88 YJ-CJ Fuel Lines Completed

I finished up the front fuel lines.  The new 3/8" hard line was pretty easy. 

Shortening (and flaring) the factory 5/16" steel line back to the firewall was much more difficult! The existing stock line ended up near the motor mount, which is about right for a carbureted engine with the fuel pump on the block. For fuel injection, I wanted the lines to end back at the firewall.

I started with the cheap bubble flare tool. It was not up to the task of flaring the factory steel lines. It deformed when tightened, and the tube would slip through the jaws.

 

I tried adding a C-clamp to help clamp the tube more, but that was unsuccessful.  (note the gap between the two bars)

Next, I did a test flare on my better flare tool using the old factory line that I removed a few days before. The better tool worked great, but it really has to be mounted in a vise:
Better flare tool and test flare:

I didn't really want to remove the entire hard line from the vehicle to clamp it in the bench vise, so I did this:

That's the flare tool clamped in a vise that is c-clamped to the frame. It worked perfectly after I added a 3rd c-clamp!
This also shows why I wanted to finish up the fuel lines before I drop in the engine / transmission / transfer case for good. It would be much more difficult to do this with that stuff in the way.

Final bubble flare:

Here's the factory flare on top and my bubble flare on bottom. My flare isn't as good as the factory flare, but it should work. I just want to prevent the hose from popping off under the fuel pressure.

After that, I made a short 3/8" hard line line, bubble flared both ends, and installed it:

My next major task is (still) to get the transmission tunnel insulated. That will have to wait for a few days, as cold weather is rolling in tonight.