refurbished the fuel system in the boot

[Brakebuster]

i was getting an intermittent ' stall ' of revs at speed , akin to loss of fuel pressure , the front of the car has been fully overhauled fuel wise , and this left the boot mounted components suspect

i obtained new pipework etc from Jaguar at very low prices , and plucked up the courage to rip it all apart , lol

this meant draining the tank , i did this the enjoyable way by driving her as much as possible, lol

with the needle well below the quarter full mark i decided now was the time, three weeks from Littlecote, so gave me time for trouble shooting if required,

firstly ,all boot trim was removed, along with the battery and battery tray , noting where everything is mounted.

last night i pondered on the best way to drain what was left in the main tank , i decided that the breather/balance pipe on top of the swirl pot was the way to go , with a spare hose in hand i removed the top hose from the swirl pot and quickly pushed on the spare hose as fuel will start to flow from the spout, physics dictates that with the end of the spare hose higher than the fuel level in the tank , nothing will happen until this hose is lowered ,

a plastic fuel can resting on the spare wheel floor mount allowed me to decant the tank , i took 2 gallons, and then half a gallon in the swirl pot , there is spillage , it is inevitable , work in a well ventilated space , take regular breaks for fresh air , dont have any sources of ignition anywhere near the work area ,

one cup of coffee later to allow the fumes to dissipate, i started to undo the pipework , and remove the swirl pot, this pot had a fuel lift pipe which has a fine filter on the end inside the pot, this is removed by undoing the circular ring clip on the lift pipe , there is a rubber seal under the top plate as well, when i looked into the pot i could see debris, not as much as i was fearing, but at least a tea spoon full , this would be attracted to the filter and gradually restrict the flow of fuel , this takes time on smooth roads, rough roads seem to ' jiggle ' the debris around not letting it collect on the filter , well, thats my theory


the swirl pot was cosmetically rusty in places, so i rubbed it down and painted it with high temp engine paint, this is more resistant to the fuel and other things, all components were cleaned up and a new lifter pipe with the original filter was refitted with a new seal and locking ring, new fuel pipes from the tanks and to the pump etc were fitted , ensuring no perished pipes were left in there, the pump is in good condition , and the terminals were cleaned and crimped toght to ensure constant contact

everything was refitted and today i will refit the battery and the trim , once i have put some petrol back in to check for leaks ,

BB

[AlastairCM]

I had a pinhole leak in the bottom of my fuel tank last year which sort of did most of the fuel draining for me, but I went the same route as you for draining the rest of the tank. I just lightly clipped the hose until I could get a container under it. My swirl pot had a drain valve to drain through a hole in the boot but this seemed a much easier option.

Just make sure you follow the process for depressuringing the fuel system (disconnect pump relay and turn over the ignition a few times). Repressurising involves turning the ignition to fire up the fuel pump so it does it's pre-start pressure up about 6 or 7 times then about 3 or 4 goes at the starter motor.

I ended up removing the tank, battery tray, pump etc which was quite a task. Then ended up using the opportunity to strip and repaint the tank shelf while it was accessible and the boot floor and replace the seam sealer with dinitrol where the wheelarches are and repaint the butresses from the inside as I had some bubbling in the paint. The whole tank shelf and boot floor was covered in fuel which had soaked into the tank mat and wrecked it.

The tank puts out a lot (a scary lot) of fuel vapour on removal, it needs to be left somewhere safe for at least half an hour to vent out to an acceptable level, preferably nowhere near anything flamable or sources of ignition.

I ended up making a new tank mat from a nitrile sheet which shouldn't have the same problem with absorbing fuel and holding it against the tank shelf paint. It was also a good opportunity to clean out the debris in the swirl pot that gets held in suspension with nowhere to escape to and can block the gauze filter.

Everything (including tank once it was repaired, swirl pot and battery tray and inside of butresses) got a basecoat of POR 15 with proper prep beforehand, before being primed over and then painted as normal.

[Brakebuster]

nice one


well , mine is all back together now , and working well , just got to go to the bank to ask the manager if i can fill her with fuel..........

BB