I have to stay up real late tonight, so I figured I'd go out in the shop and get something accomplished. I did not know what, so I decided to think outside the engine compartment for a change. Fuel lines, that will be the project for tonight, err, this morning. I was hoping to be able to use what is on the truck for fuel lines, but they run down the right frame rail and the fittings are on the left side of the Cummins. I could not devise a non-hack approach to get the fuel from one side of the frame to the other so, as usual, I had to make something different.
I started with the rear lines. The only specs I have to go by are the diameters of the connections on the motor. The lift pump uses a 5/16" hose barb and the return line uses a 1/4" nipple. My tank is set up for 3/8" line, so I decided to make the feed line 3/8" instead of 5/16". Now, I am no pro at bending steel line, but I have learned a few things over the years. I recently upgraded my equipment from a POS Snap-On tubing bender that did 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" tubing in one tool that was absolutely horrible for anything over 1/4" because the handles are too short, and went to four different Ridgid benders. Man, what a difference that made. Another thing I learned long ago is that one line is simple to make, but making a second line match the first line requires some skill--which I do not have much of. I realized that, lacking this skill, I should start with the larger diameter tubing and match the smaller tubing to it. This made my life much easier as the smaller tubing is much easier to manipulate to match the larger diameter. It took me a couple hours and probably would have taken someone with bending skills about half an hour to forty-five minutes, but hey, time is cheap in the middle of the night.
Anyways, here is what I ended up with: Rear lines (there are two stacked on top of each other)
The variances in the ends are for hose clearance to each other. I am running them in factory type clamps that hold both lines tight together, so at the end the lines they have to splay out or at least take a different angle so that a hose and clamp can go on each one without interfering with the other.
The front lines:
All lines together:
