I made excellent progress yesterday completing and installing a variety of parts (including the custom steering column rod and u joints, additional hydraulic lines, electric fuel pump, fuel line to carburetor).  Unfortunately, in the midst of all this success,  I screwed up. 

For reasons that still baffle me, I mistook the rear brake line (which isn't hooked up to the master cylinder yet — note the pathetic attempt at an excuse) for the gas line to the tank (which isn't there at all).  Despite the fact that they are different size lines and despite the fact that the brake line has the threaded nut at the end (which somehow I didn't notice), I managed to mistake the brake line for the gas line.  Even right after I cut it I didn't realize my mistake (clearly my mind was elsewhere!).  

The good news is that I can still take it off relatively easily and get it reflared and it shouldn't cost more than a few dollars — Andy's Supply, here I come.  Though it's now shorter, fortunately it's still long enough to use — in fact, it might even work better as a slightly shorter length.

As I noted in my previous power steering post, after realizing that ordering through Summit Racing would cost $161 before shipping I thought I'd go down to a local hydraulics place, Andy's Supply, and see what they could do for me.  Since they carried the Earl's products as well, it made comparing prices very easy.  

After explaining what i wanted to do (see rough schematic to the right), I quickly discovered they could save me money in a couple ways.  First, they were willing to cut my supply side line down for nothing so that it would hook to the inside of the cross member.  That saved me  2 90 degree turns, 2 feet of hose (about $50 total).  Second, I only had to order 14" of expensive tubing rather than the minimum 3ft from Summit.  Finally, they saved me money by making sure I had the right parts the first time, so i didn't have to return anything.  While their parts prices were slightly higher than Summit's, because they saved me money in other places, the bill was only $116.

Putting the pieces together was relatively easy.  Below the pieces are laid out (with a piece of metal acting as the cross member).

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