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'Metalizing Winston' : Installing Metal Fuel Lines on an '84
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msinabottle
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Joined: September 20, 2005
Posts: 3492
Location: Denver Area, Colorado
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:50 pm    Post subject: 'Metalizing Winston' : Installing Metal Fuel Lines on an '84 Reply with quote

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I’d been accumulating parts for quite some time, calling radio shows, getting really good and ready for my project of converting Winston’s fuel lines to metal when I got around to replacing them. I had the receipt saying that Nick, the previous owner, had had the fuel lines done just before I bought him in 2006, but by 2014, it was obviously time.
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After all my research I had settled on using 5/16” PolyArmour fuel line, coated steel for easy bending, no kinking, and rust prevention, and, of course, METAL. Doing it every five years in an age where there WAS bendable metal fuel line made no sense to me. Metal lines cool the fuel, which is a good thing, they resist abrasion and UV, and I called my local radio car show (a good one) airing my anxieties, and having them swatted down. An MP3 of that conversation is on the Samba, in fact, HERE:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6597704&highlight=seyfer#6597704

The important thing, they and others said, was to use rubber junctions over metric bubble flares to dampen vibration.

Here’s where you go to learn more about PolyArmour, made by the AGS Company, for whom I do not work and from whom I received nothing:

http://www.agscompany.com/faq/10

It’s marvelous stuff. I bought 25’ of 5/16” from Advance Auto, and another 6 feet of 3/8”, which I thought I’d need and didn’t—for gas. From CarQuest I bought about 20 feet of 5/8” Gates Barricade, the best quality hose Gates makes, definitely the ‘fuel injection grade.’ Ordered after helpful correspondence my clamps from Ultimate Garage, a 50 pack of #15 and another ten #17’s in case the #15s proved too small. They were just right, particularly when combined with a 5mm nut driver that suddenly vindicated decades’ worth of residency in my tool chest.

Since I wanted to dampen vibration wherever I could, I decided to keep the junction at the firewall, which struck me as a pretty good place to dampen them. Obviously the plastic one had to go in the name of sanity, and I decided to go for what looked like the best and got this billet metal junction from Foreign Auto and Supply, $59, but, why have a weak spot when I was doing all that work?
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You can find it here:

http://www.foreignautosupply.com/parts-accessories/53-fastt-replacement-fuel-spigot/#.VAKcPvldV8E

All the while, as you can find from my posts, I was measuring, checking my plans—screwing myself up for the job as the winter dragged on. I did some experiments with metric bubble flaring once I snagged an old, but quite sound, Snap-On Blue Point set off E-Bay. The plastic box was disintegrating, but the metal parts were in good shape and I found instructions in the box and online. The most important part of doing a good metric bubble flare I discovered practicing before I started in earnest—that was to CHAMFER THE CUT EDGE OF THE PIPE LIKE FUN. Gearhead friend suggested a countersink, instead I ran through the Harbor Freight site and found a deburring/countersink set that made the difference between a perfect flare and a disaster.

That’s here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/countersink-and-deburring-tool-set-61629.html

If you can’t find or get that, I’d get a good quality countersink and leave it on a drill. You’ll be using it a lot.
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I used a standard plumbing tubing cutter to cut the PolyArmour and a cheap ratcheting PVC/tubing cutter from Harbor Freight again to cut the Barricade junctions, which made fast even cuts and only at times drew blood when I opened it back up. And then my collection of parts and tools just sat there—for weeks.
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We had a late spring snow storm the day I started and I decided to MAN UP and get going on replacing Winston's fuel lines with new METAL fuel lines, fuel rails, the billet metal bulkhead fitting, wherever possible. Turned on a little space heater, and worked in our illuminated garage.

