# best route to run air lines, mk4..



## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

so, im trying to figure out exactly where im going to run my lines. 

im running the drivers side through the firewall into the footwell of the drivers side and under the door sill/kick panel thing. the problem is that the hole in the firewall isnt big enough for both lines. are you guys just drilling out and making the hole bigger? or is there another hole through the firewall that i dont know about/cant find?

any pics/experience would be extremely helpful as this is the last part of the entire air build that has me stuck....yes i've looked through countless build threads and the diy/faqs both here and on airsociety, and nothing that helps me .


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## Francois Dillinger (Feb 8, 2011)

i ran mine through the brake line grommet in the fenderwell then followed the brake lines all the way back.


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

Francois Dillinger said:


> i ran mine through the brake line grommet in the fenderwell then followed the brake lines all the way back.


underneath the car? i live in queens, so i dont want to risk some crap/road debris hitting the lines under there....


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## ipwnbitches (Dec 6, 2007)

smokedvr6 said:


> underneath the car? i live in queens, so i dont want to risk some crap/road debris hitting the lines under there....


90% of people run their lines under the outside of the car. If you dont wanna do that, be creative :thumbup:


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## najob08 (Apr 28, 2008)

My lines all go out towards the passenger's rear bag from my wheel well. As so:












One goes straight to the passenger rear bag.
One through the rear beam into the driver's rear bag.
One along the fuel lines to the passenger's front bag.
One over the exhaust shield to protect it from heat and along where the fuel line would run if there was one to the driver's front bag.

I used silicone hose wherever there could be some abrasion and wherever I used a pclip to secure the line.

Hope this helps. :beer:


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

najob08 said:


> One goes straight to the passenger rear bag.
> One through the rear beam into the driver's rear bag.
> One along the fuel lines to the passenger's front bag.
> One over the exhaust shield to protect it from heat and along where the fuel line would run if there was one to the driver's front bag.
> ...


thanks! that does help a lot. are your lines all the same length? or does that not matter with the VU4 manifold? i'm using the same mani. :thumbup:


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## tomespo (Jul 21, 2008)

smokedvr6 said:


> underneath the car? i live in queens, so i dont want to risk some crap/road debris hitting the lines under there....



I live in staten island and have driven in brooklyn and queens and snowboarding 5 times a week with plenty of snow on the roads.. The lines are fine outside. For the rear, take out the fender liners and rear door cars if its a 2dr gti. If its a jetta take out the side piece in the trunk, you can run the rear lines out with the ABS wires. For the front, i went out under the rear seat so it is away from the exhaust , no drilling required. There is a rubber gromet that goes outside.


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

tomespo said:


> I live in staten island and have driven in brooklyn and queens and snowboarding 5 times a week with plenty of snow on the roads.. The lines are fine outside. For the rear, take out the fender liners and rear door cars if its a 2dr gti. If its a jetta take out the side piece in the trunk, you can run the rear lines out with the ABS wires. For the front, i went out under the rear seat so it is away from the exhaust , no drilling required. There is a rubber gromet that goes outside.


sweet, thanks for the info. didnt know if that would be an issue or anything with debris flying up. 
:thumbup:


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## 95jetta17 (Jan 21, 2008)

najob08 said:


> One goes straight to the passenger rear bag.
> One through the rear beam into the driver's rear bag.
> One along the fuel lines to the passenger's front bag.
> One over the exhaust shield to protect it from heat and along where the fuel line would run if there was one to the driver's front bag.
> ...


i did the same just my airlines go out the back of the wheel well not the pass side. vu4 mani also










its messy but you dont see it


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## ForVWLife (Nov 12, 2004)

smokedvr6 said:


> sweet, thanks for the info. didnt know if that would be an issue or anything with debris flying up.
> :thumbup:


your brake lines are under there...just run the lines right with the brake lines and make sure they arent hanging low


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## eastcoaststeeze (Jul 20, 2009)

i ran mine under the car and have no problems at all with it


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## Jayy (Jun 15, 2008)

my mk4 isnt bagged but with the mk3 i ran them under the car NO issues :thumbup:


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## najob08 (Apr 28, 2008)

smokedvr6 said:


> thanks! that does help a lot. are your lines all the same length? or does that not matter with the VU4 manifold? i'm using the same mani. :thumbup:


They're different length. The distances are so short I really doubt it will make a difference, never noticed one myself.:thumbup:


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## OffLineR (Oct 19, 2010)

I think especially the bag types make the big differece.
Since the rears are usually sleeve type, they tend to fill and dump faster than the fronts.

And for MKIVs since only the front tires tuck in, there is a vertical force that slows the dump as well.


