Dyeing Paper Duct Hose

1982911SCTarga · 08-12-2008, 05:54 AM

I'm in the home stretch of buttoning up my cabriolet's 3.0 engine. As part of that, I've been routing the heater duct hoses, which led to a challenge. The ham-handed previous owner had made a mess of the long paper-covered hose that goes from under the A/C bracket and then up and around the fan housing to the Y-connector at the heater blower. Too bad, because otherwise the hose was in brand-new condition, with a nice satin black finish to it.

In a box of spares I had a good replacement hose with the exception that it looked tired as hell -- kind of dirty and faded to a cruddy shade of brown. I've had success using RIT dye to re-dye my heater knobs and I had bought a package of black dye to re-dye my accelerator pedal (OK, yes, I'm sick). This got me thinking ...

I mixed a small batch of black dye in a cup of hot water. Using a sponge, I applied the dye to the hose. The paper absorbed the dye and the hose section looks terrific now.

By the way, I tested the dye mix on the larger diameter hose and it doesn't work well at all because the outer covering is different from the smaller-diameter long hose. For those sections, I dusted them lightly with some flat black paint.

The bottom line: There might still be some life in your fading paper-covered duct hose.

Brian

Danny_Ocean · 08-12-2008, 05:58 AM

Would the spray-on (aerosol) vinyl dye for interiors work?

1982911SCTarga · 08-12-2008, 06:03 AM

Possibly, but RIT dye is cheap, something like $1.49. If you already have the vinyl spray you could test it on a small section.

The neat thing about dyeing the hose is that there's no paint buildup on the part.

Brian

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

I replaced all my my hoses with SCAT hose from Aircraft Spruce. It's not cheap, but it looks great and is very durable...

1982911SCTarga · 08-12-2008, 06:11 AM

That's a great option if you can live with a non-original look. I'm a bone-stock owner with a cheap budget.

Brian

KCPSG · KCPSG's Garage

I have about 6' (maybe more) of the SCAT hose, that I will not use... PM me if interested

Drdogface · Drdogface's Garage

I tried the Scat stuff and didn't like it. Finally went to this from McMaster/Carr. Hard to work with but I like the effect...

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Mark,
That looks great!

Drdogface · Drdogface's Garage

Art,

Thanks... It's Stainless Steel flex hose and will cut you to ribbons if you're not careful. I had to make some partial cuts to help with the bends. It's a bit different now from the pic above in that I was able to bend it down a bit more on the right and clamp in place... Shows up really nicely thru that diamond mesh grill material we bought from Norway...