Hey everyone, My floor pans are done and coated and I am trying to make a decision about replacing my metal fuel lines inside the car. I am just looking for a little advice/opinion before I take the final step. I have read from you guys -the supply line is 5/16 and the return is 1/4 inch.


So my questions are as follows
1-With a bender is it pretty easy to shape them-Auto Zone has a loan/rental program for the benders well as the tool to taper it. They have the fuel lines in 25 foot rolls.
2-Is the hard line under the back left wheel the 1/4 or the 5/16 and why was that made metal? I assume so it could be more easily tucked up under the tight fitting spot ?
2- A local tubing place produces some lines and one guy there says he would not put steel because of potential rust. They produce a combination copper/rolled nicked (I think I am saying this right) that is military grade for fuel lines that will not rust. Any thoughts ?
3- I assume it is vital to performance to keep the lines the same size and that both lines couldn't be the same??That means two different rolls of tubing.
If I have to end up buying a 2 rolls of tubing , I would have enough to sell to make another set if someone is in the same phase of restoring as I am let me know if interested ?? We could split the cost?
4- Any advice about getting the screw on fitting on that is in the engine compartment?

- The tubing along the floor in the passenger compartment is pretty straight forward to shape with the bender. The tubing that's located around the rear axle is a bit more complicated since bending flows in all sorts of directions. Better to remove the old one in one piece and copy it on your bench. If you try to perform that task on your back with the axle hanging over you it will be very frustrating.
- I'm not sure i understand your question, but both the 1/4 and 5/16 lines follow eachother along the frame and around the axle where they turn to rubber before entering the trunk.
- Listen to the tubing dude, if he recommends one type of line over the other with rust prevention in mind, i'd assume he knows what he's talking about. I chose Papco brand with a polyvinyl fluoride coating to resist corrosion. It has a brownish green color to it. Most important is to strap the lines well along your chassis so that they don't rub or vibrate into an unforeseen leaky mess.
- I'm sure there's good reason the lines are different diameters. Changing them to equal sizes may just cause confusion in the future, or worse, to a future owner who will surely refer to you as the *&@€#!! PO. Besides, the inlets at the motor and at the tank will have to be re-adapted in order to accept the new sizes.
- You won't need 25 ft lengths, that's way too much. Go to any auto-parts store and buy 4 or 6 foot lengths. I'd estimate about 10 ft per diameter. They usually have them standing in vertical stands.

There was a similar discussion a while back on the forum (probably several) on the topic of steel fuel lines for the FI cars.
http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31673
http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... 50#p253286
When I re-did mine, I used standard 1/4" and 5/16" brake lines and put them together to get the lengths I wanted using standard brake line union fittings. I put hose barb fitting on the ends (Edelmann part number in the above posts). I did not try to run steel everywhere, just through the cabin and then high quality FI hose on the pressure side and good quality fuel line on the return side.
Kirk

Thanks for the help. I rented a double flare tool from our local auto zone (wich is really free -you get your deposit back when you return the tool). After reading on line I tried something that worked great. The advice was to do about 1/2 of the 2 step process in double flareing an end. It worked really well. I hope this will help someone out.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thre ... it.423197/