Source for steel braided fuel lines off EFI suburban tank?

[Russell]

Does anyone know where a guy can buy the steel braided fuel hoses that GM used on the TBI suburbans to run from the tank to the frame?

They have a female o-ring saginaw fitting on one end which the sending unit threads into, and turn into 3/8 or 5/16 hardline on the other end.

I have a pair, but both got crushed when I was putting my box back on this evening. Neither leak, but both have a pretty noticeable crease in them now. my understanding is that the lines are a plastic tube with the steel braid overtop of them, not rubber surrounded by steel braid, so there is a good chance of them failing in the future.

 

[dremu]

Does anyone know where a guy can buy the steel braided fuel hoses that GM used on the TBI suburbans to run from the tank to the frame?

They have a female o-ring saginaw fitting on one end which the sending unit threads into, and turn into 3/8 or 5/16 hardline on the other end.

I have a pair, but both got crushed when I was putting my box back on this evening. Neither leak, but both have a pretty noticeable crease in them now. my understanding is that the lines are a plastic tube with the steel braid overtop of them, not rubber surrounded by steel braid, so there is a good chance of them failing in the future.

If they're anything like the evil ones that go from the fuel line to the TBI unit, you're going to a dealer. And surprise surprise, my dealer had them in stock, right then. Kinda like the passenger side manifold ... they KNOW that the damn things are gonna go. (The front ones didn't kink, in my case, but leaked ... gas on the ground, bad. Zog not want truck to go up in flames.)

-- A

 

[Russell]

I stopped by the dealership today, and was told that gm does not offer the stock style braided lines for sale and didn't have any recommendations for me as far as finding a set goes... Any other suggestions?

 

[Mike D]

Jeg's, Summit, and most speed shops carry AN steel braded fuel line hose. Probably an AN 6 or 8 may be the correct size. These convert roughly to 5/16 and 3/8 respectively. They can handle up to 400 PSI.

 

[dyeager535]

Since you mention threaded sender side, I assume these are saginaw on both ends...just didn't say that. Only reason I mention it is because apparently some trucks came with non-threaded sender sides with TBI...opposite of what I could infer from your description, but who knows. I didn't think they'd use clamps factory on TBI fuel lines either!

Anyways, how long are the lines? Following that, how good are your wrecking yards? Just about any GM vehicle that is EFI has flexible braided lines. I pulled many off of FWD cars when piecing my setup together instead of using -AN adapters. Most on the engine side I've seen are all flex line, no solid, but doesn't really matter since they are armored, as long as they are long enough.

Other than getting into pricey aftermarket adapters, or making your own setup, the wrecking yards/parted vehicles are probably your only choice.

I have no qualms with stock used braided lines. The early steel braided oil cooler lines were apparently teflon tubes, inside rubber inside the steel braid, the fuel lines likely are as well. Probably find lots of cut ones in the wrecking yard to inspect their construction.

 

[Russell]

Yep, sorry, they are saginaw fittings. The fitting on the sending unit is the male side, and the fitting on the line is the female side.

Napa is able to get me a flex hose with the male side fitting, but not with the female side. I've found that most of the lines at the wrecking yard are orientated the same, with the sender being female, and the lines being male.

I haven't been to the wreckers in a while though, so I may take a trip over there and see if I can find a fuel injected suburban to rob the lines from

 

[dyeager535]

If they don't have a Suburban, don't limit yourself, check any GM injected vehicle there that isn't too new. It seems to me that they used those saginaw fitting/flex line from the inception of EFI to the changeover in the 2000's somewhere to actual plastic line, which is a LONG production run. Most of the FWD flex lines I found on the engine were about 12" long, can't recall how long the truck tank one is.