Hose diameters explained?

[rockford33]

Can someone please exlpain to me what they mean when a hose has a diameter of -6AN, -4AN, etc.? I am looking to replace my fuel lines with stainless braided lines, but have no idea what size to order! I can take my calipers and measure my lines on the car, which will give me a size in inches (or fraction of an inch), but how do I equate that to whether it is -6AN, -4AN, -04 hose, -06 hose, etc.? I am throroughly confused.

Thanks.

 

[grisby]

6an steel hose has an inside diameter of 11/32 a 4an steel hose will have an inside diameter of 7/32. HTH these numbers kinda stuck in my head when I was doing my GS.
hope this helps
bill g

 

[rollman]

AN Thread Sizes

AN (Army-Navy) sizes were established by the aircraft industry and designate the outside diameter of rigid tubing that the corresponding fittings are used with. Each dash size equals 1/16 of an inch. (ie -8 AN = 8 x 1/16" = 1/2" OD of the metal tube) Each standard AN size has its own standard thread size. Since the tube sizes do not equate with the hose sizes, due to the variation in wall thickness, the ID of the hose and tubes are not the same. See the chart below for Earls Perform O' Flex hose and AN sizes.
AN Thread Sizes

AN (Army-Navy) sizes were established by the aircraft industry and designate the outside diameter of rigid tubing that the corresponding fittings are used with. Each dash size equals 1/16 of an inch. (ie -8 AN = 8 x 1/16" = 1/2" OD of the metal tube) Each standard AN size has its own standard thread size. Since the tube sizes do not equate with the hose sizes, due to the variation in wall thickness, the ID of the hose and tubes are not the same. See the chart below for Earls Perform O' Flex hose and AN sizes.


AN Size.........Tube OD .......Thread Size.........Hose ID

-4.................1/4.................7/16-20..............7/32"

-6 ...............3/8................9/16-18...................11/32"

-8.................1/2...............3/4-16.....................7/16"

-10 ..............5/8"................7/8-14 ..................9/16"

-12..................3/4" ............1 1/16-12 ..............11/16"

-16 ...................1".............. 1 5/16-12...................7/8"

-20..................1 1/4".............1 5/8-12 ...................1 1/8

*Above listed hose sizes reflect sizes published by Earl's Performance Products for their Perform O' Flex™ hose. Hoses from other manufacturers and hoses with teflon liners may differ in size

 

[rockford33]

Thanks for the very informatives posts guys. Looks like I should have enough information now to replace some of my fuel lines with nice, stainless braided hose. Now to find some economical hose clamps. I was looking at Pi-Thon clamps, but as I go through the car, I am looking at replacing more and mroe clamps (there are a ton of those PITA band clamps!!). I could easily spend $500-600 on the Pi-Thon clamps. Might do those for the easy-to-see, and something different for the harder-to-see clamps. I think I have been watching too much American Hot Rod!!