Textured rubber hoses,

For a while now I've been trying to source some of the correct rubber rad and heater hoses that were used on the Healey 100's. 

The original rad hoses distinctly looked like they had been wrapped in some sort of material that gave a textured look to the rubber, new ones were finished with a white stamped part number.

Years ago Roger Moment used to make these for some of the more concours savvy restorers, but I haven't been able to find any available anymore.

So today I finally decided that I would try my hand at making some of my own:

I already had a pair of the correct size and radius rad hoses that I'd sourced through NAPA, (hose #715) - as is recommended in the Concours guidelines.

My first inclination was to just wrap it in some hockey tape, however it still wouldn't look like rubber, and may in fact start to peel off with all the heat and moisture exposure...

So I decided instead to use some very thin black fabric material that I cut into long strips about 2" wide.
I soaked the material and the rubber hose in a liquid-rubber vulcanizing solution that is meant for melting rubber for patching tubes & tires.

Then while it was still wet, I carefully wrapped the hose with the material making sure to continuously soak both sides of the material and the rubber as I went along...

The end result came out beautifully! The material is now a solid part of the rubber surface.

I even did the smaller heater and breather hoses with some long rectangles of the material to give them the same fabric/rubber texture...

Now all I need to do is get a stamp made with the correct part number in white ink to finish off the rad hoses.

I realize these details are impractical aesthetics that 95% of the population will never notice in the end, but I personally find great pleasure in getting these little things right.

Hence I call this blog "a detail enthusiast"

Until next time -