3liter6

I recently acquired an 88 944S, I need to replace the engine compartment lines and after some investigation it looks like things are a touch more complicated, but possibly more simple than I thought (the car is 800 miles away at my brothers so my ability to examine what I have is limited) My fuel rail has the barbed fittings for inlet and return -- so while I had been thinking that I'd buy the adapters and buy/make -6 hoses for the fuel it looks the move is to just buy quality ethanol-safe fuel injection hose and clamps. So now I've turned my eye towards the fuel damper hoses. It looks like this is the same situation? The damper has threaded fittings but the fuel rail (based on what I can discern from pictures) uses barbs? If I can't just just get quality FI clamps and hose to replace, what are my other options?

Thanks!

Jfrahm

Some may argue but IMO if you dull the barbs you can use FI fuel line and clamps to remake the lines.
If you leave them sharp they may cut through the inner lining of the hose, which is not ideal. The barbs are designed to work with teflon lined fuel hose and stab into it pretty good.

KevinGross

Why wouldn't you just use the correct original parts?

3liter6

Because over $1K to use the "correct" original parts?

Gage

The hose assemblies that are most leak prone after 35+ years, are the supply and return that cross over the exhaust manifolds. 94435602912 and 94435602714 are available from Porsche, will last another 30 years and are less than $300 for the pair. The other (polyamide) transfer hoses are not likely leak sources unless damaged.

jhowell371

Take your hoses to a hydraulic shop and have them make up new ones with proper hose. I did that on my S2

walfreyydo

You can easily convert them to AN lines using metric to AN adapters. For the barbed fittings it should be even easier. Lindsey Racing, 944Online, Devon Lyons on facebook (member of the various FB 944 parts groups) can all make lines for you, as well as making them yourself if you wanted. Just make sure you order a set for the 16V car and not an 8V because they are very different.

The 16V cars are much easier than the 8V cars because they have threaded fittings coming out of the passenger wheel well, whereas the 8v cars you need to cut the lines and reflare them. So on the 16V cars you simply need to do a metric to AN adapter and then run AN the rest of the way to the rail, and then another adapter back to metric.

Here is my S2 converted to AN (the S2 does not have barbed fittings going to the dampener like the S). I think I paid around $300? for all the lines (fender to rail, rail to dampener) from Devon Lyons. I have since sheathed the lines running over the exhaust manifold with .

KevinGross

Right parts = cheap insurance. I feel your pain, but engine fuel fires from kludgy aftermarket "solutions" really harsh my mellow.

3liter6

Yes, but to use them I'd need a new fuel rail which is $853 dollars. From what I can tell the 944S used two different fuel rails, one with all threaded connections and one with barbs. This is from a thread i the other 944 forum (not sure why there are two that are largely the same?) and is what my rail looks like. From the pictures I had saved it looked like the damper lines were also barbed, but after review his pics it looks like those could be replaced but for $150-ish a hose for official Porsche lines.

sefeing

I’m running the Rennline lines on my 88s - no complaints, they seem to be fantastic quality.

walfreyydo

I am pretty sure those barbs run to/from the dampener and do not connect to the main lines coming out of the fender. The main lines connect to the rail return line and directly to the FPR and are threaded. You can run lines from those barbed fittings to from your dampener as is normal (just use a clamp). I dont understand why you say you need a new fuel rail.

To summarize:
-lines running from fender to rail (feed connects to FPR, return connects to rail) can be used the same as an S2 and folks can make AN converted lines for you, like I mentioned, Devon Lyons on facebook, or 944online, Lindsey, larts parts, etc (or take the existing lines to a hydraulic shop to get replaced)
-lines running from rail to dampener should be clamped using the barbed fittings on one end, and should have a threaded connector going to/from the dampener on the other. Same as above, get the lines redone at a hydraulic shop or have AN converted lines made.

See below photo of a 944s engine bay. The FPR is obscured in this photo by the black plastic guard over the fuel rail, but the feed line coming from the fender connects directly to the FPR, the return line connects at the end of the rail directly next to the FPR. You can see two lines running from the fender nearest the firewall - those are feed and return. The two lines at the front of the engine are the barbed fittings running to/from the dampener. This should be exactly like the S2 lines, EXCEPT that they have a barbed fitting running to/from dampener and not a threaded fitting like the S2



Lastly, I am pretty sure all 944S rails have the barbed fittings and with the S2 they changed from barbed fittings to threaded - but only at the end of the rail to/from the dampener. I think you have the correct rail, you just need to get the lines made/updated. Again, S2 lines will work from the fender to rail, and S2 lines, with one end not having any threaded fittings, just a plain hose that you can slide over the barbs and clamp, should work for the dampener lines.

Zirconocene

The other point I would make is that you can still get Cohline hose in the right size. The fittings used in the 944 can be reused. Under the little trim piece at the end of the hose itself is just a barbed end holding onto the hose. Those little metal caps are not crimp pieces, they're really just for looks. Newco and Belmetric both offer polyamide hoses that would work for these fittings (among other suppliers).

What you'll need to be mindful of, if you go this route, is to be sure that you get polyamide lined hose. There's a difference in the barb configuration for those vs. standard rubber barrier hose and you don't want to mix them up. For the polyamide hose, Cohline is very emphatic about NOT using clamps on the hose. For standard rubber barrier hose, you'd really want to use clamps.

I guess to be complete about this, you can also get most of the fittings new, as well, from the suppliers I listed above. The only really tricky one, which I haven't found currently available, is the left- bottom-most in the picture above. That's a slightly different configuration to the other female fittings in the system (concave vs convex, if I remember correctly).

Cheers