New injector lines

[Brian VT]

I bought new injector lines and figured I'd post here about them.
I got them from Accurate Diesel. And I also ordered the new damper clamps with them. I assume they're all made in China but I don't know as they were sent to me loose in a box.
My old lines seemed to be working fine even though I had twisted #1 quite a bit when removing it to change the o-rings.
But I wasn't sure it was working well or not. And since I recently replaced the injectors and pump I figured I'd go all in.

The lines didn't line up perfectly. They were fairly close but there was still a lot of bending involved with pretty much all of them. And there was never any way in hell that those damper clamps were going on them.
That really bothered me as I've read here that those dampers are critical for the longevity of the lines.
I was able to use 2 of them to grab 2 lines nearer to the firewall (they were supposed to grab 3 or 4 lines). For the rest I slit some rubber fuel line and slid it on between where two lines were close in as many places as I could. I'm hoping this will serve to dampen vibration on the lines that it's wedged between. And I stuffed some under one line that was actually touching the engine.
Fingers crossed.
The good news was that I only had one leak and that was a line nut on the pump that I had forgotten to tighten.

 

[Austin86250]

Maybe you can make your own with some rubber 2 pieces of flat metal 2 nuts and bolts

 

[Brian VT]

The problem is the that lines are not on the same plane. Trying to clamp them in a flat clamp would put a lot of stress on them. That can't be a good thing, imo.

 

[gandalf]

It is an understood fact that the damper clamps are a necessity on our engines. They hook 3 or 4 of the injector lines together, each supporting and stabilizing the others. This is a good thing because of the vibration of our engines. It is my understanding that the danger of a vibrating injection line is not so much where it rubs against something mid way along it's length, but where it is connected at the end. An unsupported and unstabilized injector line will crack and/or split where it is connected to the injector, not out in the middle of it's run. Those lines must be stabilized, clamped together.

 

[Old Goat]

A tip on bending the hard lines when replacing the Injector Caps. Remove the dampener clamps, then you have the wiggle Room w/o bending the hard Line.
Every Diesel I have owned/own has Dampener Clamps.
Post a picture of your Spaghetti Bowl of hard Lines.


Goat

 

[Brian VT]

A tip on bending the hard lines when replacing the Injector Caps. Remove the dampener clamps, then you have the wiggle Room w/o bending the hard Line.
Every Diesel I have owned/own has Dampener Clamps.
Post a picture of your Spaghetti Bowl of hard Lines.


Goat

I saved the clamps for last. I'll get pictures later but, like I said, there's no way in hell the clamps are going on where there supposed to. Not without some major rebending of the new lines.
Maybe I can figure out some other way to support them. I thought the clamps were to dampen vibration. I hadn't thought about support since the lines seem pretty stout on their own.

 

[franklin2]

No expert on this, but I did leave a factory clamp off, and I did have a line crack on me right where it came out of the injection pump. My impression is, it's not so much the vibration of the engine, but the vibration of the line itself when the fuel is injected through it at 1800 psi.

Lesson #1 from your experience; New is not always better. There is a lot of faulty crappy parts out there for sale now. From one end of the truck to the other you will experience this.

When I replaced my cracked line on the road, I too used rubber vacuum line and I clamped the line tight with multiple wire ties around the vacuum lines. When I got home and found the clamp I left off, I found like you it would not line up. But I was able to carefully tweak the line while it was still hooked up on each end, and get the factory clamp back on it.

 

[Nero]

The lines break not because of engine vibration, but because of injection pulse. Without the braces, the lines flex a little. Have seen it happen a handful of times on vp44's in rv's and CAPS engines.

 

[Old Goat]

You have any Junk Yards in your area? If so head down and (If they have any IDI`s) pull the injector lines off, and you will have a good set. Think I have probably 7 sets just in case, ya never know when I can`t find parts any more.

Good to know the Accurite Diesel Hard Lines are not a correct fit. Iam thinking you might have to massage them some.


Goat

 

[Brian VT]

I still have my old lines. As I said, #1 got twisted at the injector end but seemed like it may have been working fine.

I would think that "massaging" the new lines would do more harm than good.

 

[FrozenMerc]

Brian,
I also used a line kit from Accurate Diesel this spring on my "new" 7.3 motor build. They did require a little bit of bending and "massaging" to get everything to line up, but that didn't surprise me at all, given tolerance stack ups, spring back during the original bending process, etc. The clamps worked nicely once I pushed a few of the lines around. I probably have better than 5,000 miles on the motor since the rebuild, and the lines have been leak free.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Old Goat]

I still have my old lines. As I said, #1 got twisted at the injector end but seemed like it may have been working fine.

I would think that "massaging" the new lines would do more harm than good.

Goat

 

[Jesus Freak]

You have any Junk Yards in your area? If so head down and (If they have any IDI`s) pull the injector lines off, and you will have a good set. Think I have probably 7 sets just in case, ya never know when I can`t find parts any more.

Good to know the Accurite Diesel Hard Lines are not a correct fit. Iam thinking you might have to massage them some.


Goat

I'm with you, I have several extra sets of lines, clamps, injectors, IPs, etc. If you can score it, get it Goat!

 

[Brian VT]

There aren't any IDIs in the one junkyard I've found around here so far.
Although, I didn't think to also look for U-hauls and other commercial trucks.
Those old codgers don't list their junkyards on the interweb, and I don't think the Yellow Pages are even made anymore, so I just need to stumble on the yards or ask someone.

 

[DaveBen]

Actually the Yellow Pages are still alive; www.yellowpages.com