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Trying to remove a frozen fuel line between the pressure regulator and cooler, but the fitting is badly galled. I'm using a 17mm flare wrench on the lower fitting and counter-holding with a 19mm open end wrench on the cooler side, but the 17mm flare is starting to round off the nut. I sprayed it down with PB Blaster last night, let it sit overnight and tried it again today with no real change. Sprayed it again just now and will wait awhile before trying it again.
Since it's a fuel line I cant really heat it up I don't think, though I do have a heat gun, it just doesn't seem like a very good idea. Any other suggestions?
PS: I suppose, since I'm replacing the fuel line anyway, I could try using vice grips on the 17mm fitting instead of the flare. I hate destroying that hard line since I suppose it could be re-built someday, but if that's the only way to break it loose I may have no choice.
Grab a few cans of computer duster air. Turn it upside down so it sprays liquid, and freeze the ball. Get the liquid out of the line and cooler first if you can. There are other "specialized" freeze sprays, while the relatively cheap and available canned air has a liquid propellant underneath that freezes stuff nicely as it evaporates from your part.
Scott, Try an Ice cube on the male side, it may shrink the inner fitting enough to help.
Never thought about cold instead of heat but it should do the same sort of thing. I remember buying some stuff to freeze warts at the drug store. Hmm..
Grab a few cans of computer duster air. Turn it upside down so it sprays liquid, and freeze the ball. Get the liquid out of the line and cooler first if you can. There are other "specialized" freeze sprays, while the relatively cheap and available canned air has a liquid propellant underneath that freezes stuff nicely as it evaporates from your part.
The line is open at the FPR end but the cooler probably still has fluid in it. It's been apart (open) for a couple of days now so it may have flashed off, not easy to tell. It isn't dripping any longer.
Use 'dry-ice' to shrink down the male end, and it will come apart, Instead of heat expanding the 'female' end, cold shrinks the 'male' part... Just don't work on it till it comes back to 'room temp' Metal at -80* F will break like glass.
Use 'dry-ice' to shrink down the male end, and it will come apart, Instead of heat expanding the 'female' end, cold shrinks the 'male' part... Just don't work on it till it comes back to 'room temp' Metal at -80* F will break like glass.
Thanks. Dry ice is a little hard to come by here in the wilds of central CA, but my guess is liquid nitrogen will do the trick too. I plan to pick up some of that at the pharmacy today, they use it to freeze off warts.
When I lived in Wyoming, everyone had dry ice this time of year, we used it to pack elk carcasses for transport. I miss those days.
PS: Good point about shattering the metal, I'd have forgotten that.
I call that the "fear of God" method. Mostly used around electronic equipment by technicians, it's the reason you can take your computer into a shop and have it work flawlessly in the presence of a repair tech, then stop working again as soon as you walk out the door...
Well, so far each method (freezing, use of 50/50 ATF+acetone, the crow's foot) have all failed to break this thing loose. On closer examination I found what looks like red locktite on the joint between the hard line (looks like aluminum but could be steel) and the fitting on the fuel cooler, which seems to be brass.
If I remember right, red locktite needs to be heated to 450F before it will release? If so, it seems I need to remove the fuel cooler with the lines attached, dry it out completely (no fuel left in it), then use a torch to heat up the joint. Can anyone confirm this is the necessary procedure when replacing this line?
Greg's new improved fuel line has an adapter on it that looks like it replaces the entire assemble leading from the fuel cooler to the FPR? It doesn't really say in the instructions, only that the adapter isn't tight and needs to be installed before the line is attached, making me think the cooler needs to come out. See attached photo for clarity:
The red locktite is on both fittings but only shows up on one in the photo and naturally its not the one I'm trying to get off.
Can anyone confirm the whole fuel cooler assembly needs to be removed to replace this line?
For reference, here's the fuel cooler assembly from the 83-86 PET. The cooler is part 57:
It looks (from the PET) like the two brass fittings on the cooler shown in the photo above are part of the cooler and can't be removed? If so, I don't think all of the adapter included with GB's hose needs to be used; the brass fitting on the cooler remains and is re-used?
10-28-2018, 06:03 PM
Trouble w/galled fuel line
My guess is you probably can't counter-hold that lash up, so the entire technique depends on stealth...
