Fuel lines

[Jonathan]

Yes they are! I broke 1 of mine even when aware they were easy to break.

It sounds like the OP is already planning to replace lines, but in case anyone needs more fear struck into them: I had an original line burst on me while driving about 5 years ago, which thankfully killed the engine, preventing a fire from starting. The engine was still cold which helped as well. Needless to say, I replaced every fuel line that week!

I presume the advice is well intended, but none of us need more "fear" struck into us. There is already more than there ever needed to be of that in the world, extending to far more than just cars and fuel lines

Know the facts and then make educated and informed decisions. Using singular examples doesn't make for good catch-all, "better safe than sorry" policies, especially when the context is not always entirely known nor understood or not applicable from one case to the next.

"Don't ever reuse copper sealing washers?" Sounds like good advice, right? And probably is a lot of the time for lots of people. What if I told you a well-respected car and/or DeLorean specific expert said to me they reuse these copper sealing washers all the time? That's a real world example, not the textbook theory one.

It wouldn't help anyone to broadcast that for "fear" of that now being the norm or "best practice." These cars are in the hands of a very diverse group of people and are in a wide range of conditions in both maintenance and operation. It takes common sense and due diligence and the willingness to ask questions when you aren't sure about something.

No one wants to see another car on fire or crashed up after a failed bearing or trailing arm bolt breaking. No one wants to live in fear of something awful happening anytime they get in their car either. Stop the fear mongering.

[opethmike]

Well, that was quite the speech. Whew.

If I may amend DaraSue's recommendation - jumper the RPM relay to get fuel going through the system, instead of starting the car. Safer.

[DavidProehl]

Stop the fear mongering.

My point was original fuel lines should not be trusted anymore and in my opinion continuing to use old fuel lines is rolling the dice. I didn't mean to come off sounding alarmist, just a realistic risk around old and critical safety parts. I'd say the same thing about any critical part that is original such as brakes. If that is fear mongering, I'll wear the badge proudly

[dn010]

Admittedly, through the countless times I've removed and reinstalled my lines on the original engine, only one time did I purchased and use new washers on the connections. I've never had a leak. I've broken some fittings but had plenty of spares on hand.

[Delorean Industries]

That is brave! I have never even tried to reuse these as they "crush" to seal when initially tightened.

[dn010]

I honestly didn't know any better at the time, 15 years ago. Today, if I still had K-jet, I would use new washers. Even if they weren't required to be replaced after each use, I've learned that it just makes life easier using new parts instead of trying to reuse old.

[FABombjoy]

That is brave! I have never even tried to reuse these as they "crush" to seal when initially tightened.

Right? And sometimes they have an impression crushed in to them leading to an irregular sealing surface. Which is kind of the idea.

When they're 10 cents in bulk, spending time inspecting used washers for reuse suitability is a waste of labor. Risk? Leak. Reward? Saved a few bucks.

[dn010]

Never inspected them. Flipped them over, put them on, tightened down the fittings without a torque wrench and drove 30,000 miles. I was also a teenager and didn't give a s#!t. LOL

[David T]

Because of the high pressure used in the K-jet system you can have a leak and never see it. You WILL smell it. The leak can be so fine that the fuel atomizes as it escapes so you don't see a drip. An ignition source and now you have a small blowtorch. The good news is that if the fitting doesn't initially leak it won't start leaking later. That's why if you smell any fuel you must investigate carefully till you can find the cause. Abusing the fuel lines is the biggest reason for failure. The majority of the fleet is running safely on the original lines. Don't bend or kink them and if working on the motor take care not to stretch or crush them. Use new sealing washers and you should be OK. If any of the lines look damaged they should be replaced and the ones by the fuel pump and the accumulator too.

[Chris 16409]

Ed Uding offers a whole set of copper washers for the fuel lines:

https://www.delorean.eu/catalog/prod...ocdle17lj3ojd1

Don't know if you could find them cheaper locally.