Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam
But I can't get the fuel lines. The fuel lines were leaking at the fittings where they attach to the second (the frame-mounted) fuel pump so I want to change them, but I can't get pre-made pieces sized to fit this car. Has anyone worked with fuel lines like this? Can I just get the fittings and some line and make one?
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Yes, you will have to make your own. The fittings are not the easiest to find, but they can be had, usually NAPA or Carquest (now Advance) will have them, sometimes Autozone, usually in the "Help!" section, but in some stores you may have to ask (and keep telling them that yes, they do in fact carry them). They come in two common sizes: 5/16" and 3/8" and usually come in either right angle or straight. They will come in some different connection types, however, they are almost always interchangeable with each other. They have the old fashioned metal connectors that you need that special tool to release, and the metal ones that have the release tool built in. Then they have three or four different plastic types. Just use what you can get as they should all work. The only times they won't interchange are when the metal line has two beads in it (because some engineer wanted to make your life difficult).
Yes, you technically can make new nylon hoses, but good luck finding the nylon hoses, and even then, it's a huge pain in the ass to work with. Also, yes, technically, you could 'repair' your existing nylon hoses by heating the ends with a heat gun and pulling out the connectors and replacing them with new ones, but see the earlier note about the difficulty. Rubber hoses are much easier to acquire and work with. For the pressure lines, you probably want to buy actual "fuel injection" fuel hose, which is a more expensive rubber hose that has a liner inside of the hose to handle the high pressure. The return and vapor lines will be fine with ordinary "fuel hose." Ideally, you'll also want to use "fuel injection" hose clamps on the pressure line as well. Those kind of suck, because they're very particular about the size of hose to the clamp. In a pinch, however, you can get away with regular fuel hose and clamps. The hoses I replaced on my LeBaron lasted about 8 years with regular stuff (I just replaced it with regular stuff again lol).
If you need a long run of tubing (say, going from the pump to the engine), and you don't want to run a rubber hose that long, you can buy a steel brake line of the same diameter, and use that. I like to make bubble flares on the ends (because good luck finding an affordable hose bead making tool) and just put the rubber hose over the ends to make the connections to whatever.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/tools/ho...raight,1001128
Note the categories for fuel line connector are "90º" and "straight." You'll also see that they are named like this: "5/16 Nylon to 3/8 Steel" where steel is the diameter of the fuel pump metal pipe, and nylon will be the hose diameter that you can connect to the connector. Also I'd definitely recommend buying them online, just because the stores usually only have one of each in stock...
(I'm a mechanic!)
EDIT - I have a hack to connect a nylon hose to a rubber hose. Get a metal brake line of the same diameter. It needs to have a good double flare on the end of it, just like it has when you buy it from the store. Cut the flared end off of it, making the piece about 1.5". Ensure the cut end is flat and round off the sharp edges. Warm the end of the nylon with a heat gun and shove the metal line piece into it, with the flare end out. Now you can shove a rubber hose over the flare and you can tighten a hose clamp over it, as the metal will support it!