Everything I know is wrong, Fuel Filters Options

[NARP74]

Around the beginning of the year, there were a few threads about fuel filters. Do you need them, what size, location, the tank sock etc. I pondered the info. I decided to start my thread instead of hijacking theirs. I just waited too long to do it, better late than never.

Car 1, 74, 2.0 4 cylinder Purchased a pump filter combo from an online retailer. Many people sell the same one at various prices. In the notes it says, do not remove the filter or the warranty is void. Stock location, sock in the tank, should the filter be there before the pump or somewhere else or not at all?

Car 2, 74 3.2 6 cylinder I was redoing the pump location and while the pump sat around dry it must have gone bad. Seals dried up or something maybe. When I put it back in and filled the tank, all the gas ran out of the pump. So i bought a new one, Bosch 580 464 200, but there are several numbers on the box. It is replacing an older Bosch pump. I am putting it under the steering rack and I decided to run a pre-filter. I have a new sock in the tank, then to a Earls 100 micron filter, then the pump, then through the lines to the engine. The engine has a stock Porsche fuel filter on it before the injectors.

The problem I am having is that with all of the different connections and sizes and adapters and hose splices, I am having trouble fitting everything in line without hose kinks in a very tight space. There was one thought in those earlier threads that said you don't really need a filter before the pump and it would actually reduce performance of the pump. If that is correct, removing the filter before the pump on car 2 would solve all of my problems. But i don't want to add more by note having one.

Maybe some of the other commenters from those older threads will chime in and set me straight on filters, size, location etc.

Poor visualization skills are not an excuse to request pics! Haha