Broken Spica Injector Line - Diagnosis

[Kevin Trent <trentkc@domain.elided>]

I replaced the broken fuel line on my spica this weekend, thought I'd let 
you all know what I surmise the problem to have been.  I received several 
replies to my original request all with the same theme:  Vibrations caused 
by missing or improperly installed fuel line clamps was the culprit.   All 
the clamps were present and properly installed, HOWEVER, the bracket for 
the first set of clamps closest to the spica pump was itself not connected 
to the Spica pump - the two 6mm bolts were missing, I assume their nuts had 
vibrated off.   When I found this condition it reminded me that when the 
line broke the first time the two 6 mm bolts that hold the back of the 
spica pump to the motor mount had been missing and I had replaced them at 
that time.  Hence the first failure was possibly caused by the back of the 
injection pump vibrating, while the second failure was probably caused by 
the whole cluster of four pipes vibrating because their common mount had 
become detached from the back of the pump.  I think I would have noticed 
the missing bracket bolts if they had been gone on the first repair, but 
perhaps not.  Anyway, I used blue threadlocker and double nuts on the 
bracket's replacement bolts.

Thanks for the help.   //kct

---
<snip>
About 1200 miles ago my Spica equipped GTV suffered a broken fuel line for 
the #4 injector.  This hard metal fuel line broke at the injection pump 
right above the "nipple" at or under the "cap" which secures it to the 
pump's "tower".   Fortunately I had a spare, and the repair was 
surprisingly easy.  When I replaced the line I was careful to connect both 
ends and tighten gradually to avoid stressing the line, and all of the 
intermediate clamps between the pump and the injector were properly 
installed.   The pump appears to be properly mounted, including the rear 
bracket which connects the pump to the engine mount.

Today, I once again broke the new #4 fuel line was in the same place.  I've 
driven Spica Alfas for 15 years and never had this kind of failure until 
now, twice in 1200 miles on the same car (after 10,000 miles since 
acquisition)...  Any ideas of what might be going on?  Can these lines be 
overtightened?  The only bit of (perhaps) relevant info I can add is that 
in both occasions the car was run at WOT in 5th gear for a few miles prior 
to the failure...


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