Paint or re zinc fuel lines

[joe newsom]

I have heard of people spraying the lines with a brake caliper paint ( silver) or re plating.. curious to hear your thoughts and ways of dealing with this..

 

 

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[grannyknot]

On my first Z I painted the brake and gas lines and it worked pretty well but it was easy to chip the paint during installation, on the next Z I just made new brake lines altogether.

[jfa.series1]

On my first (and only) Z I went the budget route on all the lines several years ago and no regrets now.  I cleaned and stripped them thoroughly with a Scotch Brite, cleaned again with degreaser followed by acid wash. Taped the threads on all nuts, primed with self-etching primer followed by a silver metallic paint and topped with a clear coat.  Here's the results from back in 2011 when the car was being put together, everything is still just as bright.  With no significant heat near any of the lines, there may be little benefit from using a caliper paint.

[joe newsom]

Those look nice. Do you have any photos of the lines under the car?


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[jfa.series1]

This is the best I can offer - taken while getting the handbrake installed.

[Namerow]

I used flexible sanding pads (foam-backed sandpaper, about 400-grit) to remove the heavy tarnish, followed by fine-grade 3M sanding cloth to bring up the shine.  After that, I dipped a piece of cloth (lint-free) in satin-finish clear enamel paint and used this to hand-apply 2 cover coats along the length of the line.  This work was done over a year ago and the lines still look great, with no signs of corrosion. 

The OE steel lines shine up very nicely and don't really need a color coat.  Depends on your aesthetic preferences. 

Applying the clear coat with a wetted cloth makes this part of the job really simple and mess-free.  If I showed you one of the finished pieces, you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't sprayed on.

Use a dust mask when you do the sanding.  The sanding residue that comes off the lines is pretty evil and seems to fill the air while you're doing the work.

[zspert]

I buy coils of brake line stock in the required diameters from NAPA then bend and flare. I then bend them around a 55 gal drum to fit into the plating tanks of my zinc plater. Yes, a lot of work but that's what's required for a factory looking job.