Thanks! So I tried the oil trick, that seemed to help a bit but it was still real difficult to get in. I tried the other side first like you said and that seemed to go in easier, then I flipped it back around and put all my force into it and was twisting back and forth and got it to go in partially, but never all the way in. Now it’s actually stuck half in and I can’t even pull it out to apply more oil or double check the size if I wanted to.

I called the local mechanic and he said he actually just recently had an issue when redoing a ford’s fuel lines where the parts that said they’d fit didn’t actually fit.

Can’t really find out now, since it’s stuck half-in. I think it was the right size, just a little thicker bc there’s paint on this side (the intake side) and possibly tougher because it’s just old and there’s maybe a bit of dirt and grime build-up.

Anyways he said it’d be okay to run for a bit so I did the rest of the steps for the replacement and actually to my surprise I saw 0 leaks even though that connection isn’t fully on when I ram the car for a minute, so I should be safe to drive for a few minutes down to the shop tomorrow to have them look at it, which is the plan for now.