It... Could have gone better. Could have gone worse, I suppose. Being sensible, and cowardly, after making sure there was a new charged fire extinguisher in the garage (the old one seems to be 'loosening up' as I shake it repeatedly) I disconnected both of Winston's batteries, which both appear to be in great shape. That went fairly well, disconnecting them, I mean. It was horrible beyond words putting them back on, but I’m getting ahead of the story.
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I put rubber gloves over the ends of the ground cables and rigged up a work light over Winston’s engine bay, there are also fluorescent lights in the garage. I have to move him forward quite a bit to open up the rear hatch with the garage door closed, and drafted a friend into spotting that for me the Thursday before I got to work.
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I used Ben's instructions, for which, and many other kindnesses on his part, I am very grateful to Ben. I had those printed out along with pictures of Chris/tencentlife’s engines with his fuel line placement on them in a 3-ring binder I kept in the bay while I worked. It helps that Ben used my own photograph of Winston’s engine to show what parts are which! Accordingly, following Ben, I bled Winston's fuel system with the bleed screw, with a mild little hiss resulting. Note to those who follow me—have nylon thread sealant on hand to re-seal the connection. I didn’t, and… But that’s also getting ahead of the story. I rigged an extender ¼” ratchet and started on the driver's side and spent about two hours getting off the first fuel rail.

Oh, what a jolly time I had! The screw on what appeared to be a good clamp tried hard to strip, shift, anything but turn. I ended up using Liquid Wrench, which did seem to help although by that time my hands were bleeding. I bled a lot during this procedure. My elbow hit the hose from the engine cooling rail to the return line to the radiator. The hose split. Coolant dripped out everywhere, and over the next week I repeatedly knocked off the hose clamp pliers on the remnant. I had in fact providently provided those ahead of time, but every time they fell off the disintegrating hose, that allowed the flow to resume. Gas, some blood, and antifreeze accumulated on the garage floor next to—never in—the pans I’d placed to catch them.
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What fun. I suppose the hose could have failed at a much worse time than in the garage, and I replaced it, too far toward the end, but when I had the skill, with a new metal one of larger diameter than the fuel line. That was the 3/8” PolyArmour I didn’t need for the fuel lines, it worked great for that with flaring and a bit of bending. The coolant had to be replaced anyway.
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When the fuel line clamps finally started working loose, I found that there was still an amazing amount of fuel in Winston's fuel rails which dribbled out all over me and any other place that didn’t have a pan in place to catch it. A ghastly soup formed underneath Winston's engine, although I did wipe it up as I had the time. The hours wore on and I just kept going. I'd wedge the clamps higher up onto the fuel lines as they loosened so they'd stay steady as I tried to loosen them further. Finally, success and blood and coolant and gas on the first rail.

The fuel rail? It lookedbrand new, clear lettering, no cracks. The hoses attached there also appeared to be in good condition. As I noted, Nick, the previous owner, had the receipt for a line change before I bought Winston in 2006, and it appeared that they'd done a good job with good hose. That proved to be a wildly false impression. I did find some cracks on the inner surfaces of the ends attached to the rails, which I might have made with the radiator hose pick I used to remove the stubborn ones, but, you can see in the photograph the shape of the hoses.
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I kept going. As I'd hoped, I had much less trouble on the passenger side of the engine, where there was more room to work once I removed the AFM and air filter assembly. I started with the Liquid Wrench once I'd pulled the intake and the AFM. The solvent also seemed to work on the fuel injector retaining bolts, no troubles there.

Nothing for it but to keep on... I think the best reason to follow Ben's advice (besides the fact he's forgotten more about the Vans than I'll ever know) about discarding the end collars is that they put up a horrible fight when you try to cut the remaining lines off the injectors. Mine did, broke one X-Acto blade and blunted another.

The injectors? I forgot that you need to SQUEEZE the metal clip on the sides to unplug the injectors from the harness—about which, much, much, MUCH later— but once I figured that out, they all came off and out. They looked all right, and clean, the holes on each end were unobstructed, the polymer material a beige brown. One, though, had partly melted just a bit on one side, although the opening was clear.

I paused at this point to rest, bleed, wash my hands and think. Would it have been a good idea to get the old Bosch injectors cleaned and rebuilt? Winston has long been running very well, I used BG-44K, Marvel MMO, and Top-Tier fuel constantly in his gas—I got the injectors clean and had taken steps to keep them so.

