Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Today's question.
Made the new line by using the old as a pattern. Bent the Cunifer tubing to match the old as exactly as possible and tied the two together as each short distance was finished. Used a bender on a couple of tight bends but bent the rest mostly by hand. Seemed to work out well but unless you tear phone books and crush steel cans barehanded don't even think about trying to bend steel line that way.

Interesting part is when I went to see how it fits. It seems to fit well and lines up with all the clip locations. Something I hadn't realized or paid much attention to on the old line really popped into view with the bright new tubing. On the 4th & 5th photos notice how far away it is from the body brackets and travels under them as well. There were a few clips not installed while I tested the fit but not much will change when they are added.

The later cars had the line above body brackets and hugged the frame and body. Wondering if someone has been in there before and did something wrong or have I gone off my rocker and something is way off of if this is the way others see their lines?

PS. The underside is not finished or needs touching up in a few spots -- particularly in the rear which will be done when I take the rear axle & springs out -- but overall really not as dirty as these photos make it look.

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IMG0603 (4th pic). Of course i'm not familiar with 47's. But I would NOT expect ANY line, fuel brake or otherwise, to rub against the edge (metal thickness) of ANY backet. As for the front crossmember i would expect the tubing to have somekind of protection from rocks and stones. But fuel line not nearly as important for protection as brake lines. Maybe a splasher is in front for some protection. Take a look at your 56 fuel line.

IMG0603 (fuel line along frame and brackets:

That simply does NOT look like ANY production design of ANY car. I would be very surprised if PMCC did it that way.

What are u using to anchore the fuel line to the frame???? It can't have much if any movement. It needs to be anchored very firmly so that vibration/road shock does not weaken it over many miles of vibration/road shock.

I ran outside and looked at my 48 2262 bare chassis. But it has NO fuel line on it at all.

Note that in one the pics u posted it shows the fuel line on the WHEEL side of the over-the-axle frame arch. I doubt that would hoyle due to tire slinging debris. PMCC may have done that in production. But it would be very poor eng'ring.

MAybe i am looking at the pic wrong. Does the spare mount transversly in the trunk or longitudunal like our 56's???

There are clips and some rubber hose covers missing in the photos but no line touches the brackets and it is held in fairly tightly. I'm also thinking something is odd with the tube hanging suspended and the reason for the question. Hoping someone has a good description since I couldn't find any photos in Packard literature.

No idea if the old line is original or if not, how long the car ran with the tubing like that. The spare tire location is shown in the last photo and it's the rusty well mounted transversely showing at the top of the wheel arch just behind a rusty shock. The clips all fit into holes in the frame and were originals and was on the outside as you see it. Brake line runs on the other side of that same frame piece using the same type clips

Howard, on my '54 they ran the brake line on the inside of the frame rail, and the fuel line on the outside of the rail. It crosses over rail just before forward of the firewall, and uses a piece of rubber hose for abrasion resistance. It crossed back over the frame in the rear just forward of the tire well.

That's almost like the 56 routing. The gas tank is different on this car being a long rectangle instead of a square so the tubing goes all the way over the arch and then in to the tank. It has me puzzled a little but I'm confidant on the basic routing -- just not sure if that center stretch goes above the brackets. If so, at least it won't require any major work to fix it -- Plenty of room so other than removing the rusty outer body bolts and pads so I can slip the tubing over the bracket, shouldn't be too bad.

I wouldn't remove body bolts. Since the front clip is removed try routing the tubing by feeding it thru front to rear starting at the firewall. Worse case situation two piece the fuel line.

if the body bolts twist off or require heat (burn rubber pads) then u've got a big job to correct that. It's just a fuel line.

Hopefully someone with a 47 will help with advice on the routing. At this point i would think it is like Kev's 54 and our 56's.

I'm very suspicous that the rear arch on the OUTside of frame rail is incorrect. Any pics in the manual in the rear axle section showing frame with wheel removed????? OR maybe brake section of SM

Need to stuff a rag in the exhaust pipe sticking up in the engine compartment.