Nylon Fuel Lines

[76stepside]

Blake... could you post a picture of what you did at the sending unit, Im tring to figure out what I want or need to do here. Thanks in addvance.

[52 Rat]

Originally Posted by Blake_H

I got my fuel system done. I switched over my 2002 fuel rail with a return to a 2006 rail w/o return and used the Corvette Wix filter. I bought the filter from Gotelli Speed Shop on eBay for $29.99. I also bought the Dorman tool from amazon.com. FYI on the tool. It comes with no directions and it took a while to figure out which dye went with what fitting. Overall not bad to figure out, but I didn't think it wouldn't come without some type of instructions. I'm glad I did buy the tool, though, as I'm not sure I would have been able to build my own. I did use silicone spray from Napa, but I wanted try it without the spray first to see what happened. Just like 72GMCShorty pointed out, it was a mistake. For the barbed unions it wasn't a problem, but with the connectors, holy cow! It tweaked the tubing every time. It was amazing to see the difference.

When I ran the Dorman nylon fuel lines I only had one issue. I went with fuel injection hose for the sender, across the frame rail to the nylon. On the feed the 3/8 fuel injection hose wouldn't seal to the Dorman 3/8 union. So, dad the plumber suggested a trip to the supply house and we came up with a brass 3/8 to 5/16 barbed union for Pex pipe. It sealed up and was royal pain to get the 3/8 on it. It went on the nylon somewhat easy with silicone spray. The return and the vent went on the Dorman unions with no issues. I put DEI's Fire Sleeve over the feed and return to the fuel filter, and over the feed from the filter to the engine. I then used Summit Racing clamps to hold everything to the frame.

Overall, at this point I'm pretty happy with the results. The real test of how happy I am will be when I get this wired and can turn it on and see if there are any leaks.

Thanks for all the help and input!

Did you take any photos of your finished product? I too have the same fuel tank outlet, return and vent. I would like to do mine the same as you did.

[Blake_H]

Originally Posted by 52 Rat

Did you take any photos of your finished product? I too have the same fuel tank outlet, return and vent. I would like to do mine the same as you did.

Yes I did. When I get home tonight, I'll look and see what I've got and upload them. Whatever I didn't take pictures of, I'll do this week and get them posted.

[52 Rat]

Originally Posted by Blake_H

Yes I did. When I get home tonight, I'll look and see what I've got and upload them. Whatever I didn't take pictures of, I'll do this week and get them posted.

Great, thanks for following up.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Blake_H]

Well, I was only able to find 3 that I took. I will take some more tomorrow and get them posted up.

But for now.......

Fuel filter on the frame rail


Wider angle of the fuel filter with dorman part# 800-155 and the single 3/8 nylon on its way to the fuel rail.

That's the vent line above the fuel filter. I wanted to keep the factory canister on the core support for the venting. If you read the first post in my build thread, you'll understand.

Looking down the frame rail towards the engine.


That's all I've got for now. I'll take some more tomorrow and get them posted up.

[Blake_H]

Originally Posted by 76stepside

Blake... could you post a picture of what you did at the sending unit, Im tring to figure out what I want or need to do here. Thanks in addvance.

I didn't, unfortunately. However, all I did at the sender was use fuel injection rated hose and clamps, 3/8, 5/16 & 1/4. I can take some photos of the connections on the cross member under the cab tomorrow, if that will help. I made all my connections there so if I had to drop the tank I could easily do it there from a creeper instead of taking the bed off again.

[52 Rat]

Originally Posted by Blake_H

I didn't, unfortunately. However, all I did at the sender was use fuel injection rated hose and clamps, 3/8, 5/16 & 1/4. I can take some photos of the connections on the cross member under the cab tomorrow, if that will help. I made all my connections there so if I had to drop the tank I could easily do it there from a creeper instead of taking the bed off again.

That would be good. What brand of fuel line did you use?

[72gmcshorty]

On your last pic, the line that goes from the filter to the motor, you have steel line, then a connector, and then rubber? I don't think that connector is meant for rubber....i'm pretty sure its only for nylon tubing.

EDIT** Looking again, i'm thinking that's the fire sleeve over the nylon tubing? Is there some inexpensive alternative to that fire sleeve stuff?

[Blake_H]

Originally Posted by 72gmcshorty

EDIT** Looking again, i'm thinking that's the fire sleeve over the nylon tubing? Is there some inexpensive alternative to that fire sleeve stuff?

Not that I'm aware of. But, having decided to do the fire sleeve before I installed any of the fuel system, I went ahead and did the whole thing in it. At the time, the exhaust wasn't in and I had removed the old exhaust so I could work. I was erring on the side of caution and was thinking the exhaust would be closer than it turned out to be. I also did the whole thing because of a review on amazon.com of the fuel line being "weak and brittle" and some comments over on LS1tech.com about being very careful with it going around bends and any type of metal edges. Since this truck is going to be making a 3200 mile trip with the trailer fully loaded at the end of this month, I didn't want to take any chances. Now that I've played with it, I can tell you it is not weak and brittle. Chaffing on a sharp metal edge, maybe, but it is definitely not weak and brittle.

My finance director (aka my wife) was not to happy with the cost of the fire sleeve until I told her it was for the fuel line, and I haven't heard a word since.

