I put together my oil cooler tonight using fittings from other projects. I had a mix of earls fittings and aeroquip. both styles were used on both projects and were subjected to similar conditions and time, track, street, chicago winters.

I looked at all the fittings and noticed several of the earls had some corrosion on the edges of the fitting. we didnt think much of it but it was getting late and I f-ed up and didnt pay attention and put a wrong fitting on one of the lines. well it fit fine but i had to change a couple fittings that I was going to leave alone. so I took apart the lines and 3 of the earls were totally trashed. the inside of the sleeve was very damaged and I did not feel comfortable reusing them. none of the aeroquip stuff showed any signs of wear. anyway this was my experience so perhaps it will help someone down the road.

total fittings about 20, some swivel, some index, half AQ, half Earls.....3 failed Earls fittings fyi.

 

Good to know! Thanks for sharing.

 

here is a pic, may not look that bad in the picture but it is pretty significant and those fitting were not in service for a extended period, a couple years, or especially harsh environment. again, all the aeroquip fittings were fine.

https://www.miataturbo.net/album.php...pictureid=2305

dont have a picture of the one that was really bad, thought it was a isolated case.
the connection threads were totally corroded as well.

 

I only use aeroquip for this exact reason. It's been documented on various other forums.

 

Good to know. Carroll Smith likes the Earl's fittings as equivalent to but cheaper than Aeroquip in his Engineer to Win book. However, that was written in the 80's. I'll stick with Aeroquip.

His racing plumbing book is due out now (was supposed to be released 15th of this month). I have it on preorder, be interesting to see what he says about various brands. For those who haven't read his works, his writing style isn't much different from discussing something in a pub with pints in hand. If he doesn't like something he says so.

 

I recently installed an oil cooler using Aeroflow fittings, see http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/in...c,25487.0.html

How do you guys rate Aeroflow vs Aeroquip vs Earls fittings?

Here in Australia, Speedflow fitting are highly regarded but it was a LOT cheaper ordering Aeroflow components from the US than buying local and their build quality appears quite good.

 

I am very glad to know this. Most of the fittings on my car are from all different suppliers and I will be sure to keep this in mind next time I but some fittings.

 

please update us with any gems in the book, or perhaps even a review. hopefuly he updates his opinion because as i recall the price difference is not wide and clearly the quality of the earls is lacking.

I accually had engine problems on the car that the bad fittings were installed. oil starvation caused a failed lifter and a trashed cam. i may dig the really bad fitting out of the trash for pictures. I cant say for sure but it may have been the cause of pressure loss and the resulting cam /lifter wear. car was a 01 audi s4, others have had the same problem without reported fitting issues so who knows.

 

I just found the Earls fittings to be a lot softer. I chewed threads on them pretty easily and the anodizing wears off extremely fast. I just like the feel of Aeroquips better. They also swivel and screw on a lot easier without binding.

 

Hopefully my Mocal fittings work out.

 

I have used Earl's, anfittingsdirect.com, Mocal, and Aeroquip brand AN connectors. Mocal and Aeroquip are the only two brands that will ever go on my car any more. Quality wise they are several steps above the other two brands.

The only reason I now primarily use Aeroquip over Mocal is because that is what my local hydraulic shop sells. They have 95% of the fittings in stock and assemble the lines for free. So I am willing to pay a bit of a premium for the service. If that shop was not local I would be using Mocal fittings bought from Bat Inc.

 

I wonder where summitracing fittings fit into all of this.

On the one hand, they seem to be kind of like "ebay" brand, looks the same, costs much less, but works like ----.

YET, anything of there's I've bought (mostly fittings and SS hose) has worked fine and hasn't failed me yet.

Anyone have a bad experience with them?

 

I go to the local hydraulic shops for all fittings. Coated steel (I assume) and none have ever failed in the last 12 years/290,000 miles we've been using them on the truck. 1/3 of the cost.

 

yeah thats the way to do it. I've never done it that way because I like the flexibility of the AN and I think it is tough to measure everything perfect for complex routing. but yeah a good friend of mine swears by it, had a very competitive 944 s2 with everything done right.

 

Any opinions on fragola? So far mine work.

 

i was about to run some plumbing so thanks for the info!

 

also somewhat depends on where you live. also some earls fittings are unavoidable, they have an impressive catalog of specialized fittings and adapters. however ever the finish durability on aeroquip is far far superior.

 

Never heard of them. Sounds like ***-o-la. Lol

 

Fragola is another affordable brand on summit,

I think it depends on what part of your car you're plumbing. When it comes to fuel lines, I prefer to hit up the local aeroquip or parker dealer/hydraulic shop. They have specialized equipment that will crimp the fittings to the lines for applications in the many 1,000's of PSI. Although I'm confident in my ability to put together AN lines and fittings, I'm really weary of even the most minor leaks and fire hazard.

For less critical components, such as PCV or coolant lines, I think you can get away with the lower end stuff... I think fresh out of the box though, they'll all seal equally well, but I think its through enough wrenching on it, that can lead to damage through wear. If it's something you're regularly taking apart, maybe consider a more durable option.

I think all AN fittings and especially AN lines, should be considered wear items, and regularly checked, and in the case of the lines themselves, even periodically replaced.

 

No, Fragola is pretty expensive actually.

I buy em because they are more teal than blue. Technical differentiator.