brake line to the rear of the block (up to and along the driver's side of the intake) then braided stainless thru the firewall. Then had to go to nylon tubing to fit the gauge. Nylon tubing encased in vacuum hose works great too. Been like that on my 89 Ranger now for 8 years.

 

Have had the same copper tube on mine for 104,000 miles. No problems with it. Put it on after the nylon one broke inside the car and sprayed oil all over the damn place..

 

Definately copper. I had nylon on my F350 gauges and after rubbing against the opening through the firewall for a few years, the nylon broke and shot oil all over my engine bay before I realized what had happened.

Jim

 

Or worse, if it breaks inside the car, you will have a major mess to clean up, and possibly hot oil all over driver and passenger.

 

Copper worked great for me. I put it through windshield washer tubing to keep it protected,and haven`t had any problems at all. I did have plastic tubing break once,I think it just got brittle from heat over the years. Stainless braid sounds excellent also,although I have not used it myself.

 

I got a Sunpro copper tubing kit for Christmas. #CP7584. It was about $10 from Autozone and came with a number of fittings
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ca...=&itemId=568-10&displayName=Gauge+Line+Tubing

 

Im leaning towards the copper. Ive not seen the braided SS lines. Can anyone post a picture of the braided lines?