I made a steel hard line for my hydraulic clutch and it turned out terrible. One little miscalculation on the first bend and that will mess up the rest of the bends. So what I did was use some 1/8th inch solid core solder I had kicking around and bent up a perfect run. That was easy due to the solder all rolled up and compact as opposed to the long steel tube. Also, it's obviously much easier to bend and get "just right." Once I had the model done, then all I had to do is make the tube like it. I went in the kitchen for some comfort from the heat of the garage to do my bends and I found a use for my outdated tile kitchen counter-bar-thing; I used the grid pattern to help get the tube to match the bends and angles of the sample. After I was done with it, I put it in the engine bay and the tube fit like a factory item. I'm very happy with that and the brake lines will be much easier due to being so short.
Next I finished the fuel line from the pump in the rear of the car below the tank to up near the fuel rail. I looked at the different fittings that could be used and decided to go with
AN fittings. They are easy to work with and offer every fitting combo under the sun. I was going to run the stock Civic fuel filter and cleaned one up from the junk yard but it just took up too much space (I am dealing with a mini after all) and I found an
in-line filter that flows up to 130 GPH and is good for 40 microns. That was a good find and will go anywhere.
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| I started with a roll of solid core solder to make the template for my steel tube hydraulic clutch line. |
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| Mostly bent up. |
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| Solder bent up and looking good. |
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| Another view. |
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| I took the solder model and made a real part out of the steal tube. |
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| Mia couldn't believe she could bend steel like Superman so I gave her the solder to try. She is so strong! |
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| Steel tube in place, perfect fit first time. |
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| Another view. |
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| Here is the fuel filter, inline just below where the intake and fuel rail go. |
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| I used hose clamps to secure the fuel line under the car. The other line is part of the hydrolastic system (same tubing). |
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| Fuel pump mounted and plumbed. |
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| One other thing I got in the mail was this fan from Spal. It's super low profile and will move enough air to cause the jet streams to change course and blow the clouds away from Seattle. I'll fire it up October through June... |
