[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by 78w72

thats one thing i dint like about the earlier 70-73 cars is the passenger side fuel line & the line going across the front of the oil pan... the later years & the OP's 78 are a much better design, routing on the driver side & not crossing over the cross member or oil pan.

I actually like this design on the 72 where it crosses in the front under the oil pan. It gets plenty of air flow up there and basically comes along the side frame rail where it isn't all that close to the engine.

I don't like my 70 though, it's a little different. It crosses behind the cross member under the engine between the cross member and oil pan sump, then runs up and over the cross member along the oil pan rail to the fuel pump so it's packed with a lot of heat and doesn't get nearly as much air flow as the front version.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I actually like this design on the 72 where it crosses in the front under the oil pan. It gets plenty of air flow up there and basically comes along the side frame rail where it isn't all that close to the engine.

I don't like my 70 though, it's a little different. It crosses behind the cross member under the engine between the cross member and oil pan sump, then runs up and over the cross member along the oil pan rail to the fuel pump so it's packed with a lot of heat and doesn't get nearly as much air flow as the front version.

i suppose theres pros & cons to both ways depending on what youre doing. i just like the 78 routing on the driver side for stock mech pumps better since the line doesnt need to make a right angle turn all the way across the front of the engine to reach the pump like on 72's... even with air flow the line is actually clamped to & touching the oil pan which transfers a lot of heat in stop & go driving or sitting in the staging lanes at the track.

where it runs on top the frame next to the engine its very close to the headers if you have bigger pipes, my line is all of about 2" from the big 2" tube super comps i run, way to close for comfort, i had to use some heat wrap on the line in that area its so close. you can kid of see it in this pic, runs very close, would be much cleaner & away from major heat sources on the driver side. they make the later year driver side run in 1/2" too & would be much easier than trying to convert a later year car to passenger side routing.

[Formulajones]

That doesn't look too bad for clearance. I think even with the RA manifolds on the 72 I did it was still just a couple inches. I'm okay with that. As long as I can get a hand between fuel lines and heat sources I've never had an issue, and being where it is with plenty of air flow tends to mitigate any would be issues.

On my 70 the factory didn't come up and over the frame rail like that. It's all hidden behind the engine cross member and runs under the oil pan sump. What's worse is it makes a turn to come up and over the cross member on the driver side, still running under the engine between the block and the RA exhaust manifold where there is a ton of heat and very little air flow. I've just never like fuel lines running "under" engines like that.

I'd much rather have that come up the top of the frame rail by the upper control arm. It seems to be the lesser of 2 evils I think. Honestly though I don't think there is a real good way to do it on these 2nd gens.

Coming up the passenger side is fine, but I'd like that better if the car didn't have power steering, and the front mounted steering box. Which I think is why initially on the 70 models like mine when they crossed under the back of the engine, they didn't come up and over the top of the frame there, and ran it under the engine along the block instead. Of course the starter is there too.
baaaaa lol Always something