First off, I don't know a lot about engines so you'll have to forgive me if my description sounds a little amateurish. The other day I started looking at the fuel lines on my 84 Camaro's V6. One of them goes to a large black cylinder that sits behind the driver's side headlight (vapor line I guess). Another one dead-ends and has tape around the end of it (im assuming this is the ventilator hose that used to have the ventilator valve on the end). Another one runs from an inline fuel pump, through a fuel filter, and into the carburator (gotta be the fuel feed hose). The last one is the one that I don't understand. I'm pretty sure that it is the fuel return line, and its running through a grommet on the drive's side firewall. Can anyone here tell me if it is supposed to do this? Ive traced it from the fuel tank, and it runs from the fuel tank, up underneath the car, into the engine bay, and loops straight into the firewall without anything hooked up between. Lemme know if this isn't right. Thanks!

 

almost certainly not. from your tank you should have four hoses.

1: fuel feed line. goes to fuel filter and into carburator. (or fuel rails)
2: air inlet. goes about a foot out of the tank and into a green/pink one way inlet valve.
3:fuel return line. this comes from your carburator (or fuel rails) and goes back to the tank
5: air out ventalation. this goes to the evap canister. evap canister traps vapor and allows pressure out. then another equal size hose goes to your intake manifold. the ECM tells this when to open and close, sucking in the fuel vapor. they usualy stop working properly by the time the car is 10 years old.

i would look good and hard at your carburator for any plugged hose bungs that are that size. i know those computer controlled carbs are like a giant convaluted mess, but do your best. somwhere there should be the outlet that hose originaly went to if it is indeed your fuel return line. perhaps it still has a hose connected to it. what i am thinking is that some prior owner re-routed this hose through the firewall (BAD IDEA). fixing that routing would be a good saftey idea.

or i could be totaly wrong. i have never owned a carburated fbody but have helped a friend do alot of work on his 84 2.8. i hope this helps.

 

That poses anothe question then. All four fuel lines run up into the engine bay. You said one of them deadends just a short ways out of the tank. I am positive all four of these are fuel lines as Ive traced them back to the tank. I'm beginning to think that someone has done some serious rigging to the fuel system.

 

I forgot to ask something else... Is there any easy way to trace each individual fuel line from the tank to where it goes? Is there any way to know what the line did that dead ends and has tape over the end of it?

 

My car was the same way when I bought it. It was originally TPI apparently, but had been crudely converted to carb (Holley 650) along the way. The fuel feed line from the tank of course fed the carb, but the original return line had just been chopped off, with a capped piece of fuel line attached, just kind of flapping about. Maybe the same happened to yours, but they poked the fuel line into the firewall to look better? Sounds dangerous - venting vapour/fuel into the cabin?

Also my air inlet line back at the tank had a nice spark plug shoved up it!

 

It wouldnt have been a TPI-Carb swap as the TPI didnt exist in 84!


But either way, who in their right mind would stick a fuel line inside the car?!?!

 

Woops, should have read that more carefully!

 

Unless the guy jacked it from GM when they were designing it



Soooo.... Byllz, how goes the search for the messed up lines?