Both the proper fuel injection clamps and the 'cheese-grater' clamps will
open fully; no need to remove the lines.
  Worst case scenario, do a quick swap loosing very little fuel.

Mike B.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Peter DiFalco" <peter.difalco@GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 7:44 PM
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Subject:      Re: fuel line replacement

> When I re-did my fuel tank seals a few weeks ago I just plain ran out of
> good German clamps and I had to resort to using gear head cheese grater
> clamps on the supply line from fuel tank to fuel pump. I'm sorry, I know I
> have sinned! But Sunday is hard day to get that kind of part in a town
> with
> no marine supply stores.
>
> So... really... am I just wondering whether I should make the extra effort
> to dump the fuel again to switch out the clamps... or just let it roll for
> a
> year or two...? Keeping in mind I live in a dry, no-rust area.
>
> -Peter
> 89 Wolfsburg
>
> On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 3:18 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> hi,
>>
>> yes agreed, but there is cracking and there is CRACKING :)
>>
>> this was pretty bad, you could tell without cutting. I am assuming
>> they were stock, based on the date stamp on the longer fuel lines.
>> Those longer lines looked pretty good, with only some cracking
>> internally at the ends.
>>
>> I should also mention to replace the clamps if they are rusty. And
>> use the proper clamps, not the common gear head cheese grater kind.
>>
>> Ben has a good description of all this on his site, here;
>> http://www.benplace.com/fuel_line.htm
>>
>> alistair
>>
>>
>> On 3-Jun-10, at 2:49 PM, Jeff wrote:
>>
>> First, let me say that I agree that replacing old fuel lines is
>> extremely
>> important, however... the cracking on the outside of the fuel lines
>> can be
>> deceptive as this kind of cracking can happen quite fast.
>>
>> Unfortunately, it's kind of a catch-22.  In order to truly check your
>> lines,
>> you need to cut them open lengthwise and inspect the inner portion.
>> At that
>> point, you need to replace them anyways.  Sigh...  Just can't win.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeff
>>