(9/12/05)
As I now have a diff, I was able to fit the fuel pipes down the tunnel.I chose not to use steel pipe as this is very hard to bend so to the local B&Q I trotted and for the princely sum of £12.00, got 10m of 8mm copper microbore pipe. As a matter of interest, there is about a 70mm gap at the top of the tunnel rear exit that you can use to route pipes/wires through - this may come in handy for somebody like .... er..... ME.
Pics showing the route I took for the fuel pipes along the top tunnel rail.
Sorry for all these pics, but when I was looking for similar pics, I couldn't find any so hopefully these will help somebody somewhere in Outer Mongolia.
Well what I thought would be an easy job turned out not to be so easy. Ever tried to bend copper around a sharp bend without kinking it, so glad I got 10meters as I knackered the first piece - doh!
The hardest part was trying to curve around the back of the tunnel under the diff top mount. One pipe was bad enough but I had TWO!!
I tried to make this as neat as possible so I followed as much of the chassis as I could. This ended up terminating one, just under the diff support bracket. This is where the fuel filter will exit (right next to the fuel tank exit). The other pipe (return pipe) terminates the other side of the chassis ready for a flexi pipe to be fixed for the return inlet at the front bottom of the tank.
Sounds easy but believe me, I think I had the hardest copper in the UK, it may have had something to do with the cold though!
I then fixed this to the chassis at 8"-10" intervals using larger rivets. This made the "P" clips grip that bit tighter.
(19/12/05)
The lovely postman brought me some goodies today, Fuel pump, filter, regulator and pipes. The fuel filter (Blue one) looks far too nice to tuck away under the fuel tank so I may fit a mirror to show it off - lol. The parts were from FSE Glencoe who were very nice people and even gave me a bit of free fuel pipe just to connect the short bits from Tank to filter & Filter to pump - which was nice! So off to my second home I go with packages in hand.I'd realised that I will need to fit the fuel pump underneath the tank a while back but until I had the parts, I couldn't make any accommodations for them. I wanted to make the run of pipe as short and neat as possible so this is my solution.
The first picture left shows the pump bolted to the rear chassis rail. As you can see in the pic above, the fuel pump came with a foam surround fitted so it was just a matter of making up a "b" shaped bracket, riv-nutted the chassis and bolted into place.
Next was the fuel filter. This was positioned between the tank and the fuel pump on an "L" shaped bracket, again riv-nutted into place. It is important to pre-filter an injection fuel pump as they run at high pressure and as I was advised STRONGLY to fit one before the pump, I did. A bit of a tight squeeze but it does fit.
Fortunately, the pump came with a right angle connection which made installation very tidy.
Second pic you can see the underneath of the installation and the third pic show where the fuel pump plumbs into the copper pipe previously fitted.
Note the copper pipe has a copper olive fitted to prevent the pipe from coming off under pressure. I'll solder this on when I find my blow torch (so much for a tidy garage)
(06/01/06)
Now that the Diff is in, I can locate the Fuel Regulator and finish off the rear fuel lines. I have decided to fit the Regulator in the rear area to tidy up the engine bay. Although this is not normal, it is not un-heard off especially on engines with little or no room.Once the Regulator has been setup, you don't need to touch it again so why put it in the engine bay is what I say!!
These pictures show the Regulator fitted, just a matter of two M6 bolts through the rear Diff carrier tubes. This puts the return outlet from the regulator about 50mm away from the return inlet on the fuel tank, nice and neat. (Note: See 11/03/06 for update)
I then soldered a copper olive onto the end of the return copper fuel pipe and finished all the plumbing of the fuel lines at the rear, thank goodness for that.
(11/03/06)
Up front now as the engine is in I can determine where the lines will go.After a bit of reading up, I've found out that putting the regulator so far from the throttle bodies may cause problems with hesitation etc so I've now moved it to the engine ... Literally!
Found a perfect location right beneath the bodies and bolted straight to the block utilising 2 mounting points already on the block. This is approx 12" away from the exit of the fuel rail and flows nicely back into the return (2nd pic). Adjusting it may be a bit time consuming but it is possible .... just!
(27/03/06)
After purchasing some more JIC -6 fittings, I have a chance to finish off the fuel lines. I've also covered up the trumpets as there is lots of dust flying about, don't want to wreck my engine before it's even started, no, no, NO.I have borrowed a brilliant spanner specially for doing up these fittings which is much better than spanners as they mark the hell out of the anodized finish. Both ends of the fuel rail have now been completed and fit fairly neatly into the regulator below the bodies. It was a hassle getting these fittings on so below is a quick guide on how to do it:
- Wrap hose with insulating tape (tightly) and cut through the tape/pipe with a sharp hacksaw. Cut off any loose strands.
- Wrap cloth around the female fitting and put into a vice, spray with WD40
- Push pipe into fitting with twisting action until fully against end of fitting.
- Take out of vice and turn around (still with cloth on it) and put it back into the vice.
- Spray more WD40 on it and offer the male part of fitting onto it.
- Wrap male part of fitting with tape and a cloth and do up with a good fitting spanner. Tighten the up until they are fully home (don't leave a gap between fittings)
- Job Done.
(02/04/06)
Well as you do, I've found a problem with my fuel sender. The damn thing is reading full when it's empty and I presume it will read empty when full (I've not filled it up yet to try).This is a VDO sender unit, I know because I purchased one for my last car. If you also come across this problem, it's easy to solve. (Pic shows the arm in it's new position).
Remove sender from tank (they are pre-fitted) noting that there are 4 short screws and 1 long one. Leave the long one connected so the bottom securing plate doesn't fall into the tank. Also note that the float faces forward.
Undo the screw holding the float arm and turn it around to face 180 degrees the opposite direction. You will then find it reads correctly.
Re-insert assembly and connect it up. Another note is there is a small cut out in the lower securing ring to aid feeding/removing it through the round hole which is smaller then the ring. A bit tricky but you'll get the hang of it.
