1990 Silverado Fuel Lines
 

I have a 1990 Chevy Silverado, 8 ft bed, Ext Cab, 350 Eng. It needs all the fuel lines, both supply and return, from the connection at the carburator to the connection at the sending unit on the gas tank. I have already attempted to work with one supplyer who claimed direct fit but it looks like I'll be sending those back. I am having difficulty finding these lines. Some vendors only offer some of the lines; I need the whole set.

I'm still researching and have a call in to my local Chevy dealer. He says even though this truck is over 10 years old, he can still supply all the lines, but he says, "It won't be cheap." That's scary!

I need other sources. Anyone know a good, "cheap" aftermarket source? I wonder what those classic car rebuilders use for a source? Especially when they install a bigger engine. Is that all custom bent? My truck is 24 years old already! Maybe I have to go to one of those rebuilders. I hope not: sounds just as expensive as the Chevy dealer

I'm open for suggestions.

Go to your local parts store and buy some brake lines and a tubing bender.


Allan

Yes, I'm familiar with brake lines. I replaced all my brake lines and hoses about 3 or 4 years ago. And I used formed brake line sections from an auto parts store so that I didn't have to form that double flare at the ends. But this is fuel line and is different.

The fuel line end is specially formed to accommodate an o-ring backing ring as well as a flare to retain the o-ring on the end of the fuel line. What I'm calling the backing ring looks similar to the rings around the planet Saturn except they're around the end of the fuel line. They may be called a dorman fitting, I'm not sure. Dorman is a manufacturer of fuel lines but I'm not sure if that that special end is named after them. You have to see one because I can't explain how they look. Bottom line is that I do not have the means to form this special kind of end on the fuel line.

Also this fuel line involves a 3/8" fuel feed line and a 5/16" fuel return line. Plus there are some tight, small radius bends at the engine. I also don't have the means to make such a tight bend. And apparently neither did the manufacturer I purchased my lines from. They even had the start of kinks in their bends which I was surprised to see. Not too professional. I've got pictures if I can figure out how to include them in these posts.

But I thank you for your concern.

BTW, I got a quote from the Chevy dealer: $447.00 for all fuel lines. Oh my!

Moving On
 

Well I decided to send back my aftermarket set of fuel lines. They agreed to pay for the return shipping, sent me a shipping voucher and I packed them up and sent them out. My take-away from this is that I did their quality control for them; now they know what changes they must make to their fuel lines that are supposed to fit a 1990 Chevy.

Then I shopped around for another aftermarket supplier but got turned off even more. With regards, to returning items, E-bay wanted me to make sure the package wasn't opened, it item wasn't installed, it must be shipped back in the original package and they don't pay return shipping. Who's going to take a chance with that! I checked a few more places then finally decided to bite the bullet and go with Chevy. I now have 3 of the 4 fuel line sets in hand: one is being shipped to me.

I could tell instantly that the tight radius bends were going to allow it's (the front return line) installation. And yes, this cost me twice as much as the aftermarket brand but there would have been a time savings involved: it cost me almost a month playing around with this and I still have to wait for my money to be returned.

Bottom line, I think pre-bent furl lines are an item that must be purchased locally for easy return if there's something wrong with them. When you order a 1990 Chevy line, you get a 1990 Chevy fuel line: not a fuel line that been tweeked to fit a range of Chevy years from 1990 to 1995. This sending iPostal Money Orders, pictures, e-mails back and forth just wasted a lot of my time and I ended up back at square one.

Will keep you posted.