One short section of the fuel line on my nova is smashed nearly shut...right around the front eye area of the rear spring where the line makes an 'S' curve around the spring mount. Is there any way to fix this without replacing the whole fuel line? Like cut out the smashed section and splice in something else? I have never had much luck flaring steel lines...maybe some kind of compression fitting?

I would try splicing in a new piece of line with compression fittings or just replace the smashed section of fuel line with a good quality fuel hose.

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69 Camaro
400 Small Block
Trick Flow Heads
Comp 282S solid cam
Performer RPM intake
750 CFM Holley
and a Muncie four speed
Pics of My Car (http://cards.webshots.com/cp-25368180-AyNI-album/38182394akfhbj)

If you are very carefull you may be able to "uncrush" it with some Channel Lock pliers. Work from the outside in - like from the roundest part toward the flatest part. Be careful and watch for leaks - if you are carefull and the tubing is in good shape you should be OK though.

A second option would be to cut and reflare it using two flare nuts and a female-female coupling. If you have a good inverted flare tool its pretty easy, I get consistent good flares with mine.

Don't ask me what brand my tool is though - I got it by mistake when I was in the Navy. I ordered a half dozen circuit cards and got a half dozen inverted flare tools by mistake. LOL

ps. You could also just cut the bad section out and clamp in a short piece of -6 braided hose to patch it.

It's just me but I wouldn't try to un-crush it and hope for the best. We're talking fuel line here.

I just helped a buddy with an '89 IROC who has a corroded fuel line up around the floor over the transmission.
We cut out the bad area of about 8", bought a section of 3/8" fuel line (metal tubing), spliced in the exact same length we removed and clamped each end with 3/8" ID fuel hose and hose clamps.

I wanted to flare the cut ends and use couplings but it was impossible to work up there so we did it this way mostly because of where it was located, and the length of the area we needed to replace. Plus I'm not one for just throwing hose on fuel lines. The structural integrity is 99% of what it was when new and there's no chance of the line collapsing.

Good luck with the fix!


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Joe
WCA Member
1969 Wallet Crusher
- HwyStar@Rochester.rr.com

HwyStar's Garage! (http://www.geocities.com/hwystarjoe/index.html)

Travis,
I'd recommend purchase a double flaring kit from your local auto parts store and cut the damaged line out and double flare each end. You can purchase inverted flare unions, these are the female unions for the SAE flare fittings, and install the union in place of the damaged line. If you need to you can purchase two inverted flare unions and make a short repair section of tubing, again double flaring it. Double flaring is the only way to go with fuel and brake lines, it's what the factory uses and the flares won't crack like they do when only single flared. I purchased my set from Snap-on and make all my own brake and fuel lines, it's paid for itself. The kits you can get from NAPA and Car Quest I believe run only around $40 or so.

You can go with the simplier hose fix, but you'll have to deal with beading the lines after you cut them if you really want it to be secure. Otherwise you'll probably be tempted to tighten the clamps to the point where cold flow of the rubber will be a problem, which will eventually lead to the hose requiring replacement, or at very least retorquing occasionally.

Dave

Thanks for the replys. Dang, a 4 minute response time...that must be some kind of record! I had thought about using a section of braided (internal and external) rubber fuel line but would really like to have a solid metal line. I just am not familiar with doing steel lines, but I can work the heck out of copper and PVC http://www.camaros.net/forum/biggrin.gif Do you guys know of any place I could see a picture of such a repair? Just looking thru parts catalogs at all the different line connections is mind boggling.

I had a similar problem and spiced in a section of new steel line as others have suggested to you. Here is a pic.
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/rhondajoe38/vwp?.dir=/camaro&.src=ph&.dnm=f_line.jpg.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/rhondajoe38/lst%3f%26.dir=/camaro%26.src=ph%26.view=t


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joe