Pump to Carb line, from who, or DIY?

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Pump to Carb line, from who, or DIY?

ABC123 · Uber Guru

I think you have the skills to make a nice one biggrin

It would be faster and more satifiying.

"impala pump to carb" | Muscle Cars & Classics (musclecarsandclassics.ca)

September 2nd delivery doh

As for the fuel pump, replace it and hang it on the wall.

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Cut the line right at the back of the nut and use a 6 point socket and ratchet

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

65 SD L79 wrote:
Cut the line right at the back of the nut and use a 6 point socket and ratchet

Best idea!

And yes Mark, you easily have the skills to make a line. It takes some time but you have that too, right?

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

If the line is to be trashed anyway, then why not cut it off at the pump fitting. Brilliant!! I think a 6 point should get the nut out of the pump with a bit of tapping back and forth.

It's these simple things that often escape me. I very often overthink the big, then overlook the small things. Age has caught up to me I guess.

And to make up a Copper Nickle flared line will be pretty easy for me to do, in fact I love doing them. Steel in that diameter would be tough for me to bend though.

This little episode today has me now carrying a small fire extinguisher in car. I was super lucky this time. The fuel was actually pooling and boiling in the intake recesses. Just one tiny errant ignition spark away from disaster.

Thanks guys.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

cdnpont wrote:
If the line is to be trashed anyway, then why not cut it off at the pump fitting. Brilliant!! I think a 6 point should get the nut out of the pump with a bit of tapping back and forth.
It's these simple things that often escape me. I very often overthink the big, then overlook the small things. Age has caught up to me I guess.

And to make up a Copper Nickle flared line will be pretty easy for me to do, in fact I love doing them. Steel in that diameter would be tough for me to bend though.

This little episode today has me now carrying a small fire extinguisher in car. I was super lucky this time. The fuel was actually pooling and boiling in the intake recesses. Just one tiny errant ignition spark away from disaster.

Thanks guys.

And if a standard socket doesn't fit the nut any more because of rounding, I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time you found a metric socket that could be pounded on there nice and tight. And maybe an impact on it to break the seal?

That copper nickle stuff is wonderful to bend and flare.

And after you do the line, let us know if you forgot to put the nut on first before you flared it, and also how many times you tossed a 1/2 made line in the garbage because you did one bend in exactly the opposite direction vs what it should have been. I know nothing about having ever done either of those goofs when making lines.............

1965CS · Guru

I have a story on this subject as well. We were away for a few days, but an unexpected change of plans had me come home early.

Upon opening the garage, the smell of gas was quite potent and the cause was that little rubber hose joining the fuel tank line to the pump. Just got soft and started leaking I guess.

I estimated about a liter on the floor and could only imagine what would have been after a few more days.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I suggest marine grade rubber fuel line where you have to use rubber, it is much better quality and thicker than auto hose and will fit most places. The hose in my 1986 boat was original when I replaced it in 2017. It has no leaks, I just thought it was time, it would also not have been made for ethanol. The boat has no metal fuel line.

67Poncho · Uber Guru

The EXACT reason I cringe when I see an inline filter added near the carb between the fuel pump and the carb. I remember a thread on this a ways back and remember being ridiculed as such for my opinion. With the exception of barbing the line where attaching the the filter and rubber hose, NEVER put the filter there.

Had a guy with a very expensive '69 Camaro show up at the shop a month ago and the clowns who did the restro had a snake of hose coming from the pump to the carb with a cheap plastic filter just befor the carb. I emphasized my digress and opened his eyes to the possibilities that transpired here and he was very happy to inform and show and tell me that he made the proper corrections. Just redicious on the restos shop.

ALWAYS put the filter befor the pump. A) If an issue arises, the pump will run out of fuel and not fill the engine bay.

B) Capturing dirt before it gets to/through the pump is the idea of the filter.

Just my thoughts. Glad all is ok.

gtodrive · Guru

Always use metal fuel lines near the engine. It's the way GM did it with the filter after the pump.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Is the line from the pump 3/8 or 5/16?

gtodrive · Guru

3/8 on my big block. Probably 5/16 on a small block.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I would buy a pre-bent line as they're readily available, and the straight line available for purchase now has the green/black coloring.

LT1Caddy · Guru

gtodrive wrote:
3/8 on my big block. Probably 5/16 on a small block.

Robert is correct. That's how you can generally tell if the car had a sb or bb. By the size of the fuel...

