VAP
08-26-2008, 02:46 PM
I was browsing the WorldPac catalog today for some intake gaskets as I'm about to do an IM R&R for research/experimental reasons and thought I'd take a look for the BMW vac line while there. Sure enough it's listed and available in black, red, blue and white. Comes in 5 meter rolls and wholsales for $20.40 which works out to $1.35 per linear foot. I checked the BMW page at 034's online WorldPac and they sell it for $22.00 per 5 meters or about 10% more than WorldPac wholesale pricing.
I picked up a roll of it with my IM stuff and brought it home for testing. Specs out at 2mm wall with a "tight" 3.5mm bore advertised (measured closer to 3.02mm ID) and is 100% silicone. I plugged one end then threw 2 feet in the oven and set the dial at 450*F for 30 minutes then pulled 22InHg of vacuum with my vac pump and witnessed no tubing/wall collapse anywhere along the full 2ft length even after compressing the opposite end to seal it off and tossing back in the 450*F oven for another 30 minutes at a constant 22InHg of vacuum. No collapse of the line while holding 22InHg vacuum in the line and in the oven. This is over twice the temp and 30% more vacuum than this line will be subjected to when used and 50% more than the EGR vac lines see.
When I reassemble everything I'll replace all my old thicker/heavier BMW vac line with this new line and test its longevity. By the way a short 8" long brand new piece of VW/Audi vac line with the cloth braided shield melted during the same test... folded up and fell thru the oven racks on to the oven floor and was all curled up and sizzling/bubbling. Then had to be scraped off with a putty knife before it cooked into a crystalline-hard glass mound that would NEVER come off the oven floor. Icky, nasty smoking, smelly stuff that!!
I'll update when/if I notice anything weird with the new line.
I picked up a roll of it with my IM stuff and brought it home for testing. Specs out at 2mm wall with a "tight" 3.5mm bore advertised (measured closer to 3.02mm ID) and is 100% silicone. I plugged one end then threw 2 feet in the oven and set the dial at 450*F for 30 minutes then pulled 22InHg of vacuum with my vac pump and witnessed no tubing/wall collapse anywhere along the full 2ft length even after compressing the opposite end to seal it off and tossing back in the 450*F oven for another 30 minutes at a constant 22InHg of vacuum. No collapse of the line while holding 22InHg vacuum in the line and in the oven. This is over twice the temp and 30% more vacuum than this line will be subjected to when used and 50% more than the EGR vac lines see.
When I reassemble everything I'll replace all my old thicker/heavier BMW vac line with this new line and test its longevity. By the way a short 8" long brand new piece of VW/Audi vac line with the cloth braided shield melted during the same test... folded up and fell thru the oven racks on to the oven floor and was all curled up and sizzling/bubbling. Then had to be scraped off with a putty knife before it cooked into a crystalline-hard glass mound that would NEVER come off the oven floor. Icky, nasty smoking, smelly stuff that!!
I'll update when/if I notice anything weird with the new line.