Right, back to the Vixen and this fuel tank sender. First I tighten down all the screws, to finally compress the gasket and sealer.
Then I refill the tank, right to the top. It leaks around the nearside edge of the sender...
Nip up the screws a wee bit more... one of them is turning but not tightening fully, so I remove it, and measure it as a 4.1mm self-tapper. I dig
out a slightly thicker self-tapper (4.75mm), put some sealer on the threads, and wind that in. Then I refill it to the top of the filler neck.
No leak! Yay! I leave it for 5 or 10 minutes, just to check that there's no slow leak, and then syphon some fuel out of it again to give the seal
more time to dry out. It's raining outside so I'll leave any test drive for now, but I think it's sorted. If it's not leaking when it's immersed in
fuel, it's not going to leak if it's just splashing up. It's definitely better than it was.
I replace the boot floor and then the boot lining. I can still lift the carpet to check the sender if I have to.
The gitcave is honking of petrol though, what with all this leakery and fucking-aboutery with syphons and jerrycans and funnels and spillages etc,
so I leave both doors of the gitcave open for a while to help the fuel smell evaporate a bit. You can't diagnose a fuel leak in a car that already
stinks of fuel! So there's a wee glimpse into where all this shit happens.
Time to start planning our trip to Wedgefest in a couple of weeks!
Not much to report but... I took the Vixen out for a very short run on Wednesday, with lots of corners, and found that the sender was still leaking,
ever so slightly, around one of the screws. It realy was just the slightest "sweat" around one screw, although you could barely smell it. I put
around 3ml of permatex in a syringe, took the screw out and injected a tiny blob of Permatex into the top of the thread, and replaced with a new
screw. Then I decided to use up the rest of the permatex in the syringe, by injecting a tiny bead around the edge of the sender, and rubbing it in
with a cotton bud.
I got a chence to take the car out and fling it around a bit, with the windows closed. No fuel smell, no sign of any fuel leak, I hope that's it
sorted! It's certainly a lot better than it was...
Also on Wednesday, I went to visit Hugh, around 60 miles away. He tripped over some stuff lying on his garage floor a couple of weeks ago, while he
was trying to replace the driver's door on his S. He landed on a random bit of wood and cracked his ribs... Health and Safety, boys and girls,
tripping over shit is no fun (and even less fun when you get older and your bones turn to papier mache).
What else? Oh yes, at my birthday bash on Saturday, one of my former work colleagues gave me a book "TVR - The Early Years" by Peter Filby.
I've been reading that over the week, while looking out at rain battering off the windows, and it's really very interesting. It only goes up to 1965,
when Martin Lilley bought the company, but covers the early "specials", the Granturas, the Griffiths and the ill-fated Trident. Some interesting
stories, and examples of good management and bad management, combined with trusting the wrong people, and sheer bad luck, such as increased tariffs
in Canada and US dock strikes at exactly the worst time.
I've just ordered Volume 2 which covers the Lilley years!
The gitcave is honking of petrol though, what with all this leakery and fucking-aboutery with syphons and jerrycans and funnels and spillages etc,
so I leave both doors of the gitcave open for a while to help the fuel smell evaporate a bit. You can't diagnose a fuel leak in a car that already
stinks of fuel! So there's a wee glimpse into where all this shit happens.