Hey all. This is my first post and I know little about cars so please bear with me.

I have a 1985 Pontiac Fiero SE L4 5-speed standard that I bought a few weeks ago as a project car. I've never had a project car and really only started to become interested in cars a few months ago. I decided I would jump in head first and teach myself how cars work by working on my dream car, a standard Fiero!

Anyway, I'm dropping the gas tank to clean it out and see if it needs any pinhole patching and while I was under the car, I noticed that on either side of the gas tank there are these metal bars that run along the car long ways, from the front to back of the car. Near the rear end of the gas tank the metal bars/tubes head up towards the engine and right before they get over the exhaust there is a pretty big dent in the bar. Like, it looks crushed. My concern is that if this is indeed a tube of some sort then it'll act like a clogged artery and I definitely don't want that if it's something important. If anyone could let me know what these do I'd really appreciate it. I'll attach a photo of the metal bars for reference.

Sorry for the long post thanks for your help!

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POP POP POP POP-UP UP AND DOWN HEADLIGHTS UHH

Some are Air conditioning lines (if you have A/C) and some are filled with engine coolant (heater hoses).
Get yourself a service manual, it will make teaching yourself more thorough

Here is a pic from the web

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 10-09-2019).]

Outboard tubes along the rocker panels are for engine cooling.
The passenger side is cooled water from radiator to engine.
The driver side is heated water from engine goin to the radiator.

The tubes by the gas tank on the passenger side are for the heater core, which is under the dash on the passenger side.
The tubes on the driver side by the gas tank are for the air conditioning.

Thanks all for the replies.

Thank goodness. I thought they might be the coolant lines running from the radiator. There's a pretty good dent in the passenger side like I said so it's a relief to know that it's not going to cut off my coolant! I'll have to replace it eventually but knowing it's not a super pressing matter is awesome.

If your heater blows hot, youre good.

quote Originally posted by Quiberey: Thanks all for the replies. Thank goodness. I thought they might be the coolant lines running from the radiator. There's a pretty good dent in the passenger side like I said so it's a relief to know that it's not going to cut off my coolant! I'll have to replace it eventually but knowing it's not a super pressing matter is awesome.

Do you have pictures? We might be able to help spot something...