How to cut silicone hoses, the easy way!

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Viper Performance are proud to bring you this excellent cutting tool which is a brilliant vice mounted workshop accessory.

This Redback bench mounted machine has the ability to cut 18 stock internal size non-steel reinforced silicone and rubber hose from diameters 1” internal diameter to 6” Internal diameter in height increments of 7.5mm, with a minimum height cut of 20mm to a maximum height cut of 127mm.

Supplied as standard with this machine come internal acrylic hose dies. These dies enable the hose to keep shape creating a cleaner cut. The standard hose dies are: 1.25”, 1.5”, 1.75”, 2’, 2.25”, 2.5”, 2.75”, 3”, 3.5” and 4”. 1” Internal diameter hose is cut on the main bottom shaft without the need for an internal acrylic die.

View the product on our website here

How to plumb an air sensor into a silicone hose

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We like to make life easier here at Viper Performance. Thats why we created a hose specifically for plumbing in an air sensor. This unique hose allows you to connect and plumb in an M10 air sensor directly into the hose. Ideal if you are modifying your air intake, or doing an ECU upgrade/re-routing.

Our Air Sensor Hose is not available elsewhere. Available in a choice of silicone hoses that reduce in diameter (transition hoses), or straight couplers with constant diameter, all featuring the M10 thread in the centre.

Check the air sensor hose out here.

How to create a bend with Silicone hoses

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Silicone hose elbowsHose elbows are suitable for creating bends in rigid or flexible pipework to fit your installation purposes. Elbows are available in a wide range of bore sizes and a large variation of angles including

Our silicone elbows are handmade from the highest quality materials, lined and multi-layered with quality fabric reinforcements. You can choose your silicone hose elbow from our large range of universal race parts available in BLUE, RED, and BLACK. 

Click here to see our range of silicone hoses

Used car values increase 13.5% in three months

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used carUsed car trade values are continuing an “unparalleled shift upwards”, according to Cap HPI.

CAP hpi’s daily Live trade values reported an overall increase of 4.8% at the three-year point during the month of June, equivalent to over £625 per car. This rise follows the 2% increase during April and 6.7% increase in May, signifying that on average, values have increased by a staggering £1,700 or 13.5% in the last three months. This rises to £2,500 for one-year old cars over the same period.

Younger cars, up to one-year old, have seen rises of £2,500 in the same period.

“Consumer demand has remained very strong in June, despite half-term, great weather, and Euro 2020 to distract people.

“With stock-turn high, this has led to retailers requiring a constant supply of cars to replenish their forecourts,” said Derren Martin, head of valuations at Cap HPI.

“Well-documented new car supply issues resulting from several component shortages, have led to fewer fleet returns and part exchanges. This has caused demand to outweigh supply for the third month running,” he added.

Make your own Air Intake Cold Air Feed, with Flexible ducting

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Lightweight and very flexible Viper Performance Neoprene ducting hoses are ideal for creating your own air intake. They can also be used to create induction systems, cone air filters, hot & cold air extraction.

Black Neoprene Ducting is suitable for temperatures up to 150°. Our ducts feature a bronze plated steel wire spiral giving the ducting a tight bend radius and flexibility.

Find out more here

What is a JIC hose fitting?

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JIC Hose fittingsJoint Industry Council Thread – Commonly referred to as just JIC fittings are metal to metal sealing type fittings have a 37° flare (sealing surface angle. original design specification for the fittings comes from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and these fittings are the most common American fitting type in Europe.

Are AN and JIC the same?

Technically No. AN stands for Air Force – Navy Aeronautical Design Standards (also known as “Army Navy”) that are used in U.S. Military aviation applications. These fittings are made to meet strict performance standards related to the aeronautical industry.  Confusion between AN and the industrial counterpart, the SAE 37° fitting occurred. The Joint Industries Council (JIC), sought to clear the air by standardizing the specifications on this type of fitting by creating the “JIC” fitting standard, a 37-degree fitting

The majority of the hydraulic population agrees, the JIC (or SAE) 37 degree fittings are generally interchangeable with AN fittings. Generally now when people refer to JIC or AN they are merely referencing the 37 degree fitting.

The hose fittings on the Viper performance site are sold in AN-(dash) sizes.

How do I know my JIC/AN fitting size?

AN sizes are shown as a size number prefixed with a hyphen, so a -10 fitting would be called a “Dash 10″ AN fitting.

The number represents the OD (Outside Diameter) of the tube the fitting was designed to fit in the old AN specifications. The number represents the OD as multiples of 1/16”. Therefore, a -10 fitting was originally designed to fit an solid tube with an OD of 10 * 1/16″ = ⅝″ (~16mm).

AN fitting sizes

Checkout our hose fittings here

Blanking Off Pipes and hoses

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There are times when you need to blank off redundant connections. This could be breathers, Dump Valves, vacuum connections or carburettors. We offer two methods of blanking off pipes/hoses:


Billet aluminium Hose Blanking Plug

All of our Aluminium blanking plugs are 30mm in length with Barbed finish,
CNC machined from solid 6063 billet aluminium designed to push inside a hose and provide a strong secure seal in any silicone hose, without slipping out.

Our aluminium plugs are CNC machined for perfect fit & grip, will fit perfectly and offer a very strong connection to all brands of silicone hoses and rubber hoses of suitable diameter. and polished for nice looks !

Click here to find out more

Silicone Blanking CAP

Our specially designed Silicone CAPS are specially molded and designed to fit over metal / hard pipe outlets you wish to block off or protect from dust or debris. Simply push over this silicone cap colour coded to match all Viper Performance hoses, and most other UK hose brands

Click here to find out more

BMW starts testing hydrogen-fuelled X5s

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Image from TopGear. Click for original source

BMW has begun testing prototypes of the ‘i Hydrogen NEXT’. This will effectively be a hydrogen-fuelled X5. The X5s will be tested in Europe under “real-life conditions” as BMW gears up to eventually put a FCEV on sale, perhaps as early as 2025.

The i Hydrogen NEXT uses fuel cells developed together with Toyota and can carry six kilos of hydrogen in twin CFRP tanks. The fuel cell and “performance buffer battery” produce a combined 369bhp.

Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Development, says: “Hydrogen fuel cell technology can be an attractive option for sustainable drive trains – especially in larger vehicle classes. That is why road testing of near-standard vehicles with a hydrogen fuel cell drive train is an important milestone in our research and development efforts.”

Read more here https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/bmw-has-started-testing-hydrogen-fuelled-x5s

 

Can you bend silicone hoses?

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Silicone hoses are far superior to the rubber alternatives, but what if you need a hose to bend into non standard shapes?

You may ask yourself whether you can bend silicone hoses yourself. There are many videos online telling you to heat the silicone with a heat gun. This is not something we would ever recommend. As well as being dangerous, you have the potential to ruin the pipe. If you go to fast or don’t heat the pipe evenly you get kinks which will damage the hose.

So what’s the answer?

We have specially developed two options to solve this problem which mean no more DIY silicone hose bending. 

bending a silicone hose

If you are looking for a really tight bend radius then take a look at UltraFlex. We discussed the benefits of these pipes In our recent blog. These pipes offer fantastic flexibility with incredibly tight bend radius using a wire spiral inside a specially convoluted section to create an extremely flexible hose connection. Find out more.

Or for smaller pipes we also have our Superflex Silicone Hoses. These are manufactured with a steel wire spiral embedded inside the reinforcement plies, allowing for flexibility not possible with most standard straight hoses. It will also take higher pressures compared to standard silicone hoses. Find out more