Alistair - I second everything you have said. Replacing those fuel lines
cannot be emphasized enough - including the short injector hoses from
the rail to the injectors.

One thing, however. It should be noted that at least some of the list
vendors are supplying with their FI hose kits a very special gear type
clamp that looks a bit like the common garden hose variety but are very
definitely not. These special clamps are very much OK to use. They don't
back off, they don't cut into the hose, and they give even pressure on
the hoses all the way around. I think this change has come about due to
bad experiences over time with hose clamps and this was the very best
solution to an aggravating problem. Check with Ron Salmon at Bust Depot,
Ken Wilford at Vanagain.com or Peter at Van-Cafe. I think they all use
this new type clamp now, and they can give you the whole skinny on it.

John

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 6/3/2010 5:18 PM, Alistair Bell 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
>
>