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

327's with Quadrajet always had 3/8" as far as I've seen. It seems to me early 327's with the 4-jet Rochester may have been 5/16"? I would agree that all big blocks were 3/8" without exception and I would say the same for 350's regardless of being 2 or 4 barrel.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

4SPEED427 wrote:
327's with Quadrajet always had 3/8" as far as I've seen. It seems to me early 327's with the 4-jet Rochester may have been 5/16"? I would agree that all big blocks were 3/8" without exception and I would say the same for 350's regardless of being 2 or 4 barrel.

My 70 Parisienne originally was 350 2 bbl, I don't recall if it was 5/16" or 3/8", but suspect 3/8". The green / gold 70 2+2 400 I had was originally 2 bbl, and I upgraded to Quadrajet. I bent the line, which took quite a bit of time trying to get the correct bend where it goes into the carb. I know I didn't change the fuel pump, so it would have been a 3/8" outlet on the fuel pump as I put a 3/8" line on for the Quadrajet.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

1965CS wrote:
I have a story on this subject as well. We were away for a few days, but an unexpected change of plans had me come home early.
Upon opening the garage, the smell of gas was quite potent and the cause was that little rubber hose joining the fuel tank line to the pump. Just got soft and started leaking I guess.
I estimated about a liter on the floor and could only imagine what would have been after a few more days.

hmmm, I wonder if it somehow started syphoning gas from the tank?

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

The line was 3/8 at the pump, 5/16 at the carb with the hose and filter between.

Bought a copper Nickle 3' repair line from Carquest. Cut the old line off at the pump. Tapped a 5/8 socket onto the fitting. Broke it loose with some decent effort.

Found a 3/8 carb nut in the carb parts box to use in place of the 5/16 nut.

Fitted the new line.

Started the engine. Fuel squirting out of the pump where the line block meets the lower pump shell. Removed the pump. Removing that old fitting tore the pump stamping where it's soldered to the block.

Bought a new pump. Fitted it by holding the rod up with a section of folded beer can from above. Works like a charm. The bolt hole in the block that one can use to retain the rod was not tapped far enough, so no long bolt could be used.

Fitted the line.

Started the engine, fuel absolutely flowing out of the flare nut and line at the pump. No seal at all. Tried tightening. Still flowing.

Removed the line. It appears it might be cracked at the flare. That or the pump seat is bad. Put the tools away and turned the lights off....

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

cdnpont wrote:
The line was 3/8 at the pump, 5/16 at the carb with the hose and filter between.
Bought a copper Nickle 3' repair line from Carquest. Cut the old line off at the pump. Tapped a 5/8 socket onto the fitting. Broke it loose with some decent effort.

Found a 3/8 carb nut in the carb parts box to use in place of the 5/16 nut.

Fitted the new line.
Started the engine. Fuel squirting out of the pump where the line block meets the lower pump shell. Removed the pump. Removing that old fitting tore the pump stamping where it's soldered to the block.

Bought a new pump. Fitted it by holding the rod up with a section of folded beer can from above. Works like a charm. The bolt hole in the block that one can use to retain the rod was not tapped far enough, so no long bolt could be used.

Fitted the line.
Started the engine, fuel absolutely flowing out of the flare nut and line at the pump. No seal at all. Tried tightening. Still flowing.

Removed the line. It appears it might be cracked at the flare. That or the pump seat is bad. Put the tools away and turned the lights off....

Time to install the 496

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

just get 2 barbbed ends and a chunk of hose for now and i can get you a prebent tube next week

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Thanks for the offer Kevin, I've just bought one more line and will do my own flares on it today.

One more try...

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

cdnpont wrote:
Thanks for the offer Kevin, I've just bought one more line and will do my own flares on it today.
One more try...

Good luck!!

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Done!

No leaks with my flares. I suspect the manufactured flare was defective. One other thing, you do need to pay close attention getting the 3/8 line centered on the flare seat. If its off slightly, I think the nut can have a hard time self centering the line as it's so large. No problem with smaller line, but the big line you need to get it initially close to square.

Chose a different route up to the carb this time. Simply went behind the alternator. Way easier and still looks about right.

Gotta love the copper nickel line though.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I'd say the route looks stock. Where do you get the copper/nickel line? Is it a pre-flared line and cut to length and flare one end?

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I think this route might actually be a cooler spot for the line.

I'm assuming all the Parts stores have these flared lines in copper nickel, many different lengths and sizes, flared both ends with steel nuts. Got mine from carquest Clint. They have a rack of them.

If you decide to buy a 25' length of 3/8 Copper Nickel tubing, Amazon has it , but it isn't cheap.

The fuel line inverted flare nuts for our cars are 5/8-18, 3/8 line.