I also thought about replacing them with those Auto Zone GP-Sorensons, or the Lucas injectors I see advertised, although most car people hiss and throw things at the mention of ANYTHING Lucas. Including Star Wars I through III. The Bosch I had out appeared to be the original injectors, and they're gonna go some day, clean as they are.

I sought input on the Samba, didn’t get any, read the posts, and called Larry Blazer at his shop in the morning. Larry seldom misses a chance to be kind and patient with me. I still don't know if there's anybody local who rebuilds 'em. I took Winston to Blazer for a fuel-pressure test and a once-over on Winston when I finished, taking NO chances. But, that too is getting ahead of the story.

When I called Larry was gracious, and said he can't remember ever having to replace those injectors and that it's a great and proven design—so, the old ones stayed, as another informed friend suggested. I will look 'em over closely before I put 'em back in, but if it's NOT broken... Why waste the money?

Then I looked at Chris's fuel line routing again. It turned out I'd seen some older pictures, on the newer engines he, as Wildthings has suggested, goes HIGH—three way fitting and fuel pressure regulator perched on TOP of the manifold behind the distributor cap! I decided to try to do that, with the stainless steel cable ties I bought from Napa to hold things in place. The best answer would have been to let Chris do the fuel lines on a new engine—for which, no coins, despite the C-note I saved on just leaving the fuel injectors alone.
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The next day I devoted another four hours to Winston's new fuel lines. I finally got out my new billet metal fuel rails and got the injectors attached with the AB clamps which are... PERFECT. The little touches like those 7mm hexagonal headed screws made the job tremendously easier, particularly with a thumbwheel ratchet. The 5/16" Gates Barricade looks to be superb hose, I've used alcohol to lubricate cramming the hose down onto the metal fittings—had to resort to Vaseline in a truly horrid situation—but that's getting ahead of the story.

The metal rails were the ones GoWesty sells, I’d taken advantage of a holiday sale. I suppose there is no wrong way to install them, but I put the ends with the screw where the open ends on the old nylon rails had been. No trouble getting them back on, either. 1 5/8" sections of Barricade worked perfectly for my fitting connections and I got to cutting little groups of those ahead of time.
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In all cases I fastened the clamps until the ends almost touched, they seem incredibly strong and the connections look very tight, and it all passed when Jim Blazer did a fuel pressure test once Winston was roadworthy. Sort of. More foreshadowing. I had one sad thought! I had thought VW's on the Green would be later in the month! It was that Sunday! Winston still missed it for the first time in four years, I did, too, making fuel line fixes while the sun shone.

I used a bungee cord to lift and hold the radiator hoses away from... the nylon bulkhead fitting. Getting the hoses off was a matter of an extension on a thumb-ratchet screwdriver, and a hose clamp back at the tank to keep the gas from flowing. As I've mentioned, my logic in replacing the nylon fitting with a metal one instead of sending the hose through a grommet is primarily to dampen vibration on either side. With the new metal lines, I want places to flex through the rubber junctions. There was definitely deterioration on the nylon original, but it didn't appear cracked.

The billet metal replacement I bought for it came with two wonderful Allen-headed Stainless Steel bolts that would not thread through the holes vacated by the sheet metal screws holding the original to the firewall fitting. After finding that out, I ended up using longer sheet metal screws, which bit and held firmly.

What slowed me down that day was trying to figure out how to do things somewhat differently than Ben's instructions—using tencentlife's photos of his completed engines and something WildThings said. I, too, like the idea of the single fuel supply line going OVER the manifold and into the three-way, and next to the pressure regulator... but... How?
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Shocked

