linderpat

Doing my fuel line replacement - US 78 model. There are only two fuel lines that need to be replaced in the engine bay, both on the passenger side of the engine, and both pretty short. I got one line all the way off, but only the top side of the other line loose. The bottom side of these lines need to be accessed from below. Car is raised.
I can't break free the connection from the bottom. It is frozen, and I've put lots of PB Blaster on it and still no joy. I don't want to bend or break the hard line either. What are the tricks for breaking these joints free? Here's a pic from Dave A's site of the lines from underneath, altho these are shots after the repair (my car is identical). The line I can't break free is the one on the right side:

GlenL

Mine were frozen solid, too. I worked on them on-and-off for years! Finally the uppers succumbed to using the torch. Yes, super-duper smart!

The lower ends worked by using two good flare-nut wrenches and squeezing them together with a vice-grips. If you've got new hoses then you could cut the line and slip a regular box-end wrench over at least one of the fittings.

Best of luck!

stolarzj

I'm working on an 82 right now and those lines were tight. PB Blaster and lots of wrestling with the wrenches. I did find later on that if you remove the coolant tank you have better access to those hoses from the top.

Fabio421

You are thinking about it all wrong. Follow the hard line down and back to the next easily accessed connection. When I did mine I had to take it loose back in the rear wheel well area and drop it as one piece. It's really easy to do it that way and the fitting are easily loosened once you have it off. Try it, you'll thank me.

danglerb

I took off the hose and slipped a pair of long handle box end wrenches on and did the counter hold thing on some lines like those.

Shark Attack

Ya know PB is good. But sometimes I find that some good old Penetrating oil works better. The PB seems to run off before it can work sometimes.

It sure is different working on a 79 vs 86 isnt it.. Things are not as coopertive.

Mrmerlin

instead of breaking the fitting loose get a dremel and cut the swage in 2 spots then pry it off,
then use a razor blade to cut the hose,
usually done from under the car.
Fit the new hose and clamps to the fittings

Ducman82

+1

linderpat

Not a bad idea Stan, but no room for that under there. Plus, now I'm worried that by playing with it hard, I might have loosened it sufficiently to leak. I think once you start, you are committed to getting it off.
Fabio, your idea was a good one, but the stuck fitting is for the center line, which runs somewhere up under the gas tank. Not dropping that unless I break the line, which at this point is a possibility.
I'll try the WD40 Kyle, thanks for all the tips so far guys.

SeanR

Yup, most times I just end up cutting them off with a dremmel. Then as said, just pry the metal off, cut the hose and you are good to go. Much faster than screwing it up the other way.

Fabio421

You are replacing the flex lines near the passenger fender right? The hard lines end just in front of the fuel tank near the rear wheel well. I'm telling you, this is the easiest way to do it. It's a piece of cake. You've spent more time talking about it and agonizing over it now than it would have taken to get it done. Try it.

chewy8000

Find someone who has a lift standing under the car will give you all the leverage you need to break them free. Finding a lift isn't probably the easiest solution though.

Optimator

BTDT, I second Fabio's advice. On a 5-speed at least, it is easy to loosen all of the plastic clips and just remove the whole hard line from the car with the hose still attached. You will then have plenty of room to use the correct wrenches. You do NOT want to munge any of these fittings, as you cannot get replacements.

The 10mm bubble flare connections were not a good idea, which is probably why they disappeared from the 928 pretty quickly. The ball flare connections I've seen on the later cars are way nicer and easier to work with.

Lizard928

Hmm, I never have troubles with these ones (just did another set to).

If they dont come easily then I just cut the hose in the middle with a razor and then slide the box end of the wrench over the hose and sqeeze the two wrenches together in one hand.
Then I use a air grinder to cut off the shield and a razor to cut the rubber hose.

linderpat

I did the Stan Sean thing, and dremeled the damn thing off in situ. I had the missus standing by with 2 fire extinguishers and a wet towel (for my face as I lay under the car doing this pita job) while I cut - lots of sparks and on a fuel line no less. Anyway, didn't blow up or catch on fire. Got the hose off, and fit the end of the new hose over the barb. Clamp on, and will check it all when the subn shines and I can see possbile leaks.

Fabio - I really wanted to try your method, but the fitting that was stuck went to the middle line in the picture above. That line runs under a heat shield (which would not be fun to remove) and goes all the way back and up somewhere behind the gas tank. The other two lines also run under the little heat sheild (in front at bottom edge of engine bay), and these two lines run to easily reached connections in the rear wheel well. So no joy with this method on this line - wasn't going to drop a full tank to access the hard line, and likely damage a bunch of other stuff in the process. Thanks anyhow, it's a good suggestion for other the lines.