I want to replace the orginal gas lines on my 78 as there are some bad dents in them under the floor pan area where they fasten to the frame. . Can this be done without removing the body? they run out of sight at the rear of the car. Do they make repair kits for splicing. Help please.

 

The fuel lines are about 12 feet long.
I replaced mine while doing a body off restro. I don't see any practical way to do it with the body on.

 

You could remove the body mount bolts and jack the body up enough to make the swap, but with all of the bends in the lines it would be a real PITA. Not to mention the can of worms you open up when you get into removing your body mount bolts.

 

can't the fuel lines be re-routed, or fuel line hose substituted for the inaccessable areas? I'm not an official C3 guy, but I did work on them in the early 80's-memory is failing though

 

Not too familiar with the late 70's, but I'd guess its going to be the same situation since the frames are familiar. Basically, you can't replace the gas lines without seperating the body and frame. You don't have to do a complete body off though. Just a 10 or 12 inch separation will work. I did this on my 68. That's enough clearance to clean up and repaint all of the frame from the firewall back.

Some people have spliced in flexible/braided hoses, etc. This may be a more expedient solution. You're working with soft steel hose lines, so you should be able to hand flare them from under the car if you want to use AN fittings. You could always use just rubber hoses and clamps, but this doesn't seem to be a safe solution.

Separating the body from the frame is not really all that difficult, just tedious. Jack the car up, place supports under the body pans and front nose, loosen up all the body mounts (with jacks keeping the frame in place) and radiator core attachment to the frame, and all the other bits. I left long bolts between the radiator core attachment and frame to keep the nose in place relative to the frame. Next place a jack under the diff, remove the jacks, and lower the rear part of the frame the required 10 or 12 inches. (This is a condensed reply, but I think you can see what's involved....It's a very tedious operation. But it's entirely a one man operation. Did the whole thing by myself. When you drop the frame, go slow and keep track of the body shims under each body mount. Some of them stick to the body, so look up underneath to make sure you've got them all.

 

I was looking at my shop manual and I see by droping the spare tire carrier and the gas tank, after removal of lines at filler cap you can access the lines above . thus the only area you cant get at is the line and clips above the frame over rear end. so....remove all lines i can get at..feed new lines all in same locations except over rear end,,,at that area mount to side of frame. Ok lets hear it...good or bad. thanks tom.

 

Replacing the lines with a factory style setup can not be done without the seperation of the body from the frame by atleast a few inches as previously stated. You could raise one side to get the clearance but this can not be done as was done at the factory with the body on. There isn't the access/clearance to get the line up over the kickup behind the passenger compartment and along the frame rail.

An alternative that I've seen mentioned here before is a braided line that was mounted to the frame via new hardware. Like on the side of the frame rail instead of the top. Those people generally just leave the existing lines in place and use the new braided line. Or splicing the line and doing this in multiple peices.

Regardless a single factory line can't be done without some seperation.

 

The small line can be done with re-bending it during/after installation. The large line probably has to be spliced. I spliced mine right at the kickup when I did it. I have heard people say they did it without splicing, but I couldn't. I would NOT replace that section with rubber line as suggested

 

Anyone have pictures of new fuel/return lines for C3 (body off)? I'm not sure how to route the lines.

thanks,

Tom