Art, I think your experiment with vinyl hose has every likelihood of enjoying a long service life.

For the past 5 years, I have had my parts washer rigged up with the pump delivering the solvent through a vinyl hose. The hose became a bear to work with as it quickly hardened. However, the 3 foot long piece of hose will flex with a bit of force and has not yet broken.

Given this experience, I believe vinyl hose is a reasonable substitution for the costy Gates line. It is not under much in the way of stress connecting the pump and the output line, which are both rigidly mounted. It only "carries" a bit of negative pressure. It will get hard, but not so brittle as to be in danger of damage from vibration. A failure of a complete seal at either end, would be probably be slight. If the hose did fail completely, it would most probably not leave you stranded.

Regards,

Tatra Mike
Seattle, WA

1985 244 "Alfsen" (wife's car - the good one)
1984 245 "Buster" (the kid's car, now sold)
1985 245 "Cosmo" (parts car, sold off for move to WA)
1985 245 "Daisy" (back seat down, full of tools, the work truck)
1985 245 "Earl (CA vehicle 'retirement' program)