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Hey guys, I recently bought a nice 68 coupe, 427, 4sp. I have a small oil leak at the metal oil pressure line that goes from the fitting above the oil filter to the engine bracket. It is a 1/8” steel line with cone shaped brass compression ferrules and nuts with female threads. I found the ferrule cracked and I’m looking for replacement ferrules or a replacement metal line. The standard ferrules you find in the hardware store will not work.
From the online ads, it appears that they went to a cone shaped fitting with male threads for ‘69 so those parts are different then my ‘68.
Any ideas where to source these parts? I’m new to the Corvette, am I missing something and this isn’t original?
You may have to buy the entire gauge line kit to get the compression fittings that connect the line to the bushing that threads into the engine block. They're a special fitting that you may or may not be able to find at the local parts store. I had a leak in the same place and the fittings were pretty well rounded off. I just used a female compression fitting to 1/8 male pipe thread adapter. Not factory but it works.
I'll take a look at ours later today, but I believe Avispa is correct - doesn't look like a factory setup (might be better. :-) ). I just purchased the entire gauge line kit for our '68 L71 and will be doing that over the winter. 54 year old plastic lines concern me. Good luck, Paul
Any ideas where to source these parts? I’m new to the Corvette, am I missing something and this isn’t original?
It appears you have a '69-'73 big block oil line design. For whatever reason, GM engineers changed out the '68 one-line nylon design to this 2-line where the engine has a hard steel line, and then at the top of your photo, the nylon line runs to the interior. The '67 BB line is a one-piece steel line from the engine to the gauge but there is a spiral bit of hard line like a moonshine still to absorb vibration on the firewall side.
If you are not into absolute originality or judging, I'd keep this design since it was a modification to the '68 design and obviously not a money-saving decision.
Last edited by barkingrats; Dec 22, 2022 at 10:47 AM.
The one that came on my Early October/67 C3 had a clear plastic (NYLON) tube going from the back of the oil pressure gauge to that "Block Fitting" shown above.
After seeing it I removed it and put a SS Flexible Braided line kit on the gauge and now I don't have to worry about a shower of HOT Oil shooting all over from behind the gauges. I would guess hot oil on the back side of the dashboard might lead to a fire.
The SS flexible Hose kits are available from Summit as that is where I bought my line kit. I will still replace it every 25 years just to be safe. The inner rubber hose still dries out over time.
I like the copper with the spirals. Used that in aviation for years. Found that Summit sells copper oil line and the ferrules in their nitrous stuff. I think I’ll do something similar. Thanks everyone!
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68 427 Engine Oil Pressure Line
