Happy almost New Year! I should probably post an update before the year ends the so I can say I've looked at the car at least once during the year, LOL.
After the epic drive into the garage, I decided to get the gas tank plumbed properly and get rid of the explosive red can strapped to the core support. First up, a new set of fuel lines from Inline Tube. Pretty straight forward, it's a two piece set, pre-bent to meander and hug the frame rails from the gas tank to the rear of the stub frame. The rear line is over 84" long!
The piece for the front that goes through the stub frame, was not so easy. First, there are different lengths for different stubs.
I thought the shorter length was for the shorter convertible stub, but after some research and attempted per-fittment, that piece is for the longer, torsion quiet stub, since it exits out the side of the frame. I remember having a choice at Inline Tube's website, fortunately I chose correctly. Let's pause for a second and reflect on a new PSA: The line through the front stub is infinitely easier to install with the stub out of the car! I remember removing the old crusty line 5 years ago, then quickly forgot about it until this year. It took several days, a string (thanks
@live4theking for the suggestion), convincing my wife to help and sheer luck before I could get it snaked through.
Second, the exit point at the rear of the stub can go two different ways on the convertible. In lieu of finding any photographic evidence for the '70 vert I chose the exit point on the side. It gave a tighter, more secure route for the rubber line extension connection to the rear.
The final piece of the gas tank puzzle, is the un-optainium through-the-trunk vent line and the associated twin grommets needed to finish the work. First off, no one makes pre-bent vent lines for C Bodies. After much searching, I found Jeggs had one listed for 1968-1973 C bodies. I quickly ordered it, then quickly realized it was the "B" body line cataloged under "C" body.
Top is the correct line sourced from my parts car, bottom is the incorrect Jeggs part:
No matter how I looked at it, there was no way to re-bend and shorten this line to make it work. Just another of those Chrysler ideas to make a different part that could have easily crossed body lines and saved the company some money. After an argument on the phone, and a donation of the shipping charge back to Jeggs, I was able to recoup $30 of the $50 I spent for the bogus part.
Since I did not have the correct tools to make the tight bend I needed, I cleaned up the parts car part and moved forward, but not so fast.
There is nothing in any parts book or online that lists "gas tank vent tube grommet". You just won't find one or two for that matter. What you will discover is that the part number is the same as the "small hole" through the firewall clutch or "Air Grabber" cable grommet. If it wasn't for the "Air Grabber" and manual transmission conversion demand, I doubt this part would ever have been reproduced. FYI, the speedometer cable is the same part number, but is has a larger hole and the vent tube will just float around in the grommet.