If I had it to do over again, I might have tried to clamp it every 14-16 inches. My dad and I went round and round about it. He thought I had bought stock in DEI, as the stuff was everywhere. While I was trying to decide to do this I spent a lot of time at the local wrecking yard looking over the trucks and Suburbans. I was trying to see if I could get the lines from the fuel rail down to the frame and I got to see alot of tanks that were removed from the vehicles. What I noticed was the factory uses the nylon on the tanks, then to steel lines down the frame and then back to nylon up to the fuel rails. Where the nylon line was on the tank it was not protected, but when it came from the frame to the fuel rail it had some type of braiding over like an AN line. So my thought was their nylon was heat formed & protected on the frame and would stay in place. Mine was not and was like running a wire, flopping all over. So, I was concerned it would chaff and/or crack from vibration. I looked for that braid covered nylon, but couldn't find any and the fire sleeve seemed like a good alternative.

When I do another conversion, I will have a little more time on my side and will research to see if I can find that braid covered stuff and use it. But I have been under the gun to get this thing done so we can move and this is what I was able to come up with in a short amount of time. If your not in a hurry, I would look for that braid covered stuff and use that. I would hope it's cheaper than $7.00 per foot, which what fire sleeve works out to be.

[Blake_H]

Okay, I got a few more photos of the system today.

Coming from the sender.

You can see I have all the connection points uncovered. They will stay that way until I can test it and make sure I don't have any leaks, and then I'll move the sleeve over them.

Coming across the cross member under the cab.


Making the transition to the passenger side frame rail.


Headed to the fuel filter.


Headed up to the motor.

You can the vent line continuing forward to the canister.

And finally connecting to the fuel rail.


I used 2 sections of DEI-010472 which is the 5/8 sleeve on the feed and return lines from the tank to the filter.
1 section of DEI-010474 1 inch sleeve. That got split up and used on the fuel system as cover for the clamps and on the wires that go to the starter.
3 sections of DEI-010470 which is the 3/8 sleeve from the filter to the fuel rail.
5 sections of DEI-010470 3/8 on the vent line from the cross member to the canister up front.

The fuel system itself is listed below.
1) 25 ft. roll of Dorman 800-072 3/8 nylon tubing
1) 25 ft. roll of Dorman 800-071 5/16 nylon tubing
3) Dorman 800-58 3/8 quick disconnect fittings.
2) Dorman 800-57 5/16 quick disconnect fittings.
Both quick disconnect part numbers include the fitting, 18 in. section of tubing attached and a barbed union.
1) Dorman 800-012 5/16 barbed union. (2 in each package) For connection to the rubber lines.
1) Dorman 800-155 12" double bead steel tubing for connection from the fuel filter to the nylon on the motor side.
1) Wix 33737 fuel filter with regulator built in. I got mine from Gotelli Speed Shop in So. San Francisco on eBay. Which if your not an old top fuel fan, won't mean anything, but it was the cheapest deal I could find which will mean something.
1) Dorman 800-301 fuel line tool. I'm not talented enough to make a tool, so I bought one. It takes a little while to figure out how to use it. There are no instructions in the box, so your on your own to figure out to use it. It's not bad though and I did figure it out fairly quick.
1) Pex 3/8 to 5/16 barbed union. It slid on the nylon and fit nice and tight, but getting it on the 3/8 fuel injection hose was a bear. I know that won't leak.

I was going to order this all from amazon.com but we have a Summit Racing store here and I was out there picking something up and the kid at the counter asked me if I needed anything else. I jokingly asked him if he had Dorman fuel line stuff and he said yes. So I grabbed everything there and I was glad I did. It was the same price or a couple of bucks less than amazon on all of it. Plus they had it all in stock. Just an FYI.

One other note. I used the Summit rubberized clamps and wanted to use the factory bolts that were holding the original fuel line clamps in place. You know, the ones that will self tap the hole as you put them in. In order to use those clamps with those bolts I had to drill out the clamps mounting hole with a unibit, cordless drill and a pair of vise grips to make them one size larger. I then drilled holes in the frame where I wanted the clamps. I used a 9/32 drill bit for the bolt holes and then put them in. Luckily I had leftover bolts from my parts Suburban because I didn't have enough otherwise.

Last but not least. Big props to Shon for the help. Without his intial input and guidance I would not have gotten this done as quick as I did. So Shon, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! I really appreciate having a place I can get ideas and help from, and having you guys around has made this a better project. I hope this will help someone else out in there project and make it a little easier going forward.

[pacobeagle]

[72gmcshorty]

I found a factory line from the fuel rail to the frame. At the fuel rail it is about 6-8" of flexible nylon (or rubber?) and then to steel. At the frame, it changes from steel back to the flexible nylon (or rubber). Both ends of this line have that female fitting that requires the steel tube with the fancy gm flare.

[capone550]

Blake is that regulator adjustable? Everything I have read from dirtylarry says that bumping up the fuel pressure really makes a huge difference in the way it runs.

[Blake_H]

Originally Posted by capone550

Blake is that regulator adjustable? Everything I have read from dirtylarry says that bumping up the fuel pressure really makes a huge difference in the way it runs.

No, it's not adjustable that I know of. I did use Larry's experience and put in the pump he ultimately went with. If I remember right it was the same pump used in a '95-'99 Tahoe/Suburban. It worked great on the two road trips it has been on. Plus it pulled an extremely heavy trailer up two heavy duty grades with no issues at all.

Hope that helps!

[HemiChallenger71]

+1 for this thread too.

[65standard]

Good information in this thread. Thanks for sharing.

[SBTork]

I ran nylon line from SUR&R on my Suburban LS conversion

http://www.surrauto.com/fuel.html

They make really nice and easy to work with lines, fittings, and clamps. I can take pictures next time I have it up in the air next week