Fuel Line

[Mitch]

When my dad and I were stripping out the interior, we found the fuel line running THROUGH the car! on top of that, it was only a little plastic hose, did mine get rigged, or did the 02's come stock like that?

Has anybody run the hose underneath the car, or know where I can get braided hoses?

[Neil_in_PA]

Sounds like it may be the vent tube for the fuel tank?

[Mitch]

No, the line goes all the way through that car, running on the passenger side, and goes into the engine bay.

[steve k.]

that is normal on carbureted '02. all it has is one plastic line that runs from the trunk through the the cabin on the passenger side by the rocker and then through the firewall into the engine compartment.

steve k.

[BigDog]

What a lot of guys do is use the hard "return line" that runs along the driver's side frame rail as a supply line.

If you plan to do this a couple of things...

1. BLOW IT OUT before you use it! No telling what kinda junk is living in that line!

2. If you want to run braided stainless to this line, you can get fittings from Summit Racing which are a AN-6 to 5/16" tubing. Cut the nipple off the hard line so you have straight tube and these fittings will allow you to hook a braided stainless line to the hard tube.

I've done this, working with those braided lines is a BITCH, prepare for cussing and bloody finger tips to get them put together.

There is not an AN-6 fitting that will make the connection to the tank, so you'll just have to "sleeve" the fuel sender on the tank and hoseclamp the braided line over it tight!!

Of course you can just use rubber between the tank and the hard line, or between the hardline and the motor, in which case you'll want to leave the "barbs" on the hardline.

This works great, only trouble possible if you live in Deluth MN where it gets sooo friking cold out you might want to keep the fuel running through the cabin... Not really a problem here in Seattle.

--------------

BigDog

'76 2002 All Stainless Lines

[_z_]

1. BLOW IT OUT before you use it! No telling what kinda junk is living in that line!

2. If you want to run braided stainless to this line, you can get fittings from Summit Racing which are a AN-6 to 5/16" tubing. Cut the nipple off the hard line so you have straight tube and these fittings will allow you to hook a braided stainless line to the hard tube.

aswome advice on #1. I'll do that.

I'm plumbing a tii engine into a 75 and went for the summit racing aluminum line. I'll use the existing line as the return and try to follow that line with the aluminum line. I went for 1/2 inch -- kinda big, but the 320is pump I'm using has a 13mm tube so I just tried to match that.

Just ordered the stuff last night so haven't actually tried it yet, but a buddy of mine said he liked working with the aluminum line. Its pretty inexpensive compared to the SS woven lines at summit & i'm hoping easier to bend around compared to hard SS lines

we'll see!

[BillWilliams]

with other plastic, only use BMW stuff. That plastic line is self sealing if it comes into contact with heat or fire or an errant welder.

[jerry]

reading through these posts, it occurred to me that that old plastic lasted 30 years so far. for the effort involved in changing it out, perhaps OEM plastic replacement is good enough.

couldn't be too expensive or do we pay a premium to have it delivered with a bmw tag and blue color??

[_z_]

wierd .. what years did they use the plastic? I've mostly dealt with tii's but this 75 i'm working on has a black cloth looking rubber line. Since it was carbed i'm replaceing with the aluminum to handle the higher psi..

[BillWilliams]

the car as a return fuel line for the K-pump.

On the tii's, the fuel is supplied by a steel line that runs under the car on the drivers side. This steel line terminates in the rear close to the left rear wheel and then a rubber fuel line runs across the rear of the car to the fuel pump. It terminates in the front, about two inches from the driver's side frame rail under the fuel filter

The blue plastic line runs from the engine bay, near the center of the firewall to the trunk and gas tank. By the way, the replacement plastic line I got from BMW is black.