Long Heater Hose: Looks like it needs replacing

3 years ago I wote about replacing all the hoses on my 308. We did the coolant hoses and the heater hoses at the same time we restored the car. You can check it out in the archives. The biggest pain as I remember was pulling the heater hose from the engine compartment up through and behind the drivers seat. As I remember, remove the drivers seat, then the bulkhead carpet, then there is an aluminum cover with some really small fine screws, that accesses a small body cavity where the hose runs through.

We used a lot of spray silicone and then a double barbed brass hose connector to connect the old hose with the new. We actually pulled the new hose in by pulling the old hoses out. Liberal use of the slilcone helps remove the old hard hose. We found new silicone heater hose and figured it will outlast my driving life. We also found silicone moulded hose for the elbows and connections for the engine coolant hoses. So as not to cut the heater hose or the engine coolant hoses we used double wire screw hose clamps(availble from Subaru). The worm gear stainless clamps will cut the hose over time as the hoses expand with use.

Hope this helps,

Howard Musolf
1981 308gtsi
1982 400i Cabriolet
1988 l.otus Esprit Turbo.

 

Read all the posts, lots of patience, hope it goes smoothly..

 

My experience.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326808

 

Its easier on a GT4 but the left tank has to come out and all I needed to get it out was remove one nut on the transfer case, no suspension parts, of course all the other bits. THis is a big job and unless you have lots of time I would set aside at least a week, if you want to clean up other stuff while your in there then add 6 more months! HA

Here was part of my job

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258393&page=2

 

Oh Joy! A reason to buy Gates Green-Stripe in Bulk. I used the slippery stuff you get from the pharmacy to do this job. I selected it cause when it dries, it essentially turns to dust. It was fun buying half a dozen large tubes. Lots of strange looks. Reminded me of of the whiskey purchase in American Graffiti. "I'll take a couple of those ball point pens, some beef jerky, why don't you gimmee one of those combs - - - - - - -"

 

It's not that bad of a job. Just don't buy cheap hoses.
Wait till you pull the ac hoses, they are fun

 

Here is the hose I got from west marine. I did not think Dave's hose was long enough his only came in sections. I liked this as it was from italy , had a wire in it to keep it from kinking like my OEM did at the top of my fuel tank and had the exact braided cloth rubber look. Dave's water hose would have been the perfect length but I had only discovered this as I pulled mine out. the OEM was and still looked good was exactly 12' 1". I think Dave has 12' sections which i am sure i could have taken up the 1" in the area where the hoses go above and behind the coils.

I used no lubricants of any kind, and had no help except calling a neighbor over for a few minutes. I went from front to rear, drilled holes and used tie wraps to pull both hoses through separately. The only think you need to look out for is there are some sharp body parts behind the fuel tank that the hoses needs to be pulled through above not on as it will chew up the hose.
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I ended up taking the strap off the drivers-sdie fuel tank and then drilling out the pop rivets for first the aluminum firewall plate and then the insulated steel plate. I was doing my cross-over at the same time so the tank was free of hoses.

The picture is taken from under the car looking up, that's the top of the strap you can see attached. So the hose enters above the tank, and then makes a turn down, where it is restrained with a metal strap. Pulling throught that stap seems impossible, but others have done it. As you can see the vacuum hose had a nasty kink in it, which made me feel better with all the hassle of pulling the tank. The insulated panel had some rust, so I made new one out of aluminium and insulated it with Eastwoods equivalent to Dynamat. With the panel of I could route and secure the lines so they would not kink, although I went a little crazy making sure it was secure and wouldn't chafe. Having the panel removed made pulling the line from the front a lot easier as well.
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