The more I read this forum the more intimidated I get about asking questions! The wealth of information on here is staggering, as well as the dedication and love to this car.

That being said, I have a question that has stumped me a bit. As I have been investigating my car, I found that the fuel line ports that extend into the front of the car under the gast tank are SS. At the tunnel inspection point I can tell they are SS as well. But at the firewall where they exit the tunnel, the lines are plastic. I have found a few vendors that sell the SS lines and they all seem to be SS all the way out of the tunnel into the engine bay.

Has anyone ever heard of this?
I am at work now and only have a pic of the lines into the engine bay. I will post others of the front bay under the tank and the view from the tunnel this evening.

Click to view attachment

i just removed mine today - and i can tell you - to my surprise - that the front 18 inches or so is metal and the back 3 foot section is plastic.

chris sells ss lines.
http://tangerineracing.com/stainlessfuellines.htm

The line shown is the stock one. Metal up front, plastic through most of the tunnel and under the engine bay.

--DD

PM Rotary 14 he sells replacement SS lines.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=110158

Sounds and looks like factory original lines. Get rid of them.

Original lines on my August 1970 1.7L were entirely plastic, no metal at all. When I pulled them this March, the engine bay ends crumbled in my hands.

Olin

When you pull the old ones out of your car they'll crumble in your hands. Check and see if the two lines that go from the below the engine up to the fuel injectors on top (or carbs) are plastic as well - and if they are replace them as well (Chris @ Tangerine sells those also).

You will breathe a sigh of relief when you pull them, see how brittle they are and realize that your car has not burned to the ground. These cars have design flaws to be sure, but in my mind, the plastic fuel lines are very near the top of the list.

I think calling it a design flaw is a ridiculous. The newest 914 is 36 years old. Even a twenty five year service life exceeds any manufacturers or initial consumers expectations.

I am by no means trying to argue with you - it really serves no purpose, but if/when you replace your tunnel fuel lines, would you put plastic back in? By your reasoning, they should last another 35 years, so why not? Would a rigid plastic steering shaft not be a design flaw, even if it lasted 35 years, but then failed and killed a few people?

The average car owner, even a diligent one, would not think to replace the "hard" fuel lines in their car. Luckily, we have this place to share such knowledge. If it could be said that no 914 has ever caught fire due to a fuel leak, I would agree that it is not a flaw, but that is far from the truth. Again, not arguing - just agreeing to disagree.

Not a design flaw but a serious concern. I seem to remember there are two different materials that were used through the production run. In my 73 the material was nylon not plastic and still in a very flexible state. I think though that environent has a lot to do with it. Extreme heat and smog will take their toll.

It takes no more than a day to pull and replace the lines. Seems like good insurance if not for today then for 10 years from now.

When formulating these plastic lines, I wonder if Ethanol was taken into consideration.

Debated to death!
But that is probably the best point I've heard for replacement since you'll find even your local FLAPS now carries 2 types of rubber fuel line, the newest, engineered to withstand the supposed corrosive properties that Ethanol introduces.

Ive pulled out quite a few fuel lines sets ...
3 OE types to be Found:
Early- as stated, complete opaque plastic end to end.
Mid- (again as stated) the 18" or so protruding under the tank are tipped with curved, plated and barbed mild steel tubes.
Late- (75-76) same as described above but changed to a non-opaque black material with presumably hi-pressure qualities since the pump is now relocated upstream of these lines by the factory.

More often than not the lines are found to be in decent, flexible shape ...UNTIL they exit the firewall, at which point the heat from the eng. bay & exposure to elements tends to take their toll resulting (sometimes) in the brittle condition complained of.

Is it a good idea, sure! Is it essential, not always.

Whatever material was used, the Germans did it right for them to last as long as they have. The crumbling is probably from the heat of the engine compartment as the middle section of the lines remains flexible.

I have seen 3 setups on these cars:

1.) Early ... no metal lines thru the bulkhead ... all plastic

2.) Later including '74 ... metal line thru bulkhead ... plastic the rest of the way

3.) '75 - '76 ... black plastic all the way, same size feed and return line ... material is similar to that used on the 911 CIS systems ... tough shit!

As far a ethanol is concerned, I don't think it attacks plastic formulations ... only rubber. And yes, the V1 & V2 were ethanol powered hence their lack of success in winning the Battle of Britian

And they say this isn't Rocket Science! I bought a 25 foot length of high pressure stainless brake/fuel line from Jegs and silver soldered/brazed solid ends on. Very easy, used a map gas torch. The brazing rod is pricy, but I used less than half a rod.