Wife and Kids Away For a Few Days - Let the Fun Begin!

My wife and two kids left Sunday morning to visit family members, leaving me home ALONE for a 5 days. Guess what I did yesterday? Guess where I'll be each evening after work?

I started by Leatheriquing my interior. Here's a close-up of one of my seats for the "before" shot.
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I applied two coats of the "Rejuvenator", rubbing the lotion into all leather surfaces by hand.
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My seats were very dry (the car came from Florida where, it appears, it had been parked outside for a few years), and the seats soaked up about a third of a large bottle of Rejuvenator. I then wrapped the seats with Glad Wrap. I'll use the cleaner product this evening to remove the dirt and conditioner, and then will apply another coat of the conditioner. I read on Leatherique's web site that I'll probably have to repeat this two or three more times in order to restore the seats softness.
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While the seats "cooked", I proceeded with my fuel line replacement project. I put the car on jack stands and removed the driver side rear wheel and wheel well liner. I then removed the fuel filler hoses and aluminum tube. What a PITA. The rubber hose connecting the aluminum tube to the fuel tank was almost impossible to remove. It took me at least 45 minutes of tugging and twisting to remove it. The hoses I removed appeared new, unfortunately -- with as much work as it took I was hoping that there would at least be some evidence that all the trouble was worth it. The clamps were, however, somewhat corroded. I'll install the new hoses and clamps tonight.

While removing the fuel filler hoses, I noticed a split oil vent hose. I think that it is an oil vent hose. Is this part of the "blow by system?" It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hose runs from near the firewall to a T junction with additional hoses running off of it. (I haven't had a chance to follow all of the hose to verify where they go.)
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Now, here's something weird.

Following the split hose to the T junction, I notice that one end of the T is capped off, with a second oil vent hose (?) simply "ending." I'm assuming that the second hose (with the red stripe in the photo) should be connected to the T. Following the non-terminated hose, I saw that it snaked over the engine, under the plenum, and then down somewhere to the rear of the engine (between the engine and the trunk). I'll follow the hoses more closely this evening and see what is going on.
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I'm almost sure that these hoses are oil vent hoses, but can anyone clarify? Are they part of the "blow by system?" There are no obvious oil leaks, which leads me to believe that the hoses are vent hoses, otherwise I would have oil everywhere. Does anyone know of any specific requirements for these hoses that I should keep in mind when I buy replacements?

 

One problem about crawling beneath one's car and poking around is that one always finds something else that needs done. In this case, there are the oil hoses needing replaced. I also saw that my suspension bushings are in pretty bad shape. (Non unexpected, considering the age of the car.) That'll be my next project after I finish replacing all hoses and get the belts replaced.
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Thanks for the info, Birdman. Is the air injection system also known as the "blow-by system?" The hoses appear to match pretty well to the Blow - By System diagram. From the diagram the split hose appears to be #11 in the diagram ("Tube from vapour separator to oil sump"). I plan on taking a much closer look this evening; yesterday I was focusing on the fuel filler hoses. I'll post an update tomorrow with my findings...

My car doesn't have an air pump. (Euro model.)

Thanks again!
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Thanks for the advice on removing the seats. I thought about removing them, but don't really have a place to put the seats other than inside the house which isn't warm enough. (I guess I could have just put them in the back yard under a tarp, though. I'll keep that in mind for the next treatment.)

 

You're right -- it can't be hose #11... (I have the vapor separator and cloth covered hoses lead to it.) I'm going to spend more time following and identifying all of the hoses this evening after I install my new fuel filler hoses. I'll let everyone know what I find...

The hose that leads nowhere (GNDN, for all of you old Star Trek fans) sure looks like it was supposed to connect to the T adapter, but someone capped off the T. I'm wondering if someone servicing the car at some point was replacing hoses, saw the capped off connector, and just left it.

The car is a Euro version that, I believe, may have been Federalized at some point and then, at a later date, had all of added emission equipment ripped out. The car is an '84 model, but I found a piece of paper dated 1985 indicating that the owner lived in Illinois. Why anyone would have gone through the trouble and expense of importing an '84 model in 1985 is beyond me...

 

Bing Bing Bing! That's it! (Birdman called it first, but I didn't think my car had an air pump, being a Euro model.) I followed the hose back to the (disconnected) air pump. As I said, I didn't even know that my car had an air pump (never looked). Needless to say it'll be coming off soon.

 

I think that I met my match.

The connection to the fuel tank that the fuel filler hose connects to is extremely close to the fuel tank. So close that it was very difficult for me to remove the rubber hose connecting the aluminum fuel filler tube to the gas tank. When I was removing the hose I thought, "Uh, Oh, I'm in trouble." Sure enough, I am. I cannot, for the life of me, get the new hose on!!!!
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I've tried soaping the new hose, boiling the new hose, screaming at the new hose... Everything! I cannot get the hose on. I've spent all evening on this and all I have to show for it is some scared neighbors. At this point I'm going to drown my sorrows with some Guinness and try again tomorrow; not that I have much hope.

If tomorrow goes as I expect, I'll rent a trailer, load the car up, and hand the it over to the professionals. I'll go ahead and have them complete the rest of the fuel hoses (I'm about half done), coolant hoses, and timing belts.

I'm bummed.

 

That connector is actually part of the fuel tank. It looks like it needs "bent" away from the tank. If I tried this, of course, I would end up splitting the tank. I wonder if there is a thinner walled hose available... (Probably not.)

 

Pete, I took another look and I think you've nailed it. Originally I thought that the area circled in the photo was part of the fuel tank. After looking more closely, however, I see that the circled area is the firewall. (It's just the same material/color as the fuel tank which threw me off.) If I loosen/drop the fuel tank I will be able to connect the hose. There's even a good write-up on FChat describing how to drop the tank on a Mondial.

As frustrated as I am right now, I feel like simply taking a hammer and a blunt punch to the firewall to make myself more room...

Thanks for the suggestion, Pete!
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