please teach me about braided stainless fuel lines for fuel injection

The OE hard plastic lines in my SAAB c900 turbo have become brittle due to old age. I recently tried to mend a cracked return line with a brass barb fitting, the kind that you heat and press into the plastic line, but its still weaping. I also found a few spots in the line that look like weak spots.

Most of the fittings on the ends of the hoses are metric banjo fittings. Both the supply and return lines look like 5/16". I can probably replace both without dropping the tank, thanks to access hatches in the trunk floor.

So what do I need to know about braided stainless fuel hoses before I begin this job? I have access to a proper hydraulic hose shop to make crimped hose ends, and I am familiar with field assembly JIC fittings, is it safe to assume that AN fittings work the same way, since they are basically the same thing?

Where is the best place to hose and fittings from? My local hydraulic hose shop may have the hose, but I know that they don't carry the banjo fittings.

Thanks in advance for the help.

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Got an Earl's near you?

Or any circle track shops?

The most important thing to remember is that an uncoated steel braided line that rubs something else will damage both itself and that other thing...coating gives you a little margin for error but proper routing and use of grommets is still very important.

Now here's a recent discussion on this topic:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/ss-braided-fuel-hose-question-and-poll-please-help/32563/page1/

Summit Racing has a good searchable catalog and a pretty wide selection of both Earls and Russell. Banjo to AN adapters are easy.

As for the rubbing, it can easily be dealt with by splitting a piece of rubber fuel line, slipping it over the stainless line at the point of contact and retaining it with zipties.

How cheap you wanna go. I have had no reliability problems with the AN fittings direct lines, just sometimes they're an extra pain in the balls to assemble. When doing fuel lines you want PTFE liners, and if you get PTFE liners they NEED to be conductive to prevent static buildup. The AN fittings direct lines meet all these criteria, the problem I've had with them is that they are coated (at least the colored ones are) and you have the strip the coating off to get the damn things to assemble. And that E36 M3 is bonded on really well.

Just use the steel fittings with PTFE and your all set. Oh and yes by the tool that looks like a punch cause you'll need it to swage out the line so the fitting slides on with out it the liner can fold over...BTDT. use lube on the treads too

An easier solution is to figure out what length of line you need and buy pre-built lines in the correct lengths.

Another idea is to take the lines to a local hydraulic shop to have them recreated as they can replace the hose with modern hose and crimp them like the factory stuff was.

why not just replace all the plastic lines between the tank and engine with new plastic lines? Dorman sells all the bits and pieces to do it and you will come in way cheaper than if you go with the AN stuff and braided lines.

In reply to novaderrik: Because for the amount of work that its going to take to do the job I don't want to ever think about doing it again, and because where the lines pass by the rear suspension its vulnerable to damage. Thats were it failed, and since Rally-X and hopefully some other motorsports are in this cars future, every repair or modification that this car gets is done with a view towards durability. And I passionately hate plastic fuel lines.

unless you spring for the good stuff, braided lines deteriorate over time, too, and you'll be back on here in a couple of years asking why you car smells like a gas can.

how old are the stock lines? will the car still be operational when the new lines are that old?

You want to run the WHOLE length of the car? With braid? No. Run a foot of braid at the tank into stainless AN hardline, you'll need to get the good $270 hydraulic flaring tool for this but it'll make brake lines a sinch too. And then at a nice spot in the engine bay, switch back to braid. And any PTFE + graphite lined braided line will last longer than the plastic/rubber even if you switch to e85.

You don't need a hydraulic flaring tool to adapt AN to hard line; there's a couple compression fittings out there that work for this too.

MadScientistMatt wrote: You don't need a hydraulic flaring tool to adapt AN to hard line; there's a couple compression fittings out there that work for this too.

I'm pretty sure they say, NOT FOR USE IN FUEL SYSTEMS printed on the packaging, or at least the Earls flavor do.

In reply to Leafy: The car already has plastic lines for pressure & return from the tank through to the engine compartment running through the passenger compartment. (In a channel by the door sills).

As far as crimping the hoses goes, I have access to a proper hydraulic hose shop.

Why would a braided stainless hose, especially one with a teflon core only last a few years? Some manufacturers (ford comes to mind) use it as OE.

HappyAndy wrote: In reply to Leafy: The car already has plastic lines for pressure & return from the tank through to the engine compartment running through the passenger compartment. (In a channel by the door sills). As far as crimping the hoses goes, I have access to a proper hydraulic hose shop. Why would a braided stainless hose, especially one with a teflon core only last a few years? Some manufacturers (ford comes to mind) use it as OE.

the good hoses don't break down- the cheap stuff does.

In reply to novaderrik: so who sells the good stuff, and more importantly who sells the bad stuff?