40 fuel line mess

bart40

Member
After the euphoria of fixing (I hope) my fuel pump woes on my driver, I am realising that I have a real hodgepodge of fuel line. Part of it is original metal interspersed with rubber hose. There are no leaks but it makes me nervous. I want to replace the whole thing with the right thing. I am running an electric pump as a back up and to start through the mechanical pump. Any guidance? Thanks.
 
I don't use electric pumps but if I did I would want metal pipe with fittings to and from the pump. You say the rubber hose for repairs to the metal line makes you nervous, even short pieces of rubber at the electric pump would make me nervous particularly under the car where it is not easy to inspect. G.M.
 
Install 1/4 inch steel fuel line like the original and then use the new fuel resistant teflon lined fuel line hose to connect the components.
 
On that subject, who makes a quality rubber hose(with fittings) that goes from steel line on firewall to the fuel pump ? I bought one of those from MACS for the 47 and a year or so later the hose just separated from the fitting, probably made in China.
 
Use the copper coated steel line available from most vendors. To insert a pump and/or filter, use barb fittings and worm gear clamps with actual "fuel proof" hose. Not all rubber tubing is fuel proof, and alcohol will cause the wrong type to soften and fail. We use the firewall flex line from C&G, and had no problems. Inferior lines will collapse internally, cutting off flow.
 
On that subject, who makes a quality rubber hose(with fittings) that goes from steel line on firewall to the fuel pump ? I bought one of those from MACS for the 47 and a year or so later the hose just separated from the fitting, probably made in China.

Bob Shewman makes Teflon lined flex hoses that no fuel or additives will have any effect on them. He makes the plain original type and ones with a check valve built into the brass fitting that screws into the pump. After the engine is shut down the valve in most stock pumps allow the fuel to drain back to the tank. After several days the engine gets very hard to start. There have been a number of reports on this site of failures on the current hoses provided by old Ford parts vendors of small cracks and sucking air into the fuel which adds to the vapor lock problem and lose of fuel supply. These leaks do not show up as leaking gas because the gas is not under pressure from the tank to the pump. Bob has an ad in the EFV8 magazine or can be reached at 1-610-933-6637 or gadgiteer@aol.com G.M.
 
You can buy fuel hose at any parts store. I would not use it for long runs, but it can be used to connect an electric fuel pump. My preferences are like GM, use a metal line with fittings, especially if you are going to just use the electric to prime the carburetor.

I also like the copper coated line from Roy Nacewicz as it is coated on the inside as well as the outside. Some of the other vendors just use a copper plated line and the inside does not get a good coating.

The mechanical fuel pump requires good vacuum in order to prime the carburetor, sio the fewer connections that you have the better. Make sure that the connections are tight enough not to leak vacuum, but do not over tighten them.
 
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