Using the Pelican Tech Article I am venturing into replacing my tired plastic fuel lines. The article says he used fittings that according to NAPA are only "made to order"? (at the end of the article he says they leaked anyway?) Anybody ever used the brass compression fittings to get the right angle in the line as the line exits the tunnel and hugs the firewall into the engine compartment? The NAPA guy, who was very helpful, said they are rated at 2000 PSI (that should do it) and are readily available. I will let you know how they work.

Wish me luck!

When I did mine I was able to make a nice tight 90 out of the firewall so the tubing hugged it. I ended up using an HP ferrel compression fitting to run the tube around the engine bay and up through the holes in the engine shelf.

I used fittings that came on the brake lines themselves. I used brake lines through the tunnel just like the Pelican article. However, I bent the tubing itself 90 degrees right after it exited the tunnel rather than using 90 deg fittings. From there, I used a simply union to attach it to another set of hard brake lines that run from the firewall, around the engine compartment, and up through the shelf (same path as the original fuel lines except bypassing the fuel pump/filter area since my fuel pump and filter were moved to the front at the same time).

Demick

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/agree.gif) I did the same thing 7buck 5/16 fuel from napa, used compression fittings worked great. Go slow and think it through, if you make the wrong mistake it may cost you a fuel line. I even used the stock rubber gromets at the firewall. It's not that hard, Good luck (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

That sounds like a good option - what is the min radius you can bend the SS brake lines?

the line that I used was 5/16 brake line,mild steel, I said fuel in my last post, sorry. with the right size tubing bender you can get 90 deg. They will kink easy, go slow while doing it. It will have a radius to it but that is ok, I was able to keep it close to the fire wall.

Hey guys, what is the size for the lines you've used? Feed is usually 9mm (3/8) and return is 7mm (5/16)? Looking like that?

Wow, I'm jealous of ya'll. I tried for two weekends to make the steel brake lines fit down the tunnel. I finally gave up and bit the bullet and went with Aeroquip...

I made up all sorts of great expletives though... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

How -did- you get the steel lines to fit through there?

-Josh2

It's easy...

Just remove the engine and tranny, and start feeding the lines in through the holes in the engine compartment bulkhead.

Once ya get the lines to the front of the tunnel, ya gotta reach in and bend them up to fit into the opening in the front trunk bulkhead. I removed the rubber trunk seal with the fuel line holes and slid the tubes into the opening. Then I slid the rubber onto the tubing protruding through the opening, finished pushing the tubes forward to the proper distance and then pushed the rubber seal back into position in the front bulkhead. Took a little back and forth bending and rebendinjg to get the front of the tubes at the correct angle and location so the rubber seal would fit properly.

I used single pieces of stainless tubing in 3/8 and 5/16 diameter (no couplings). Definitely more fun with couplings (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/blink.gif)

If your engine is in, it's hard to feed the tubing into the rear bulkhead and forces you to perpetually bend the tubing on the engine side of the firewall, shove it in a little, and then run around and straighten the tubing in the tunnel.

Cake! Not as bad as a wiring harness..

Okay, had the engine and tranny out, had the gas tank out (still do) and the rubber grommet. Tried snaking the lines through both bent and un-bent. Could never get 'em through right. Bending the lines at the front of the tunnel after they were in, was more than just a PITA, it was darn near impossible. And trying to feed through pre-bent lines was a futile effort too. I don't know how you did it, but you've got my respect fer sure... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beer.gif)

-Josh2

If your motor is out it's really not that big of a deal. With mine out I think it took 2 or 3 hours until I was happy with it. Just become familiar with the tubing and a bender first. Once you have a good grasp of how everything works it'll be alot easier.

Would it be impossible to do it without pulling the motor?

To get the lines through the tunnel, I first inserted a long piece of wire through the old lines, and anchored it in the front - then pulled the old lines out leaving the wire in it's place. Then I inserted the new hard lines (front fitting cut off and wrapped in tape) over the wire and slid up through the tunnel. The wire acts as a guide forcing the new hard line to take the same path as the old line and making sure it goes through any metal straps that are meant to hold the line in place.

Also, the original lines were approx 5/16 for return and 3/8 for the feed (actually, 7mm and 9mm). But in my opinon, if you are moving the pump to the front - then 5/16 is fine for both. Reason for the 3/8 is because the fuel is gravity fed from the tank to the pump. But with the supply line now being pressure fed, 5/16 is plenty big.

Demick

I wouldn't attempt it with the engine in. Bad enough job as it is with the engine out.

Demick

When I took mine out they were hung up inside the tunnel. Turned out there were metal tabs holding them down - one set opposite the shift lever and one set down by the second access port from the firewall. I had to take the shifter off to get at the tabs. With the shifter off and all the access ports open it was easy to avoid snags. I think having the bends already in place for the front firewall helped too. the lines laid flat and sort of snowplowed to the right as it bumped into things.

Are there compression fittings that will go from the SS lines to an-6?

How about aluminum lines, would they bend any easier than SS? No way in hell am I taking the engine out to do this job.

QUOTE

To get the lines through the tunnel, I first inserted a long piece of wire through the old lines, and anchored it in the front - then pulled the old lines out leaving the wire in it's place. Then I inserted the new hard lines (front fitting cut off and wrapped in tape) over the wire and slid up through the tunnel. The wire acts as a guide forcing the new hard line to take the same path as the old line and making sure it goes through any metal straps that are meant to hold the line in place.

Demick, what size wire did you use?

The problem with aluminum is the whole metal memory thing, those tubes will vibrate a lot, and aluminum has only so many flexes in it before it will get brittle and break. I believe we have some mechanical/material or civil/structural engineers in here that can explain this a lot more eloquently than I can.

I’m no materials engineer... but I did sleep in a holiday inn express... once!!!

I just used some standard copper house wiring (Romex). 14ga. Strip off the insulator and you will have 3 or 4 strands of wiring depending on whether it is 14-2 or 14-2.

Be sure and make each length a little more than twice the length of the new fuel line as you need 5 or so feet passing through the center tunnel, and then you want to be able to thread the entire length of new tube onto that wire before it starts feeding into the tunnel. That way you can pull the wire taught while feeding the tubing through into the tunnel.

Demick