I ended up inverting the fitting. The next moments of delay contained a great deal of farce, I got out my metric bubble-flair kit and made a BEAUTIFUL flare on my coil of PolyArmour 5/16". It just wouldn't fit into the Barricade! Too much flare! After four more tries (and I had practiced beforehand!) I got it right. Oh, the cleverness of me! I put a section of hose on the metal bulkhead fitting! After much suffering, and with the PolyArmour still on the coil (and the clamps put in place first, some lessons have stuck), I got it all into place!
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Cutting the PolyArmour with that plumber’s tubing cutter works quite well. I used that Harbor Freight deburring tool on each set of cut ends. With severe annoyance I found out that the tubing bender I had before I started didn't work—it's for 1/4" tubing. The difference 1/16" can make! But the PolyArmour is coated to prevent kinking and I managed quite a bit of bending by hand. Then I went and got a Harbor Freight bender with three mandrels and slowly, with a lot of setbacks, learned to use it.
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The metal fuel line went right in between the twin radiator hoses (the plastic clamp snapped, drat it, but is mostly usable). I had some NAPA mounts for zip ties, which I never figured out how to use. I got ready to clamp the connection! DRAT! The sharp edges of the clamps would play hob on the soft rubber of the big radiator hoses! I undid the whole thing! Not easily! Then I made much longer junction of the Barricade, pushed my flare into that onto the metal bulkhead fitting, and clamped well away from the two big hoses. The Barricade protected the radiator hose.
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That worked. Tencentlife has the three way junction above and to the driver's side of the fuel pressure regulator. I cut enough of the hose for some literal 'wiggle room' and deburred and flared it in place... Successfully! But I was too tired to do any more that day.

I had problems still to solve—attaching the junctions and metal lines to the installed fuel rails. I was worried about making sure I didn't mix up the supply and return lines. At an Ace Hardware I found those sort of curved 'H' pieces (meant for coax) that I thought might hold the metal lines in place, with a metal or plastic cable tie to keep them together and not shifting. I never used them since the PolyArmour managed just fine without.

I kept wondering if the plastic cable ties (185 degree tolerance) were safe to use near the hot engine. Doubted it. I studied the fuel return system, nervous about connecting to it. Being brave. I got the cooling system partly refilled, but with distilled water, since I've got to change the coolant anyway. I planned to use my pressure bleeder again and inject the water into the system, possibly with a cleaner additive. I made a proper fitting for our ancient shop vacuum to bleed the system this time, the far end of a Libby Bong, but, when THAT ordeal came, I found the ancient shop vacuum didn’t have the suction.

As I replaced the hoses I began to notice some curious phenomena. From surviving receipts, as I said, I know that the previous owner had the lines done. They looked good from the outside... But... there were those cheaper clamps on the fuel rails, there had been 'pinch' clamps on the 'three way' and the fuel pressure regulator before I replaced that some years ago. It puzzled me.

Also... no brown slime on the covers, which I removed as I took apart the three-way, following Ben on doing that first. The lines I found were Conti. The hoses on the three-way DID NOT LOOK GOOD. There were cracks inside, the ends were brittle...
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I started feeling a lot better about doing this job, and still wondered if they did a 'partial' on Winston before I bought him? At the time, I was not sure at all. Later evidence was conclusive. THEY HAD. It’s a warning to us all that there IS something of a comfort in how much you know when you’ve done the jobs you can do yourself.
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Still ahead was a matter of measuring, cutting, flaring, and securing the new lines... and being very, very careful. Then there were the lines under Winston. I quit work, and slept on it. I had a good idea while dozing off. I realized that I could determine the length of the new metal fuel lines by taking a piece of rope, running it the new route (if I was using the old route, I could have used the previous hoses) and marking the length with knots. Of course, if I'd have remembered to deduct about four inches for the rubber connectors, that would have been nice...

But, anyway. I did actually get two metal lines in the next day, the line from the fuel regulator to the return line—into which, I realized, I did NOT wire a 'flush and fill tee:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1113583&highlight=prestone#1113583

and the line from the new metal bulkhead fitting to the nylon hose in. Jim Blazer told me late that I’d wired the long-gone tee into the engine’s vacuum return line.

I made... other discoveries. That I hadn't run the tee into the return line was one, the other that some few hoses were in good shape, but most were showing clear cracks and splitting. It’s a marvel and a grace that Winston survived all those years with so much of his original fuel line THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE.

That mess is fixed now and secured to the frame with a cable tie through a hole in the bottom metal with metal now on both sides of the fuel delivery and return system, something I know WildThings has urged. That was the end of my successes for quite some time. I had to figure out the shapes of my new metal fuel lines in the engine compartment with not much to guide me.

