Fuel Injecter Line....When you can't find a part

Today the fuel injector line went out on our 89 Ford 7.3 International Diesel. When Lenny took a close look at the line he found that the line was cracked near the bushing and the gaskets were going bad. At first Lenny took off to see if he could find a replacement part from the usual, Auto Zone, KOI, Advanced Auto, and even local dealerships, to no avail. So he decided to improvise and fabricate a fuel injector line out of a break line he found when cleaning out the basement of a friend's rental property basement.

There have been many times where Lenny has been able to fabricate items out of found/free items people were so ready to walk away from and discard.

To start Lenny took the old injector line and cut off the flair in order to remove the bushing and nut to use on the new line.

Then he started to mock up the 5/16" break line by making the needed bends but making sure to leave enough extra line for final fitting and new flaring. He used a line bender, he also found in a rental cleanup, for bends and will be using a break line flare tool he picked up for a few bucks from a local auction for the flares.

Now there are those gaskets. You would think coming from the factory the flare would be adequate but there are also rubber gaskets in the nuts. For the gaskets Lenny has taken some spare 5/16" diesel fuel rated fuel line, left over from a previous return line project. You need to make sure the line you use is a pure rubber line with no nylon in it because it may not allow for an adequate seal. If the line is not diesel rated the new gaskets could be eaten away by the diesel fuel. Using a pair of dikes, he cut a quarter inch of line for the new gaskets and placed it on the break line for a rough fit.

 

You will repeat the same processes for the other end of the line.

Before flaring the ends, rough fit on the vehicle and make any needed modifications unless none are needed. Then you will flare both ends using the flare tool, making sure the nuts and gaskets are on the line. Once the line has been flared you will no longer be able to add the nuts and gaskets and may need to cut the line or cause you to have to re-start the project due to inadequate amount of line.

Flare tool set and line bender.

In the event that a critical part such as this, which is very simple in design, is not readily available, it is a good tool to have the means and the knowledge of how to fabricate with readily available items.  Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

For more information on this project or if you have any suggestions feel free the leave a comment or e-mail us at thehomesteadjones@yahoo.com

Also, feel free to check out this awesome article that our friends over at Simple Prepping Now posted when Lenny helped replace a head gasket.