Help...efi fuel lines after sitting 7 yrs

[Labbster]

Ok, I will be sitting to body back on in a few days but I started looking at my fuel lines I installed 7 years ago and thought...what the heck was I thinking?

Here is my dilemma...and maybe thinking too much...it will have a 351w and when I did this in the beginning I saw where 5/16 was good enough but 3/8 better. So I bought and bent the 3/8. Problem was that the fuel rails from a '93 t-bird and the fuel pump from 90's f150 are 5/16. So as you can see from pics I have out in a 5/16 to 3/8 joint after the fuel pump and before the fuel rails. Looking at it now, seems dumb to have that many joints....should I get some 5/16 tube and redo? Secondly, I am not real happy with the rubber efi fuel hose from frame to the fuel rails but when I was putting all this in, I had no reference to run hard line...will the rubber efi line be a headache down the road? And lastly, if I should keep the rubber in engine compartment, where should I snake it through...thanks for any and all help!

 

[70_Steve]

I see the pump on the crossmember, but what is that thing on the frame?

Would you consider changing fuel rails to the Explorer rails? That way you keep all the fuel lines on the driver's side.

 

[Labbster]

metal fuel filter

 

[TN1776]

Your setup is probably okay if the hoses are still in good shape - nice and pliable.
I probably spent too much but I did mine with AN fittings and adapters to make it all fit. Used a metal inline fuel filter from a 2000 Chevy truck - not a fan of the plastic type like what you have there. I don't love clamps but they do work just fine.

 

[ntsqd]

What I did:
http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2593753&postcount=10

 

[00gyrhed]

Hell I just silver soldered the 5/16" line at the rail into a 3/8" tube and did everything in steel tubing except for some hose at the engine and tank.

I don't think I would give your set up any more thought, other than sometimes using a high pressure pump in that arrangement can be problematic as they are in theory not good at picking fuel up. That's why you will see so many people recommending a surge tank. I put a surge tank in my bronco but I ran a 350 TPI in my 55 chevy for 10 years with a very similar set up to yours and never had an issue.

As long as your hoses are in good shape with no checking or cracking I would just run it and see what happens. Worst case is you ultimately have to do something with the body on the truck, but it looks like you arn't building a show truck anyway so why redeux something that will likely work just because it bothers you how it looks.

I tried to find a picture of the soldered fuel line but couldn't but you can see the goofy bends I ended up with when I reused the 302 fuel lines and had to rearrange them to fit the 393. I don't like the way the fuel lines look either but reusing them saved me a lot of hours soldering on some new straight tubing and bending it cleanly. Figured I would go back but it runs good and I have other issues to deal with.

 

[Steve83]

Yes, the rubber will be a problem. It'll degrade rapidly with exposure to ethanol gas, which is almost inevitable. And it'll degrade slowly with exposure to air, fluid leaks, dirt & road salts, and time.

All those splices & little clamps could become problematic, too. Each clamp is compressing the red tubing, which could eventually collapse inside the rubber. It would have been better to simply press the tubing over a hard (nylon or brass) hose barb (no clamp needed), and then mate it to the rubber (clamped if necessary).

But the clamps holding the lines to the frame are the biggest problem I see. They're not where you can access them with the body installed - I doubt you could even put a wrench in the heads, much less back the bolts out, unless you plan to run a lot of BL.