Does anybody know of a material that holds the shape you bend it into? Something that I could model… I had... so much confidence starting on the return line from the driver's side fuel rail to the regulator. Adjusted for the length, had the bender... Got it onto the regulator, good, solid connection...

Spent the next hour trying to bend it into a shape that would fit to the rail... Hurt my hand bending the PolyArmour... Used a screwdriver handle as mandrel. Just about got it... Knocked a ratchet set off Winston's rear bumper... There went the clamp again! Coolant started leaking every where... Cleaned it up, tried to stop the leak... Disconnected the nearby spark plug... Tried again...
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The PolyArmour kinked. It's not supposed to do that, but it had a pretty good excuse by that point. Tore my hands and arms up a lot, too.

Sigh.

Well, I knew that I could use the kinked line as the model for the new one I still had to make, and I had plenty of 5/8” PolyArmour left. Out of the van, I knew I could use the new tube bender. I tried to work out the theory. START at the rail and work UP to the regulator, that, I hoped, would be easier. One suggestion I got while asking around for informed help was to use a coat hanger cut up to make the models for the new line and the others... That was a very good idea, but as I progressed I didn’t have to keep doing that, I got a feel for the shapes of the new lines. I got so filthy and so very tired. I remained very stubborn, though. Finding and replacing that 1984 hose was quite a comfort. The rest was... nasty.

Tried again the next day, bending wire, taking a piece of rope and tying knots to mark the length of the rubber hose being replaced by the 5/16" PolyArmour... Losing confidence, no longer chamfering and bubble-flaring before getting the new metal hose into position... Disconnecting spark plug wires on both sides, from the distributor on the driver's side, from the plugs on both...

Tedious. Annoying.

SUCCESSFUL!

The secret was to make small bends by hand, if possible, check, make the bend larger, check, bend, check, bend, check, and only making the large bends, with the tube bender, when you were absolutely certain that was the bend to make. It took me nearly an entire day's work that Friday to make the first line, about the worst line, from the back of the driver's side fuel rail to the fuel pressure regulator. I ran the line between, not on, the manifold tube, and held to my plan of using 1 5/8" junctions, cut with the PVC/tubing cutter and just big enough to hold the two ABA clamps. That became my standard size for a junction, and almost always worked perfectly.

It's harder to bend the tubing in place, but the little bends you CAN make add up, and you just keep at it, hour after hour... Until suddenly it clamps on, a little Vaseline goes over the bubble flare, don't forget to put the clamps in the middle, get the clamp loosely in place, fitting... the OTHER fitting... Nut driver. TIGHTEN DOWN. Test. TIGHTEN AGAIN.

Rejoice.

I went from one line on Friday to three lines on Saturday, using pictures of Chris/tencentlife's finished engines as a general guide. On the last line, front of the passenger's side rail to the 'tee,' I had to make some sharp bends to get around the alternator. I didn't want the line too near that, and I wanted to leave room for the alternator to move for adjustments and belt installation. You can bend PolyArmour without a tube bender, but that Harbor Freight special did the job pretty well for compound sharp turns, and, as noted, I finally got the hang of it. I admit to letting out a pretty deep sigh when it all came together late Saturday, although I still had so much to do.
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For one thing, now that I was done with the worst of it, I hoped, I replaced that severed cooling line, which had kept disintegrating every time I touched it. I replaced it with that metal line 3/8” PolyArmour line. Used the large 'DO NOT USE FOR FUEL INJECTION' 1/2" barricade for my junctions, I could just get some ASA 17mm clamps over the flares and the 3/8" PolyArmour. That was harder to cut, bend, and MUCH harder to flare, but it went. Confidence nurtures ability.
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Periodically I'd use the nut driver to see if I could get any more torque onto the clamps I'd already done, sometimes, just a bit. I still want to do another check on them, but every time I have checked, they haven’t loosened.

I got to work on the return system. It was easier lying on my back under Winston than otherwise to disconnect the return fitting and growl at the old 'garden hose' clamp there. I've learned to chamfer both ends of the metal line with my Harbor Freight de-burrer every time I cut hose. I've gotten pretty good at making the bubble flares, and got the line from the regulator through the firewall made—thought that the rubber connector from that to the nylon line went on too easily. It did. I'd cut and used the coolant hose I'd bought to replace the now utterly-disintegrated line from the pressure tank.

