Fuel Lines Disintegrating...

[Richard Beels]

I just replaced the fuel lines on Gecko this weekend.  I had a new muffler 
put on Gecko and when I crawled underneath to examine the monkey lad's work 
(pretty good actually), I noticed a wet spot around one of the rubber line 
holders and could smell gas.  Examining the removed pipe afterwards showed 
that there was an actual hole in the line about the size of 1mm square and 
the only thing holding the gas in was the clamping pressure of the rubber 
mount.

13 years of life, most of that in salt-using states and it's 
inevitable.  I'd recommend everyone with an older car go take look under 
the car.  It's especially bad right in the elevated area under the rear 
seats on the 80/90 because (theorizing here), it's warmer than the rest of 
the under-car area from sitting at an idle with the muffler there and there 
must be more salty snow thrown up there by the wheels.  And the corrosion 
is worse by the rubber holders as moisture seeps in between the rubber and 
the line and really never evaporates.

So.... off to Pep Boys for a couple pieces of 5/16" stainless line (brake 
line actually, 4' section = $4), some 5/16 ID rubber fuel line hose (2' = 
$2) and some fuel-line clamps (4 = $2, need 7, so get 2 packs).  So, for 
$15 (including tax) and a few hours, you can have (mostly) new fuel 
lines.  The only specialized tools you need are a pipe bender (one of the 
$3 cheapie benders will work fine - even one of those wrapped wire benders 
would probably be fine) and a tubing cutter.  Nitrile gloves resist gas 
much better than latex (it melts) so you might want to get some of them too.

To do:
-Jack the car up, secure with jack stands.  Removing the rear wheels makes 
getting around on the creeper easier (if you can fit under the hub/rotor 
like me).
-Determine how much pipe you need to remove.  Mark which line goes where 
before you continue.  I forgot to do this and had to go out and look at the 
Hannu before I could put it back together.
-Unsnap the affected rubber holder clamps with a flat screwdriver, pull 
them off and scrape the rusty sludge off the insides and wipe them down.
-Clamp off the fuel hose on the return line (car center-line, rubber hose 
going into bottom of fuel tank).
-Grab your oil catcher and a sharp pair of dykes and nibble-snip through 
the metal line, taking an inch or so less off than you eventually want to 
remove as you'll crimp the line, no matter how much you try not to do 
so.  I started at the low point of the line, right after final bend as the 
lines make their way to the front on the bottom pan.  You can use a piece 
of wood to wedge the now snipped through line ends down to allow the fuel 
to drain.
-While the gas is draining, snap open the rubber clips the rest of the way 
up the car and carefully remove the metal lines to give enough flex to 
allow you to get the tubing cutter in there and make the finish cuts on the 
metal fuel lines.  If you need to, deburr the ends of the lines to the 
inner diameter is not constrained.  If you do deburr, you'll probably want 
to grab the turkey baster you keep in the garage and give the ends a couple 
sucks to remove any debris.  Remember, you're downstream of the filter...
-Unscrew the clamp holding the return line onto the rubber hose going into 
the fuel tank.  On mine, the clamp band was fine but the screw assembly was 
completely corroded, there wasn't even a hex head anymore.  I ended up 
cutting the band.  Either way, once that end of the pipe is free, leave it 
for a while to continue draining the gas.  Remove the section of line and 
set aside.  Make sure you make note of which line is which at the front cut.
-Snip through the fuel feed line near the filter.  The line coming out of 
the filter is a rubber line that is compression fitted to the metal line 
(which runs to the front of the car).  I made my snip an inch or couple 
before the first rubber holder.  Once the gas is done draining, remove that 
section of line and set aside.  Make sure you note which line is which at 
the front cut.
-You can easily hold the line coming from the filter to make the finish cut 
with your tubing cutter.  Deburr and suck as required.
-Now you get to bend some fuel line.  You'll need to cut the double flares 
off the end of the pipes and discard the nuts (or save them, you don't need 
them for this).  Using the old lines as a template, bend the new line to 
match.  It doesn't have to be _exact_ but the close the line is to the 
original configuration, the easier it will be when you're back under the 
car.  The fuel feed line took almost the full 4' line for me.  I bent it so 
that each end was longer than I needed.  Bending the pipe isn't that 
difficult if you just take your time, bend the line slowly and make each 
bend in multiple passes (i.e. don't try to make a 90 degree bend in one 
fell swoop).  You might find it easier to use a marker to mark where the 
apex of the bend is and then bend around the mark.  If you haven't bent 
flexible lines before, buy an extra line and practice a few minutes ($4 is 
cheap practice).
-Once you have the lines bent to your satisfaction, make a trial 
fitting.  You might want to bring the bender with you.  When doing so, I 
found it helpful to snap the rubber holder clamps around the fuel line 
(without the rubber holders in place) to hold the fuel line while you're 
futzing with it.  You're more concerned with lining up the corners and 
angles than the actual end lengths (which should be "wild", i.e. longer 
than required).  You can make very slight adjustments with your bare hands 
but you don't want to kink the line as this will require another trip to 
the autostore.
-Once you are satisfied lining up the line and that it follows the original 
configuration and rubber holder points, mark the ends of the lines.  I left 
about a 1" gap.  Pull the lines off, grab the tubing cutter and make 4 nice 
cuts.  Deburr as required.  I stuck the blower tip from the air compressor 
into one end and gave it a few god blasts but imitating a South American 
blowgunner would suffice.
-Cut 3 pieces of rubber fuel line and grab 7 clamps and whatever you'll use 
to tighten them.  You'll also want your newly cleaned rubber holder pieces.
-Using the rubber holder pieces, put the fuel line back in place.
-Wiggle the rubber line pieces in the three appropriate places.  Put the 
clamps on the line before you attach the rubber line pieces.  The 7th clamp 
is for the one you destroyed on the return line.
-Center the rubber pieces over the "missing sections" of metal fuel 
line.  Make sure that there is sufficient stainless line/rubber line overlap.
-Tighten the clamps, centering them in the overlap region.
-Make sure all the clamps are tight, the rubber holder clamps are snapped 
together, there are no kinks or twists in the lines, etc...
-Start your car and check for leaks.
-That's it.


Cheers,
	Richard
	North of Philly, PA
	88 90Q "Hannu" - K+N, new vac hoses, lubed U-Joint, still 0.0 bar....
	88 90Q "Gecko" - from the factory cupholders
	89 Civic Si - should paint it pink, like the bunny......