Hello all! I bought a 1981 F100 (6 cylinder, 3 speed automatic) a couple years back and it ran great. Parked it in the garage for a while because family stuff was going on and wanted to take it for a spin again. Truck cranks but doesn't turnover (gave it a new battery, gas, and oil before I tried to start it). Looked under the hood and I see a hole in the fuel line going into the carb along with a couple other hoses showing signs of damage from dry rot. The only parts repository I know of is RockAuto, but it looks like they only have larger parts/components. Is there a good place I can go to get a bunch of hoses to swap out in my engine bay? Also are there any tools/methods for installing/taking off hoses that don't have an obvious hose clamp on them (most of the hoses I saw in the engine bay don't have any kind of clamps on them and I am hesitant to just yank them to take them off)? Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry, Really. only Rockauto, Any auto parts will have hoses. Have you ever heard of NAPA, Advance Auto Parts, Auto Zone...

Take photos of the hoses so we can see.

Normally vacuum hoses don't have clamps. Only fuel lines have clamps, typically.

This may help you ID the hoses,
https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/1981-evtm.html

 

Yea, I wasn't sure if a specific hose length/wall thickness/material was required. This is my first time taking care of a vehicle this old so I'm pretty ignorant to old car/restoration problems and trying to learn as I go. A Haynes manual and a dream lol. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and edit the original post so it's clearer for everyone. Thanks!

 

Find a old school parts place. Some place the shops deal with. You will need 5/16th hose for the fuel line. Ask for line that compatible with modern fuel. Good fuel line is pricy but worth the money if you dont want to do it again in a year. A old school place will know. Autozone/advanced might not. The lines without clamps should be vac lines. Best thing is mesure how long you need, and cut a little bit of the end on one to bring with you and match up. There may be a few different sizes on the truck. Also ask for some good clamps that fit the fuel line you get. The parts store can help you pick. You didnt mention heater or rad hoses. but if you need them the rad will be preformed for the application, and the heater hoses you will buy in lengths, and cut to fit. Not sure on those sizes because I have not changed them on mine yet. When you drive old stuff, and are learning how to care for it, a good parts store is worth their weight in gold. If you cant find one, swing into a small independent repair shop that looks busy, and ask who they deal with.

 

You may also want to add your location, as you can see some of us have, it may help if someone knows places in your area.

Don't be in a hurry to spend you money, ask here first.

 

If a hose need replacing remove the hose and take it to your local auto parts store. Note if the original hose was the proper length. Now you can show the parts store what you need and how long to cut it. Old established NAPA stores that have an attached machine shop are a good place to start. Those old school NAPA stores are disappearing though, so support them if you still have one in your community.

 

It sounds like others have you covered on where to get parts from the local stores.
Only thing to know about rubber hoses is what it is used for. you have smaller dia. hose for vacuum.
A little larger dia. for fuel line and even larger for heater hose and the largest radiator.
Each hose is made for the fluid or air it moves. You cant use water hose for fuel / oil as it will fail.
As said if you can take the hose in they can look at it and know what type it is and get you the right type.

Fuel 5/16 for the 300 motor / heater hose think 5/8 & 3/4, and vacuum hose all come by the foot, get more than you need.
Dont forget the rubber fuel line is at the tank(s) to hard line, hard line to switching valve if dual tanks and / or fuel pump and maybe hard line from pump to carb.
Fuel line gets old and cracks on the outside or can break down on the inside with todays gas and cause problems so replace all rubber fuel line.
Dave ----

 

Just for the record, cranking and turning over are the same thing, your truck is not "firing up".

We'll need to know if when you move the throttle lingage by hand, while looking down the carb, do you see gas being squrited into the carb throat ?

 

@Max Capacity @s1120 @BigBlue2 @FuzzFace2 Thanks for your replies. Here's what I got:

I'm in Virginia Beach. Outside of AutoZone/Advanced Auto/O'Reilly, there's a couple NAPAs but that's it. I'll go check them out.
Anything I need to know about removing hoses besides just pulling/twisting them to get them off (for the ones without a clamp)?
Here are the two hoses in question (pictures taken from front bumper). One is a hard line coming out of the "passenger" side of the carb and the other is a soft line coming out of the front. No idea where the hard line goes (when i was putting my hands on all the hoses to check for damage, this one was already clean off), but the soft line with a hole in it goes to a tank mounted on the passenger side front wheel well in the engine bay. I assume this is a dual fuel tank configuration because that tank has another line leaving it going out the engine bay at the bottom and follows the driveshaft to the rear of the vehicle (going to trace that line tomorrow).

 

To remove vacuum hose, twist it first to break the hose loose from the fitting maybe spray it with a little PB Blaster.
Use pliers to twist the hose. Don’t squeeze to hard.
the experts on 6 cylinders can answer the questions

 

When I'm removing anything I try to get it off whole. I might need it later. A good tight fitting pair of leather gloves instead of pliers. I wear disposable gloves when working with oil, grease or chemicals. Harbor Freight has some good heavy duty ones. I get light duty ones too...for light duty

Leather gloves for using my hands as pliers. I keep some greasy leather ones handy too. Old gloves like old friends. Keep em close by.

 

Ok this metal line goes from carb as you can see to the exhaust manifold. This is the clean air side of the hot air asst. choke.
It is common that the hard line rust off like that.
Dorman makes a repair kit for this not remember the part number ATM. It pots a fitting in the exhaust manifold to put a hose on. Vacuum hose will work for this.
For now you can just remove the metal line so it does not get in the way and deal with this later if you want.

This hose in part of the vapor recovery system, It gathers the gas fumes from the tank(s) and the carb float bowl and traps it in a charcoal canister under the battery and when the time is right a valve opens and the vapor is pulled into the motor and burned. The factory used some kind of vacuum hose but I would get gas hose up near the carb to replace that cracked one.
Just be careful of that Tee and that 1 way valve between carb and Tee as you cannot get them and that Tee has 2 different size hoses on it so it is hard to make too.

Just to the left of the 1 way valve is the rubber fuel hose in 5/16" size and should be replaced because of age. If you follow that hose back it will go to the fuel pump.
There will be a rubber hose on the inlet side of the pump that should be changed. And if you follow it back to the tank(s) there will be more rubber hose that should be changed out.
Dave ----

ps DaveF is he out by you in Va. beach area?

 

That's 4 hours away from me. By the way that round silver can thing in the lower part of the picture is the fuel filter.

 

Just a hop, skip & jump from you
Dont know why I thought you were out at the beach?

I did see the filter and thought about saying something but did not want to do information over load after the hoses
Dave ----