Thread: Oh Cra** Fuel = $$$$$$$

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I had forgotten how much a good fuel system costs. These fitting and hoses are expenive as he&& now.

Just hose (15ft russell), fittings(russell),Reg(Mallory), carb fittings,psi gauge(russell),filter(russell). Cost me just under 300 smackers.

And I have not even bought the pump yet.

Building a good fuel system costs more than I thought it would.

Just sayin.

what you working on ?

Why the heck are you using 15 feet of hose?
Hard line it. You only need less than 12" in the entire system. I plumb hot rods & race cars BTW.

"what am I working on"

92 chevy ex-cab 4x4. Replacing engine with a mild carbed SB. I'm replacing all the fuel lines because they look "hacked up" and may not be relieable later on.

"why the heck are you using 15ft of hose. Hard line it"

It never crossed my mind to hard line it all. It may be time to take a step back and rethink that.

Is using hard line a pain to work with?

if you're only doing it a few times a cheap tubing bender costs little and will get the job done.
3/8 tubing isn't terribly expensive either and will certainly last longer than hose.

I get alot of the stuff I need for work via McMaster-Carr

best of luck,
Drew

I totally agree about the hard line and keeping the length of flex line in the system to under a foot with a minimal amount of high dollar fittings is not too difficult is you plan the system out ahead of time . Really about the only 2 places you NEED flex line are a couple from the sending unit to the hard line and from the hard line to the engine (to allow for engine movement).

The tools you'll need are:

a tubing cutter,

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-23...ools-2107.aspx


double flare tool

http://www.eastwood.com/tubing-flari...le-single.html

and a good tubing bender

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...ges/470-fh.php

There are a few different options and opinions for the cutter and flaring tools, I've shown the ones I prefer (for me they are easier for working on/under car due to their size).

DO NOT scrimp on the bending tool. Yes there are a bunch of cheaper ones out there and they usually end up being used once and then thrown are far as you can because they end up kinking the tube on sharp bends. The one I’ve shown is one of the only ones that can actually make a tight 180 degree bend without kinking the tube.

So if you don’t have anything you’ll be into it for about $75-100 in tools plus the cost of the hard line (which can be bought in a bulk roll at most good parts stores) and fittings.

The first one you do may actually not save you any money but IMO you’ll end up with a lot cleaner looking and safer system.

Thanks for links Mike P.

I can't even think about how much my fuel line cost with a "do" and a couple of "redo's"

The final ended up with mostly 3/8" SS with flex from the tank to the hard line, flex from the frame to the fuel pump then to the carb (looks plus functionality).

While there are some who will advocate 1/2" line, the 3/8" will provide as much gasoline as you will ever need for a mild small block engine.

A question - why do you need/want AN style fittings? They are nice to look at, but you do need a special 37* flare tool, patience, tolerance to pain from bloody fingers and money