jjgrow Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 It seemed so simple. I needed to replace my fuel line. It's the ~ 12" line from the fuel rail to the hard steel line from the gas tank. If you closely inspect this line, you will see it has aged poorly. For some unexplained reason, my car's PO had cut the fitting off of the fuel rail line and installed a fuel line with hose clamps. He also cut the steel line to shorten it - instead of ending at the top of the engine firewall, it ended beneath the driver. My mechanic was very uncomfortable with this as he feared it might leak at the fuel rail, dumping fuel on the head and cause a fire. I became concerned when the other end of the connection (to the steel fuel line) did begin to leak, even though there were two hose clamps on it. I decided to go back to the original factory fuel line set-up. I acquired a good unadulterated fuel rail and even a good condition set of steel fuel lines. These steel lines are hard to find as most dismantlers leave them on the chassis even though they are simple to remove - I guess few people ever need them. Now I just needed the 12" rubber fuel line. So I fired up Google and searched for the 12" rubber fuel line. There were no aftermarket replacements that I could find at all the usual places. This seemed odd - it is just a simple 12" line that probably gets replaced all the time, right? Problem is, the connection to the fuel rail (actually the steel arm coming off the dampener) is metric and the connection to the steel fuel line is a strange push-on crimp fitting. There are some bling-bling billet fuel rails out there but that wouldn't be "legal" and they're expensive. Rennbay had a sort of replacement but it was $65. WTF? This oughta be a $15 problem. Plus, I've already invested more time and money...blah, blah, blah, bitchity, bitch, bitch. Then I tried the local hose shop. They don't normally handle metric size fittings and didn't want to dick around with a small special order. Then I tried the factory and Porsche only sells the entire line; complete package from gas tank forward +$300. Then I tried all the online purveyors of racing fuel lines. They only deal in JIC and AN. Well, this explains why the PO did what he did. Finally, I found BAT, Inc. Eric at BAT agreed to make me a line using a 16mm to 6AN fitting, 6AN steel braided fuel hose and a 6 AN proclamp. Looks pretty sweet and cost about $30. Quote
PeanutinCA Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Jeffrey, I wonder if I have those lines on the 88 (still) sitting in my driveway? You have to ask ya mates, mate! P.Dilly. Quote
jjgrow Posted August 25, 2004 Author Posted August 25, 2004 Jeffrey, I wonder if I have those lines on the 88 (still) sitting in my driveway? You have to ask ya mates, mate! P.Dilly. Which lines? Quote
PeanutinCA Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Fuel Lines! The ones your talking about you were having so much trouble finding? What lines would you think? Not sure they would be compatible? But then, not sure that Porsche would change them either? Quote
jjgrow Posted August 25, 2004 Author Posted August 25, 2004 The difficult to find line I need also needs to be NEW. This is not something you would want to recycle. Quote
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