My garage was smelling like gas and my fuel economy was down. I checked all the rubber lines and found no leaks. It wasn't until I looked under the car while it was running that I saw a solid stream of gas running down from the starter. Turns out the hard fuel line had a pin hole leak on top of the line. The top. What the heck? Gas was shooting out that hole and hitting the starter. Good lord, I am glad I never exploded.
This was an easy fix. The Sonett has a hard line that runs through the cabin (yeah, in with the passengers). As soon as that line exits the firewall into the engine bay there is a 3 inch rubber line that connects to another hard line that runs the rest of the way up to the fuel filter by the carb.
I replaced both hard lines and that 3 inch flexible line with one new hard line. I went with 316 stainless steel. I will be honest, I didn't do the best job routing the replacement line. With the engine out, it was be easy to get the line bends just right. With the engine in, I didn't worry about the bends too much. In fact, I didn't route the line the same way as original. Originally the line cut across the cross member under the oil pan. This has it run by the starter. I opted instead to keep running the line further forward and cut across just under the radiator. The line is still well protected and now is kept away from the starter.
The next time I pullt the engine out I will probably run the line again but with better bends. Until then, even my current line should still last forever.
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