Freakin' Fuel Lines

[meldred@vermontmedia.com (Mike Eldred)]

Ok, anybody have any experience replacing Scirocco fuel lines?  The =
front-to-rear metal fuel line in my '82 finaly rusted through.  -Spewed =
gas all over the place, and died.
Foolishly, perhaps, I thought that it looked like a repair that I could =
easily enough myself.  After all, I have a fairly decently equipped =
garage, I'm fairly mechaincally inclined, and I wasn't in any hurry to get =
back on the road (The '82 is the Winterocco).  Needless to say, I was =
sadly mistaken. =20
First, when I went to pull out the broken main line, I ended up breaking =
the other line which runs next to it.  Back to the dealer to order the =
second line (dealer-only part, of course.)
Then, the line that I got from the dealer was a one-piece, pre-bent metal =
line that goes from the accumulator to the fuel filter.  It's supposed to =
run from the accumulator, along the floorpan, up behind the passenger-side =
axle, along the firewall and come up in front of the master cylinder.  The =
other one follows the same path, but comes from the gas tank.  How the =
hell are you supposed to get those in?  It appears to me that you'd have =
to pull the engine and/or yank the whole front end. =20
And just to put a little icing on the whole sweet deal, while I was under =
the car, I noticed that the accumulator mounts and the fuel pump mounts =
are rotted out.  They're just kind of perched there now.
I'm about ready to take it to a mechanic, but then I don't know if it's =
worth it to repair the thing, it looks "labor intensive."  I had planned =
on spending a few $$ on bodywork and a paint job, but I don't know now...
Are there any alternatives to the factory metal lines?  If there was some =
way to use a plastic line it would make the whole deal so much easier.
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
-Mike


Mike Eldred
Staff Reporter
Deerfield Valley News
MikeE@vermontmedia.com
P.O. Box 310
West Dover, VT 05356-0310
(802) 464-3388, ext. 16
(802) 464-7255, fax
www.dvalnews.com