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## najob08 (Apr 28, 2008)

OffLineR said:


> I think especially the bag types make the big differece.
> Since the rears are usually sleeve type, they tend to fill and dump faster than the fronts.
> 
> And for MKIVs since only the front tires tuck in, there is a vertical force that slows the dump as well.


With the Accuair's e-Level system all 4 corners dump at pretty much the same speed for me.


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

Easiest way to get the lines to your fronts.

Lift your rear seat, lift the carpet. There are 2 black plugs, take those out and leave them out OR get a large drill bit or someway to make a hole slightly larger than the air line.

If you shine a light inside the hole you will see another black grommet that you can pop out from under the car. Do the same thing with making a hole in that one. Run your air lines through there and you are good to go.

On the passenger side you can follow your fuel line, driver side just get some of the little clips that have self taping screws and put in a few and you are good to go :thumbup:


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## tomespo (Jul 21, 2008)

tomespo said:


> I live in staten island and have driven in brooklyn and queens and snowboarding 5 times a week with plenty of snow on the roads.. The lines are fine outside. For the rear, take out the fender liners and rear door cars if its a 2dr gti. If its a jetta take out the side piece in the trunk, you can run the rear lines out with the ABS wires. *For the front, i went out under the rear seat so it is away from the exhaust , no drilling required. There is a rubber gromet that goes outside.*


Yup, i said the same thing. Best way to do the front, and no drilling through the car.:thumbup:


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## OffLineR (Oct 19, 2010)

That is the same method I did.
I ran over quite a big rock couple of weeks ago.
It hit couple of places under the car.
Than I take the car to lift and saw that nothing serious was happened and I saw that there are plenty of parts something like that will hit before the air lines :thumbup:


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll be running them tomorrow. Things will go smoothly I hope. 

And I feel much better now about running them under the car. 

Yay for a useful thread 

Sent from my iPhone bitch!


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

Ok I must be retardedd because I'm still having trouble getting the line through the rear seat grommet and down through the bottom grommet


Sent from my iPhone bitch!


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

Did you put a big enough hole for the air line to fit through? What problem are you having?
I think when we did it we went from the bottom to the top.


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## Mont. (Mar 29, 2004)

Haha I am clearly retarded lol..I got it, thanks dude 


Sent from my iPhone bitch!


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## Sovietaced (Feb 5, 2010)

Great thread guys, just made my life so much easier


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## NefariousVW (May 21, 2002)

Sovietaced said:


> Great thread guys, just made my life so much easier


Agreed! Just installed mine today and this thread was a huge help.


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## r3coil (Aug 22, 2011)

mine are all ran under the door sills.. there's 4 lines coming from the rear of the car towards the front where the switches are (manual management). 2 go into the tank and 2 go to the rear bags. fronts straight out the grommet near the ecu and into the engine bay. abs grommets from there. 



Tapatalk'd


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## yeabmx (Feb 8, 2011)

bumping this old helpful thread, running air lines through the grommets under the rear seats, do people run those up the fender wall in the rear hatch to get to the grommets or under the tops of the back seats? running em under seats seems like it'll pinch air lines.


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## EuroMike (Sep 2, 2007)

I just finished build couple weeks ago and I run them tru back seat gromets.. 2 lines on each side + wire loom all of them. It worked great :beer:. What bags are you using on the rear ?? 

here is some picture of rear lines on SS-5 and D-cups.. 




















I will take more pic of the front lines this weekend .


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## yeabmx (Feb 8, 2011)

Ill be honest idk what their called, but I know their like slim sleeves not fat bags. Did you run the line under the seat into the grommets or around them? Do u have pics of the other side of grommets?


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## silvermannn (Feb 6, 2009)

I feel like this is very relevant to many Vag cars, not just MKIV. Very glad I read this and I'm definitely running my lines through that grommet. The wire loom covering is also pretty clever... I just might have to copy that.


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## . EH (Sep 27, 2012)

I have a manual system,

Ran through center of the car, inside with the lines going out of the firewall.

The rears go through the grommets where the spare is.

Works for me
:thumbup:


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## yeabmx (Feb 8, 2011)

Think I'm going to run rears out spare tire grommet as well.


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## vjg1215 (Mar 23, 2009)

yeabmx said:


> Think I'm going to run rears out spare tire grommet as well.


I ran my rears through the abs groment. Simple, and it hides the line behind the liners.


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## Smiff16 (Apr 29, 2012)

Im currently re running my front lines through the car and have run the passengers side through the firewall however i need to find a suitable place to run my drivers side line. Does anyone have any tips/pics of how they've done this as i need to keep the airlines the same length and don't want loads of excess airline in my trunk.


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## tmg1991 (Jan 20, 2011)

vjg1215 said:


> I ran my rears through the abs groment. Simple, and it hides the line behind the liners.


this. i ran my front ones like this too


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## ornithology (May 6, 2009)

Great thread. Excellent info


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