Hard lines

[tparker]

I am finishing up running my brake lines. I made my own since it was a lot cheaper and is fairly easy to do. Also I converted to front disc brakes and the master cylinder is in a different location which required some fabrication any ways. It isn't 100% perfect if your going for that, but I'm not. Functional and good is good enough.

Now I'm tackling the fuel line and soon the tranny too. This seems more complex. There are atleast 2 steel lines, 1 stainless, aluminum, rubber, and steel braided rubber. Each with different pros and cons. Rubber is out. Braided rubber is probably out unless someone can make the case for it. Stainless would be ideal but is more expensive, harder to bend, and flairing the ends might require a special flairing tool. My cheapie one probably won't cut it.

I am looking at the aluminum. Cheap and easy to bend. It should stand up to corrosion better. Anyone have any reasons I would not want to use aluminum for fuel lines? If not, I will probablly pick one of Earl's coated steel. They also have a copper hardline.

FYI, I was going to get a prebent line. They run around $60 or $99 for stainless. Not t0o bad. The problem is shipping. I've seen $70-$150 for shipping, and one place wouldn't give me shipping costs until I made the purchase. Wow. It is oversized, but it weighs nothing. Probably 3 lbs. Crazy

Thanks
Tom

[Bullitt-]

  I tried a '70 R/T 440 & total shipped was about $80 just for the fuel line

https://www.jegs.com/p/Right-Stuff/Right-Stuff-Fuel-Lines-and-Hardware/2344662/10002/-1

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Aluminum fuel lines can be okay but people do have concerns with it's ability to handle vibration, it's a bit brittle from that aspect. It will also not double flare, if that's what you want, due to the same reasons.

Braided rubber is what I use and will continue to use. Very easy to work with and very durable. We use it on new Peterbilts..

[tparker]

Thanks @Bullitt- If found a 3/8 for $60 plus $11 for shipping and an extra $9 for oversized. That is buy far the best shipping price I've seen. No messing around with bends or flaring. I bought it, though they are having issues with the payment process. Hopefully that will get resolved

[tparker]

So to answer my own question, in case. it helps anyone else:

It looks like a lot of people are leary of Aluminum's durability. Lots of folks on other forums don't trust it to debris on the road, modern crappy gas, and it being hardened over time which causes it to be brittle. Since it is softer some noted connections can be over tightened. Some people also noted it doesn't come on cars stock. Not sure if that comment included modern cars or just  vintage.

Some of this probably isn't deserved. But perhaps some is.

[rdf]

I went with pre-bent steel lines from Inline Tube and they fit exactly how I needed them.

[tparker]

An update,

thanks @Bullitt- As I mentioned I went ahead and bought the Right Stuff fuel line from Jegs. The cost was on par with other's price, but the shipping was massively cheaper.

For anyone curious, the line comes in a large box about 4 feet ish. The line is bent in half and you have to straighten, as are most if not all other options. It was easy to straighten, just use care. The fit was near perfect. The hardest part of the install was near the rear tire. I had to fiddle around with it a bit. The original line was intertwined with the return line and it was harder to get the rear section setup correctly. I think there was one section that was slightly off. I think the bent section was a little too big which caused some issues getting it to fit. It would have been a lot easier if it was smaller, even IF it was the correct size.

Thanks for the advise