Hi all:

I have a '69 that I've had for about 10 years, roughly 8 of which it hasn't been running. My gas tank and fuel line rusted out which tabled the car and then life got in the way. Over that time I did replace the fuel tank but then I ran into the issue of the fuel line. I know that to do it right you have to remove the frame. I tried to cheap out and routed a PFTE fuel line hose (which I researched was much better than rubber/steel braided).

Anyway, as a gift to myself I was going to bring my car to a shop to get it running again, and before they would do any other work they told me I have to install a stock steel line. With removing the body, the quote was excess of $5,000. They are very familiar with Corvette, which is why I picked them.

So my question to anyone who is willing is two fold, A) have you ever had a shop replace your fuel line and if so what type of numbers did they throw at you. And B) if you did it yourself and cut the lines into two or three sections, do you know of any guides out there? I searched a bit and couldn't find any videos or anything like that on how to chop the steel line into 2/3 sections and install that way. I'm very capable but it was just my constraints just come down to time. But at over $5k, my time/value shifts to finding the time myself...

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

$5000 to change the fuel line is absurd. Body on that side needs to be raised a little but not taken off. Even with a bunch of problems a shop should be able to do that fairly easily, $2000 would maybe be possible and even that I think would be excessive.
And doing it with a joint in the line it should be a day...maybe

M

 

yes you can replace with steel and i used 1 and 2 connections.. start around post 111, no need to remove body..at least on a 79 cannot imagine too much different in principle..also used NiCop
Stuck no run help please on road - Page 6 - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion

 

at 5k...they just don't want to do it......
It's a pain but not impossible in your garage.....biggest thing is how do the body mount bolts all look?

Jebby

 

i think he is asking about scootching pieces of steel line between frame and body and connect them afterword. easiest way would get lines with ends already done and use unions to attach them. if a spot is so tight that only a line will fit through, flaring it afterwards is possible. there are guys who do efi and run efi hose the length of the car. i never heard somebody say i ain't working on your car until the oem fuel line is installed.

 

A suggestion for working with gas line replacement. Rather than using steel lines, an alternate is CoNiFer alloy gas lines. It's a copper/nickel/steel alloy. It's slightly softer than steel, so it's easier to bend and double flare with hand tools. As a copper/nickel alloy it has natural corrosion resistance. It is used on some european cars, notably Volvo has used it. You can Google to find a supplier.

I jacked my 68 up into the air, supported the body, and lowered the frame about a foot in the back. This allowed me to replace the gas line with stainless steel line from In-Line tube. I plumbed in an electric fuel pump, cannister filter, and shut off valve in the rear of the car using CoNiFer. Used an Aeromotive pump and filter. The pump is driven by a speed controller that varies pump speed with engine rpm. The speed controller turns off the pump when the engine stops turning. The speed controller senses engine speed from the HEI ignition.

 

they make most new car fuel tanks out of HDPE these days. i think that "if it is fuel it has to be in steel" line of thinking is about done. but i think OP wants to buy the sorrect pre-bent fuel line and cut-slip-reattach. i see no reason why standard compression fittings on the new steel line would be either illegal or particularly bubbaesque...

 

Thanks for the replies all, helpful and certainly makes me feel better. I think the shop is more used to "clean" application. If you want to spend $50k-$80k on a completely new frame and LS swap, that's your place. But If you want just standard vette work done than they aren't the place for you.

I currently I have the PFTE hose installed on there. It's a single piece front to back and I followed the same path as the stock hose. I'd use EFI specific vaporlock hose, though I thought that the PFTE was similar. The only trick with the non-stock location hose is that there is real good safe path to run other than on the bottom of the car, which is open to be scrapped or whatnot. I have a 1994 Mazda RX-7 where the fuel line runs under the car like that and has a protective channel that bolts around it. I could fabricate something similar.

And yes, as an alternative I would buy a stock fuel line, chop it into half or third and have it pre-flared and union-ized before installing rather than after.

Interpon - Thank you for that I'm going to do some detailed research of that and also of folks that just went full EFI and what they did in terms of fuel line. Thanks!

 

Thank you. I currently have Fragola 6000 PFTE Hose piped in there now. I wrapped the hose in a a couple layers of thick electrical tape as a vibration guard. Honestly the sole fear that I would have with using what I have is that hose is the risk of friction rubbing a whole in in it somehow. I by no means feel the need to have a desire to use anything remotely close to stock, just something safe and worry free.

You don't happen to have a picture of your fuel pump setup do you? I have a low pressure Carter pump that I was going to add to the setup but I hadn't decided where exactly to bolt the pump. But then again by the time I end up doing this I may just add one of those newer tanks that include an in-tank pump. Thanks!

 

I removed the bumpers, disconnected the steering column, loosened all the body mounts and removed them on one side. From there it was easy. True, this is a C2, but the C3 is the same.



Yes I was paranoid about the Jack slipping!

I raised it up a good six inches, removed the old lines, prepped and painted the frame, replaced the body mounts, and installed new lines for efi.

I ran both ss 3/8” lines in the stock location, but did not go inside the frame at the kick up.

When I did the other side, I found this collapsed rear brake line right under the driver kick panel, so that got replaced.

I screwed this together to I could use my air compressor to pressurize at 100 psi and check for leak down. Passed!

Here it is connected to the supply and return lines.