What are you replacing old nylon fuel lines with?

[Uncle Gump]

I should add... you may never see a problem removing the reservoir... but...

 

[franklin2]

I should add... you may never see a problem removing the reservoir... but...

Unless he keeps the fuel tank at least half full at all times, I think he will see a problem with it removed. If Ford could have saved a dollar on each truck they built, they would have. They have no baffle system in the tank, so they had to do something to keep the engine supplied with fuel.

 

[Uncle Gump]

That is a shortfall of a Bronco II tank.

I'll have to see how my systems performs off road. My basic plan is to keep the tank full...

 

[RonD]

The reservoir was only there for mechanical pumps and frame rail high pressure pumps

It held the siphon/prime for mechanical pumps so they would always have a fluid to "pump" to the carb, they don't pump air very well
Any one who has had a dry float bowl and no prime at mechanical pump knows what a pain it can be to re-prime the pump, i.e. get it to suck gas up and over the top of the tank to refill the fuel line to pump, mechanical pumps have good suction with a fluid, but not so much with air

High pressure pumps have no suction, 0, none, nada, with or without fluid
So even with a low pressure pump in the tank a reservoir was needed to "keep the prime" for the high pressure pump in the frame rail so it could instantly provide fuel pressure at injectors, no float bowl with fuel injection, lol

With in tank high pressure pump there can be no loss of Prime assuming you don't run out of gas, lol, so reservoir was removed

 

[franklin2]

The reservoir was only there for mechanical pumps and frame rail high pressure pumps

Never seen a mechanical pump system with the reservoir on it. The mechanical pump systems were always with a carb or the injection pump on the diesel. The carb has a fuel bowl for storage, the diesel injection pump has a quantitly of fuel in it also, so when the fuel is low and you go around a turn, the fuel stored in the carb or the injection pump keep the engine going without interruption.

With in tank high pressure pump there can be no loss of Prime assuming you don't run out of gas, lol, so reservoir was removed

If you notice the in tank high pressure pumps use a round plastic pipe that surrounds the complete assembly and pushes against the bottom of the tank. The pump and the return line are inside this pipe. The pipe acts like a reservoir, it has some small holes in the bottom to let fuel into the interior of the pipe, and these small holes keep the fuel inside the pipe somewhat as you make turns and the fuel sloshes around. And then the return being inside helps add fuel to the interior of the pipe or housing also. Some places call this a fuel "cartridge".

 

[RonD]

Had those cartridge filter/reservoirs on a few of my older Ford trucks, with mechanic pumps

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

If you notice the in tank high pressure pumps use a round plastic pipe that surrounds the complete assembly and pushes against the bottom of the tank. The pump and the return line are inside this pipe. The pipe acts like a reservoir, it has some small holes in the bottom to let fuel into the interior of the pipe, and these small holes keep the fuel inside the pipe somewhat as you make turns and the fuel sloshes around. And then the return being inside helps add fuel to the interior of the pipe or housing also. Some places call this a fuel "cartridge".

I’m gonna disagree there because I’ve seen a number of in tank high pressure pumps (especially aftermarket) that don’t have the plastic “pipe” surrounding the pump. My understanding is that the plastic was not to act as a reservoir but an anti-slosh by helping keep a small amount of fuel from sloshing around the tank so the pump doesn’t get starved when the tank gets low.

 

[franklin2]

I’m gonna disagree there because I’ve seen a number of in tank high pressure pumps (especially aftermarket) that don’t have the plastic “pipe” surrounding the pump. My understanding is that the plastic was not to act as a reservoir but an anti-slosh by helping keep a small amount of fuel from sloshing around the tank so the pump doesn’t get starved when the tank gets low.

Reservoir, anti-slosh, both have the same goals, just different names correct?

If you see a aftermarket system with just the pump hanging out by itself in the tank I would not be surprised. The aftermarket does a lot of things just to sell product. You will notice Holley sells those fuel mats just for that application, to absorb a quantity of fuel to keep the fuel pump suction supplied at all times.

 

[cmcfab]

Thanks for all the input guys. Greatly appreciated.
I’m just gonna keep the cartridge reservoir and the dual pumps for now since it’s already all installed.
as for the fuel lines, I’m gonna go with steel coated hardline for the long runs and nylon at all the connection ends to fittings for now.

 

[cmcfab]

Well the steel lines/nylon lines idea was a waste of time.
It was very difficult to match the bends in the steel lines then to add the nylon lines at the ends. Also The steel female to Male nylon coupling reduces the size of the hole pretty drastically.
I made a full steel return line from the engine to the cartridge reservoir matching the bends of the old nylon line but I couldn’t get it back in the engine bay and frame rail without having to remove a bunch of stuff. Let alone kinking the nylon ends just trying to get everything to fit.
So I’m scratching the idea of full steel lines and just replacing the lines with nylon.
Less couplings to worry about and easier to guide the lines down the frame rails.
Wasted a bunch of time and $, but lesson learned.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Seems we tried to tell you...

Good lesson for anyone else with this same question.

The only thing better you could have done was just go with a single in tank hp fuel pump.

 

[cmcfab]

Yeah I know Uncle Gump. I had already bought all the lines so I figured I’d give it a shot. I appreciate the suggestions.

The Nylon lines were much quicker to run then trying to do the steel lines.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

That’s where -AN stuff shines, little to no restriction to fittings, and I’ve taken to just making things in lengths that I can fit in with a minimum of fuss. Downside is it’s not at all cheap.

Cheap, easy and effective is just doing the nylon lines like the factory did.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Fyi; JIC fittings are the same dimensions as AN, and significantly cheaper. They aren't held to the same tolerance, but we're not going into war either.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Fyi; JIC fittings are the same dimensions as AN, and significantly cheaper. They aren't held to the same tolerance, but we're not going into war either.

Thought about mentioning that then decided it doesn’t really matter and didn’t. The down side to JIC fittings is that there are none of the special fittings available so you still have to go to AN for those.