Evil or Very Mad

At least I caught it early and HID the coolant hose until the job was finished. I have... abandoned my thoughts of replacing the nylon line, at least until I have access to a lift. It's in superb shape, shiny, no corrosion or oxidation, and I had my hands full with the engine compartment. I had to cut off a 'pinch' clamp on the far side of the grommet. I ran the rubber well over the nylon, there being no barb, and clamped down with the ABA clamp. Then I went over to the line from the tank—and had a lovely time trying to find the line I'd disconnected when I started. It's 'south' of the starter, folks!

Shocked

Anyway, when I found it—nylon, in great shape... Ah, there was the connector to the old fitting, which I then replaced with metal... Oh, a garden hose clamp... rusted! I ended up having to put an arm around the transaxle (Have you hugged your drivetrain, today?) to get the clamp off and the rubber hose off... Hmmm... VW markings. Hard. Cracked! It's original hose from 1984! THEY LEFT THAT in a perfect place to hose down the whole engine compartment with pressurized gasoline when it failed! The plastic bulkhead fitting was bad enough, the fossilized connector to it was INFINITELY WORSE!

Shocked

The replacement section was made of PolyArmour and Barricade. Yes, I was feeling very much better about doing this horrible job, despite dirt in my eyes, gasoline all over my face (good to the last drop!) and having Michelangelo moment after moment. The Agony and the Exasperation! I made a metal pipe from the billet metal replacement fitting that (forgot to allow for the connectors) forced me to cut a bit off the nylon with the tubing cutter. I left it a very solid connection with good stainless steel clamps in the place of probably disaster. WHY HADN'T THEY REPLACED THAT LINE WHEN THEY DID THE OTHERS?

Evil or Very Mad
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Now, a fun part I see I hadn’t mentioned comes now. I wasn’t sure what diameter of hose I’d need for the tank to the fuel pump and from the fuel pump to the nylon hose. I did some measurements, touched the area where a long time ago I’d put a resistor against the fuel pump in the ground wire to fix the cavitation, see HERE:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4574029&highlight=resistor#4574029

…and one of the wires came right off the ceramic body of that four-year-old Radio Shack resistor. So I knew 1)That, as with the coolant hose, I’d been VERY blessed that it happened THEN, and 2)I’d have to do a better, more robust job the second time installing a new capacitor. I’d been wondering about the lower connections... and as I got to work on the lines through the fuel filters I came up with a solution for the sheared-off fuel pump resistor with the help of my friend the Analog Electrical engineer.
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You may recall that in the original post linked above, he ended up recommending to me that I use that NAPA Echlin ICR34, which I got this time at the local NAPA for $4.35. The coil itself was open on one side of the ceramic holder, so I filled that up with Quick-Rete and let it dry while I continued work on the fuel lines.
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The resister came with no bracket or way to hold it. I ended up getting a 2 1/2" U-clamp (I do a lot with those)
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5334255&highlight=hatch+latch+natch#5334255

which I could run through two holes in Winston's undercarriage next to the fuel pump. I covered that with a piece of the best-surviving replaced fuel hose for vibration dampening, tearing a hole in one finger as I twisted it on. It just abraded away the skin.

Shocked

I ended up using a fitting and my Makita to do the twisting.

I carefully put a piece of split-open line in between the resister and the frame, and the lining of that line did NOT look good—and that was one of the best pieces. Then I put a flat washer against the plate, a toothed washer against that, slathered the bolt ends with blue Loc-Tite, and cinched it VERY CAREFULLY DOWN. When I ran wires from the pump to the resistor I left myself room with either wire to ground to the old spot in the frame, in case the whole thing breaks or falls off. I also left some room for a kill switch, a project that suddenly seems much more possible although I haven’t done it yet.
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The new capacitor assembly done, I got ready to replace the line in between the small square fuel filter and the pump? I'd bought some big, non-lacerating clamps for the larger diameter rubber coolant line I hadn’t used and instead installed them on the unpressurized line from the tank to the first fuel filter. Then I decided to replace the short rubber hose in between the retrofitted canister filter and the nylon line... I left a little extra over the nylon. That went smoothly...
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Then I screwed up my courage and got ready to replace the line between the tank and the square filter, and WHAT do you know, that was another section of 30 year old original build VW hose. Decided to use the metal again, got the junctions and clamps in place first... and only got a mild gasoline shampoo as I yanked off the loosened old line and crammed on and tightened the new metal line and its rubber junction in palce. I had dreaded that event since starting the job.

