Tank sender wiring

Completed the fuel tank today by wiring the fuel sender. I'd previously cut down the plastic which surrounds the terminals so they could be bent over for additional clearance. It was just a case of cutting the wire to length and fitting a couple of female spade terminals and a short length of heat shrink to tidy it up.



The 11/16 written on the top of the tank is to remind me what size spanner fits the top fuel fitting just down the side. I've made marks like this in a few places and found it saves time hunting through different sizes spanners/sockets etc. until you find the one you need, especially when the fitting is partly obscured and not easy to see.

Fuel Tank

After messing about with bits of stainless steel to make a new brake fluid reservoir bracket, I got my finger out and got the fuel tank installed. I had to tidy up a few wires first as there's a few extra run to the boot area of a GD that I'm not using for my build, they're for things like heated rear screen for the hardtop, general accessories and because I'm using the loom provided by the engine supplier I've not used the connections GD provide for the fuel pump.



I also had to run a length of brake pipe for the vent on the fuel tank filler neck. This is fixed with small plastic p-clips and self tappers which protrude slightly into the wheel arch behind so I'll have to cut the ends off with a Dremel.



Fuel tank finally fitted. The top end of the straps are secured with jacknuts and the bottom end with a single bolt straight through the boot floor that's tightened up from underneath.



After all the effort I made trying to tidy up the loose wiring, it all got in the way of the bottom outlet on the tank so it needs a rethink. I may have to have the tank out again but it's good to see it all fitted and strapped down. In theory, I'm back in a position to have the engine running, I can't believe it's been 10 months since it last ran.

If you're wondering what the blue stuff is around the boot opening, it's masking tape that I used to hold down some thin strips or card used to space the boot lid away from the body to the same depth as the rubber seal. This was so I could position the hinges correctly to have the boot lid level with the surrounding body work when it's shut. That's been there a while as well !

Closure....

Ahhh, remember this..Fuel filler cap.. well I'm finally back round to the filler cap and I'm pleased to say it fits perfectly and you can't see the join. :-)



Once the tank is fixed I can join the two pieces up with some filler hose and finally tick this item off the list.



I've got a little more work to do on the cap itself, it needed a vent installing which involved drilling a hole in the side of the neck, tapping it with a 1/8 NPTF bit and screwing in a fitting which will allow me to install a length of copper tube (brake pipe) to act as a vent. The pipe run will initially rise inside the boot to stop fuel flowing down the vent pipe and then follow a path down and out through the floor of the boot. In theory, with the end of the vent pipe lower than the tank, this should stop fuel running out of the tank through the vent pipe if I'm ever unlucky enough to find myself upside down... scary thought and probably the least of my worries ! Incidentally, the 1/8 NPTF bit wasn't something I had in my toolbox and after a bit of online searching I was a little dismayed at the cost of buying one for a "one off" job. Ebay came to the rescue and I bought one from China for about £8 delivered !

Fuel Tank Connections

The other job I tackled recently was to drill the holes and pass the fuel lines and fuel pump wiring from under the rear of the car into the boot. I used some stepped grommets I got from Car Builder Solutions which took a bit of fitting as I didn't want to remove the fuel line end fittings so had to stretch the grommets over the end of them. After a bit of wrangling everything fell into place. I will probably need to secure the lines under the car to stop them rubbing on the chassis but I'll wait until the connections are tightened onto the tank before looking at this.

Fuel Tank

Had a bit of a break from the build just recently but with Xmas and the New Year out of the way I decided to tackle the fuel tank.
The first job was to mount the fuel sender. It comes as a kit and you have to adjust the length of the float arm to suit. Because the tank is divided in three sections to accomodate the internal baffles, in the section where the fuel sender sits, it's actually taller than it is long/wide so that to adjust it to read "empty" correctly, i.e with the float on the bottom of the tank, it's hits the side on the way up as it travels through an arc and will never reach the point at which it should read "full". I made a few measurements and in the end judged it by eye to be as long as possible at the full position i.e. horizontal, without touching the sides. This meant placing the float arm diagonally across the section and by positioning the float to be vertical and pointing down I figured I'd get more measurement at the bottom end when nearing empty, and sacrifice a little at the top end when the tank is full, or nearly full when the exact level is less critical. It was then a case of soldering the sender to its final length and fitting it to the tank.



This required 6 holes to be drilled around the sender opening and I opted to tap threads into the holes rather than use rivnuts.



I shamelessly stole and then developed an idea from another blog site and rather than use a muffin cup (thanks Steve) to catch the swarf inside the tank as I drilled, I used a cocktail umbrella. This was placed upside down through the opening and opened inside the tank thus catching the swarf from firstly the drilling and then the tapping of the sender fixing holes.



Seemed to work too !



It was then a case of tightning it all down with some stainless M5 buttom heads and fibre washers onto the supplied cork gasket smeared with blue hylomar gasket sealant.



The electrical connections will need a little fettling with the plastic cups cutting back and the spade connectors bending over to reduce the height and prevent fouling with other areas of the boot floor.

Fuel Lines tightened... wheels arrived

I've fitted the sensor on the intake and tightened all the fuel lines after having to remake one of them after mistakenly cutting it to length when it was supposed to be a bit long .....!

I've also picked up and fitted my own wheels after having Andy's factory wheels on loan until mine were ready. Hopefully next weekend I'll get a chance to connect the battery and add some fuel and we'll be running. That'll be a bit of a milestone for me and then tidy up a few wires (p-clips on order) and it's on with the body and cutting holes in the rear deck for the roll hoops. If you've followed this blog from the early days, rest assured I'll be using the correct size holesaw :-)

Preparing to start the engine

Had a little tinker today and mocked up the fuel lines from the pump/regulator to the tank and from the fixed fuel line to the engine. I'm going to start the engine before I put the body on partly to satisfy my curiosity but also to check for leaks in the fuel line. All the joints can be accessed once the body is on but I'd probably have to do it from underneath.

I've also built a "starting box" housing water temp gauge, oil pressure gauge and rev counter along with several switches rigged up to mimic the the action of an ignition switch i.e. power on and start but also the action of holding the clutch down. My system includes a switch similar to that found in modern vehicles which requires either the gearbox is in neutral if automatic or the clucth held down if manual. This often referred to as a neutral safety switch and is the switch labelled NSS on the box.

I've also loosely mocked up the air filter assembly and you can see how the GD system draws cool air from in front of the radiator which should help performance. The air box will be bonded into the body when it finally goes on.

This was the first time that I've moved the body whilst on it's new frame which has been designed to allow me to move either the body or chassis out of the garage independently on each other.

I also wired the fan and fuel pump. Next job will be to tighten all the fuel lines, put some petrol in the tank, connect the battery and it should fire right up !