AN Braided Hose info thread
 

Ever gone to a car show and seen all the high performance or classic cars with all the AN line and thought to yourself wow that looks nice? We all love that braded stainless steel look but most people don’t know how easy it is to use and work with. This thread is dedicated to educate everyone on the topic of “AN”
Now for starters “AN” stands for Army/Navy it is actually the name for a standard not a style. AN works as a standardized system for hoses and pressure lines. Now I’m sure most of you are familiar with some semblance of “AN” Sizes like -4AN, -6AN, and -8AN these are the most common sizes used but what does that mean? Well in order to convert this to a normal understanding of hose size everything is divided by 16 for example
(-2AN=1/8”)
(-3AN=3/16”)
(-4AN=1/4”)
(-6AN=3/8”)
(-8AN=1/2”)
(-10AN=5/8”)
(-12AN=3/4”)
(-14AN=7/8”)
(-16AN=1”)
(-18AN=1 1/8”)
(-20AN=1 1/4”)
(-22AN=1 3/8”)
(-24AN=1 1/2”)
First let’s start with “soft line” Soft line is the braded hose most of you are familiar with it comes in all sizes ranging from -3AN/-36AN and you can get it in stainless steel, nylon, nomex, kevlar, polyester. But of course the most common of those is by far stainless steel and nylon so let’s stick with those. Second there are different types of liners that you can get inside the hose, normal AN soft line uses high temp rubber which is good from 750PSI to 1500PSI and to about 300-350*F depending on who makes it and for what purpose. however where ultra high temp or high pressure resistance is needed you can use a special lining called PTFE which you can get from summit racing rated for 2500psi for 400*F (Did you know that the LNF’s turbo oil and coolant soft line patches are PTFE lined?) The down side to PTFE lining is that it is a lot less flexible which I’m sure a lot of you LNF guys have cursed at this trying to remove or install your turbo lines lol it also requires special hose end fittings, you should be careful when ordering fittings to make sure your getting fitting that pare properly with your hose and you should make note that you can’t simply slip PTFE hose on a hose barb as it will leak no matter how clamped down you have it,(ask me how I know lol) save hose barbs for the rubber lined braded hose.

Now while we’re on the topic of fittings there are some things you should know,
1) When you use AN line with a hose barb nipple you need to use a clamp that covers the braid end so that it does not fray off
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2) Hose Ends and AN fittings use a flare thread
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3) nobody makes a tap and die set for AN fittings you either have to weld in a bung for an line, use a bulk head, or you have to use an AN to NPT fitting, you can get NPT taps from your local hardware store make sure to get the proper drill bit for them, also AN threads will mate up to standard flare fitting from your local home depot’s pluming section, if you’re lucky they might have Flare to NPT fitting otherwise you can order them from summit racing.
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4) Just like any other plumbing you work with NPT fittings are best used with pipe tape on the threads, for extra precaution I also like to use it on AN fittings
5) use the same material ex (aluminum hose end + aluminum fitting, steel hose end + steel fitting)

Back to the actual hose there are some precautions you need to take when cutting it. Make note that YOU SHOULD NOT CUT BRADED STAINLESS STEEL HOSE WITH A HAND TOOL! You will save yourself tons of time and materials by using a power tool this is because you need the hose to be cut straight and you don’t want it to fray as that will make it nearly impossible to get a hose end fitting or clamp on what I suggest doing is wrapping the AN line is painters tape scotch blue works great because you want the tape to stick to its self and not the hose when you pull it off, I like to wrap it in 4-5 clean overlapping layers, no bumps folds or creases once that is done use a band saw, angle grinder with a cutting blade, or a dremel with a cutting blade and cut through the tape and through the hose, the painters tape keeps the braid from fraying out and makes it overall easier to cut, remove the tape and immediately install the hose into the fitting or clamp.
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I like to put a little grease on the fitting before screwing it into the other half of the hose end
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I encourage people to play around with it a little before trying to mod your car as most of your learning will com from trying to do it :lol:
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Sticky this!

Very nice sir. I have learned a lot just from reading this. I second the motion to sticky.

Axle is a local guy, his setup is super clean!

Good info, def needs a sticky

Great info. I'm about to put together a breather setup so this is great

AN threads aren't special--- they are standard American threads, like 7/16-24, etc. When fabricating, it's the tapered seats that most of us don't have the proper tools to cut.

Also, you're not supposed to need / use thread sealers (i.e. Teflon tape) on AN connections, because the tapered seats provide the seal, not the threads (like NPT)

this is only true when using steel fittings, aluminum fitting will warp to the point of leakage I know this from experience furthermore it is always a good idea to have extra protection against failure weather or not it is needed

Twas just going to post asking for AN info, I'm doing this!

Where is the cheapest place to pick all these parts up?

AN fittings are designed to seal on the tapered seats, NOT on the threads. PERIOD. The material of the two fittings is irrelevant.

I won't dispute that you had a leak with an AN fitting. I wasn't there. It can happen. I've had it happen as well...

Over / under tightening, foreign material, a damaged seat, damaged fittings, cross threading.....can cause an AN fitting to leak, but this does not make thread sealer "right" it only makes it a "band aid". Finding the real cause of the leak and repairing / replacing is the right way.

if you have a situation where properly installed fittings develop a leak due to "warpage" then you are not using the right plumbing for the job.

Anyone have any questions feel free to ask

Summit racing Has a good selection of fittings and hoses

first off I stated you will not find a tap for AN "fittings" I did not say you will not find a tap that the threads will thread into furthermore I already stated that AN fittings mate to flare fittings,
and last I specificaly said I think I need to clarify somthing, alow me to tell you a story a while ago I played around a lot with Aluminum fittings mostly because they were cheaper than the steel fittings I tended to have problems with geting them to stay tightened I noticed that for whatever reason (most likley because they were cheap fitings) that the fitings would come loose over time and I would have to tighten them again and again and low and behold after a while the thread atachment would worp weather it be from over tightening or whatever this hapened to me 4-5 times however what I discovered is that if you put a little plumers tape on the threads that the fittings no longer came loose and stayed tight the first time alowing the flare to seat snugly and I never had a problem with the fitings coming loose again so you see I dont use the Plumers tape to seal the threads I use it to apply wedge action to keep the fiting tightened, and before anyone thinks other wise due to the nature of the design of an AN fitting if the flare is not seated properly Plumers Tape on the threads is not going to keep it from leaking, they are not the right kind of threads to be sealed like that. now the reason I say you dont need to do this on steel fittings is that I have never had a steel fiting warp or come lose on me like aluminum ones have in fact if you have the money I sugest buying the steel fitings from the start they will last longer and are more durable