fuel line heat shielding?

[evilokc]

I'm having some fuel issues. I'm trying to address these issues from all angles. I grabbed the fuel line last night after the truck had been running for and 45 minutes and it was very hot. before that it hadn't occurred to me that there might be a heat issue. they do run only a few inches from a header. what kind of heat shielding are you guys using? I know they make wrap and I'm at least going to use that but I'm toying with the idea of making an actual metal shield as well. thoughts?

[Jesse Z]

I've been reading your travails on the "What Do You Do With Your Truck Today" topic. Hot fuel lines is a likely culprit.

If it were me I'd re-route the lines. But I've had good luck with the wraps too. Insulated, foil-covered tube type.

[mr48chev]

If the line is running inside the passenger side frame rail I'd cut a heat shield out of aluminum that fit in the frame much like you would set a boxing plate in but have some tabs to fasten it in. Plus there are wraps as Jesse Z suggested. or maybe a combination.

Main thing is to keep the direct radiant heat off the fuel line.

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by Jesse Z

I've been reading your travails on the "What Do You Do With Your Truck Today" topic. Hot fuel lines is a likely culprit.

If it were me I'd re-route the lines. But I've had good luck with the wraps too. Insulated, foil-covered tube type.

Agreed, when I rebuilt the engine for the '58 I bent up a new steel fuel line tucked in close to the block and experienced vapor lock after 10 miles of driving, much of it in stop and go traffic. Today's fuel boils at a relatively low temp, especially with ethanol blended fuel. A piece of heavy wall heater hose to insulate the line got me by until I could make a new line with different routing. The resulting air gap seemed to make all the difference.

Relocate the line away from the header...

[dsraven]

if the line runs inside the frame rail you can bend up a U shaped piece of metal that fits over the frame rail, with a small lip to the U shape keep it from moving around. then use some large gear clamps around the whole thing to keep it in place. if you wanna get real fancy then cut a couple of slots where the gear clamps go. make it longer than required. this way it is easily removed if you need to or find it didn't work or needs to be bigger. you can cover it with an insulated wrap if you want to but it shouldn't need it. if you have a used appliance place nearby or a graveyard for used appliances then you could come up with a piece of painted light aluminum from a dishwasher door that would be easily bent over the edge of your workbench. use a split piece of fuel line or other insulator on the edge of your frame rail before installing the tin work and it won't rattle when done.

[mr48chev]

I just hauled a dishwasher to the dump the other day that the face of the door was probably the only good part on it. Never thought of that.

We have a local scrap yard that gets a lot of nice metal from local fab shops that will sell pieces by weight that I get metal from when I need small pieces.

[dsraven]

if you know a guy in the warehousing or shipping/receiving area, some of the banding used for strapping cargo to pallets etc is stainless and would look nicer than gear clamps. you would need to have the crimping machine to do it right though.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

Agreed, when I rebuilt the engine for the '58 I bent up a new steel fuel line tucked in close to the block and experienced vapor lock after 10 miles of driving, much of it in stop and go traffic. Today's fuel boils at a relatively low temp, especially with ethanol blended fuel. A piece of heavy wall heater hose to insulate the line got me by until I could make a new line with different routing. The resulting air gap seemed to make all the difference.

Relocate the line away from the header...

That's gotta be the biggest air cleaner I've seen!