I cleaned up the rest of the installation, got ready to reattach the AFM and the air filter housing... I suffered an evening's angst wondering what had happened to the clamp between the AFM and the manifold connector. It turned out that it had stayed on the whole time, it's just gone black with age...

Shocked

And then I realized that I hadn't replaced the rubber line from the RETURN nylon line to the tank. That would be easy. I thought. Rope, measurement, this time I remembered to cut a length from one of the areas not damaged on a kinked past effort...

The gas shower went on a LOT longer. People remarked on the lingering aroma of gasoline and SeaFoam Thursday night despite a new shirt and washing, which missed a spot on my ARMPIT, which gradually made its presence painfully known. Dinner was at a Mongolian Barbecue. I did NOT stand close to the grill.

Shocked

I had made the replacement line too long, had to push and pull at the nylon hose, the gas flowed... and flowed... Finally got it all together and wiped up the gas that missed my collecting pie pan (which was most of it) and tightened it all down. My hair was… interesting. Then I had to crawl back under Winston late that Thursday night when I realized that end of the clamp screw was pointing right into Winston's tank. Managed to adjust that. Sigh.
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That Friday I reassembled the AFM and air filter in place and got the engine finished, doing a final check on all the clamps I could reach, and the spark plug wires. Saturday I took it easy and just reattached the battery negative grounds, a job that consumed over three hours and was horrible beyond words since I had two ground wires, almost no room to work, and they kept popping off (in a shower of sparks) Winston's Odyssey PC1200 battery.
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I finally used a small cable tie to hold them together while I got the terminal bolt started—I ended up using a longer one that had been supplied with the billet metal bulkhead fitting. All that was hard to do in rubber gloves, but I have a very healthy respect for 12v DC current.
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I finished up, put away the tools and found homes for the new ones, an increasingly difficult task. I kept going in stages... I took the final round of pictures, which I managed to post long before I finished this monster. Looked over things one more time…

Sunday I did more clean-up, put tools away—kept the 5mm nut driver in case, when I started Winston, I had to do some emergency tightening. I recruited my Gearhead Friend to help me start him that day, with him in the cab, me hovering all over the place looking for leaks. I contemplated my handiwork. There is not a single 'hose lacerating' clamp left in Winston's entire fuel system, although I used 43 (or so) of the 50 15mm ABA clamps I'd bought, and about 14' of that PolyArmour hose.

It's nice to have experienced help... First my Gearhead friend turned on the key, and the fuel pump ran. That meant my resistor set up had worked. The fuel pump did NOT run the second time he turned the key, which meant that the system had stayed pressurized while I looked in vain for leaks. Then, on the third crank after that... Winston started and ran. He was a bit slow, my friend said he'd gotten flooded during all the previous operations, but he held his idle—meaning that I'd gotten all the wires plugged in correctly. When shut down, he cheerily restarted.

It was… fortunate that I had made an appointment at Blazer to have Winston's fuel pressure checked, the rubber boot on the accelerator cable replaced (I didn't do it!) and a full once-over by some very experienced mechanics, the lucky winner turned out to be Jim Blazer, who drives a trusty blue Syncro.



At times, to quote Winston Churchill, I am a humble man with much to be humble about. When I took him out to go to Blazer, he barely ran, gasping and struggling bravely, and not killing—but fighting for every yard. I couldn’t imagine what I did wrong, not that I wasn’t imagining one heck of a lot. Fortunately… It took Jim Blazer about ten minutes to figure out that I’d dislodged a fuel injector connector wire when I put in the new seals and the metal fuel rails. When I replaced the old connectors:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=201493&highlight=injector+connectors

you will note from the post that the parts came without any instructions whatsoever. Among the missing instructions should have been a line or two about ‘and do bend out the tabs at the very end of the internal connector so that they won’t pop out of the plastic fitting. Like they might, you know, when you get around to replacing the fuel lines and have to unplug them.’
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That is what had happened to the injector connector on cylinder #3, which hit Winston’s performance hard. Fortunately, I hadn’t driven far like that. Winston was running normally within minutes of reaching Blazer.

Jim also located a small leak from the fuel pressure relief fitting. That was a steady drip of gasoline directly onto the manifold, which could have had the effect of bringing on exactly what I’d spent two weeks trying to prevent. Jim Blazer's decades-of-experience solution was to get Teflon thread sealer, the paste, not the tape, and to put it on JUST THE THREADS (Jim used the washer to keep it off the end of the screw and thus out of the fuel system) and tighten it down, letting it dry for at least 5 minutes, and checking the seal. He also rather kindly took a moment and a couple of zip ties to move the rear light harness off the exhaust, where, as he noted, they tend to end up when the original brackets rot away.

Jim humored me by running a fuel pressure test, pressurizing, watching the needle go up—and stay there. He then declared that my work had been perfect and it drew admiring remarks from the other mechanics.

Winston left Blazer running perfectly, but there was a sad little sequel, which I shall spare you all here, but you can find it HERE:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7247648&highlight=oxygen+sensor+wrench#7247648

That, my summer job, and rather a lot of other obligations left me pretty exhausted, reluctant to think of this humiliating coda to the initial subject. I also admit to being daunted by how much I had to write. Now it is written. But… I felt I kind of owed it to you all to let you know what all was involved in this Spring’s project of metalizing Winston.

Best!
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Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."
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1vw4x4
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry but IMHO this is one of the many DOWN grades that people do.

1- I'm not sure but it looks like that material you used will rust.
2- For every line you installed you doubled the amount of clamps
needed. Connection are point of contention, and should be kept
to a minimum. (See FAA rules and regs.)
3- Everything in the engine has to be some what flexible. You might
get away with the fuel lines, but definitely an issue with the coolant
line you replaced. Even the original line could not be run straight
on, becasue it needs to move. Engines rock and you need slop.
I'll bet this one will leak sooner or later.
4- I never liked the metal fuel lines on the air cooled, specially since
they are not grounded. Having metal filled with fuel, with a static charge
is a fire with one small leak.

Why do people torture vanagon like this!
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Crankey
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like this idea but for point #2 of 1vw4x4 there.

I was going to ask, in those radio conversations, did the idea come up to use stainless tube ? I got some 1/2" stainless tube for some of my smaller coolant lines (heater) and that bent nicely, I mean I bought a piece specifically made for bending at a fittings store. it welded and bent nicely.

like you I was doing this for the first time ever, but it came out ok and I've been driving on these parts without a problem for at least a year.

for fuel lines, I'd be more inclined to learn the process of making braided steel lines for the flexible sections. I don't know if you'd flair the ends of the stainless hard lines or weld on a threaded end to connect to the braided lines.

I would trust the threaded AN fittings over hose clamps ( I have plenty of hose clamps but just saying if I was going to do it)

another thought I had when mulling this over was, if I was to use rubber junctions, I'd want to keep the junctions long enough to use as a 'pinch off' point if I needed to take apart and work on something.

but anyway, cool project though.
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morymob
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 5:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dont remember the resistor added to fuel pump ckt, so u actually slowed slightly the pump speed to get rid of cavitation noise ??
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djkeev
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very well done, extremely well documented! Dancing Applause

I can't help but wonder what is the problem with modern rubber hose run as the factory did it way back when?

I'm all for improving things to catch up with evolving technology but I fail to see any real benefit of the metal pipes. (Except for the bulkhead piece)

Anyway thanks for sharing, glad you found and removed that very old original hose from the system, that was trouble waiting to happen and clearly demonstrates why one should not always take "what the PO said" at face value.

Dave
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