On the last update I had made a bracket and mounted the fuel pump, so this time it was time to get the fuel lines in. I have opted for a hardline this time round as opposed to full length rubber flexi hose. I want the fuel line to be a as durable as possible and less responsive to E5 or E10 variants so a copper hardline will cope with anything so let’s get it in!
Hottest day of the year today so glad I was able to utilise the sun to help heat up my copper spool to aid with bending and manipulating it into position. This is a 8mm spool which is a tad overkill for a carb engine, however it’s better to oversize than undersize. The fuel will be regulated just before the carbs but if I was to have only used 6mm fuel line there could be a risk of fuel starvation which would seriously effect what little performance the 1500 engine will produce.
I wanted to run the fuel line in one continuous run… however it is physically not possible with the bends needed. It “could/would” have been possible prior to the body sill getting fixed and bonded onto the chassis but alas that is too late in the build stage for me now…. Bugger. So three runs of hard line front to back with two compression straight couplers needed in certain places. I started off with cutting the hole in the boot floor and fitting a rubber grommet to protect the copper line against the sheet metal boot floor. The position I have already calculated when bodging up the first attempt with the fuel line and this is also where one of the connector will be.
The second leg of the fuel line is simply following the outer chassis sill and a bent up and along the underside of the boot floor into the compression coupler. I have had to remove the offside rear wheel, mudguard and radius arm to give me access to get all this, and I still need to get back in at some point and fix the fuel line with some clips (which I don’t have yet) I will get some protective sleeving to cover this section of the line also, whilst it is in to risk of direct hits from road debris it will just help protect from the elements as such. I will also need to seal off the lower section of the rear bulkhead which you can just see as the fuel line runs through it, but this is relatively easy later on with some PU sealant and some offcuts offcuts of sheet metal.
The main run of fuel line is now easy to run along the sill length, unfortunately with another straight coupler along the length. Then it runs through another grommeted hole in the front bulkhead and bent up towards the fuel regulator. I have used some braided fuel line from the copper to the regulator and intend to do the same from the regulator to the carbs with a fuel pressure gauge in line also. Unfortunately the unions I ordered haven’t arrived yet so I will have to postpone that for another time. But with the main run from the tank to the engine bay now mostly in place and sealed up I was able to drop some fuel in the tank and pressure up the line. I started off just blocking the output from the regulator as I wanted to run the pump and fuel lines under pressure for a while to confirm all joins are sealed and no risk of leaking and I was pleased that everything held nicely with just a small nip of the fitting next to the passenger seat to get it to seal. Once I had done that I was happy just to run the fuel through the lines back into my gerry can which will help flush any debris through and into the filter, this will get changed after a few miles on the road and after a couple of full fuel tanks have passed through the line.
I’m glad to report since the last update a few weeks back that the diff hasn’t dropped one bit of oil, so I’m confident to say that I should have sorted that issue. Next up is a few little jobs to help get everything progressing. First up is an expansion tank or header tank for the cooling system. With the radiator being relocated much further forward than originally and access to the pressure cap tricky I have devised a plan to update the cooling system that I hope will work well. First off is the tank itself, this is just a basic 1.5 litre alloy unit off eBay for around £30. I will replace the pressure cap with a correctly rated pressure release as per the original setup (13 Psi) and the second cap on the radiator which is not really accessibly with a higher rated pressure release which will then in theory act as a fail safe if needed. The new tank will be mounted on the bulkhead firewall as high as possible to help the cooling system bleed itself naturally, this is doubly important because the radiator is also now lower than the original Triumph setup so risk for airlocks could be high without this tank. The installation is basically plumbed in to replace what would be the heater matrix within the original setup.
From the water pump outlet side the coolant is pushed through the thermostat and then on through the radiator, however it is also diverted through a secondary outlet (black question mark shaped hose) through the inlet manifold and on to what would have been the heater matrix inlet. The reason to heat the inlet is to stop ice forming and keeping the fuel vaporised during winter cold drives. I don’t think that will be much of a risk with the nature of this car, however if you deviate off script then you normally create further issues to resolve. So the secondary outlet is now running through the inlet as it should but now is just the returning to the top feed of the new expansion tank. The bottom outlet of the tank is just going to be connected to the return feed pipe that runs under the exhaust manifold (yellow arrow) this tube I have upgraded to a stainless steel replacement as it fits with a compression and olive fitting into the water pump, and they a prone to leaking and corroding so a stainless unit should be much better.
Next up, fuel filter. I plan this whole build in my head weeks and months before I actually do it, so find myself trawling eBay etc.. for parts and components that I will need later on. This filter is also a pressure regulator to keep the fuel delivery to the carbs consistent and new they cost in the region of £100, this one was £35 so a significant saving made there. I have to mount the filter in a fashion that suits my setup best, so simply remove the top four bolts and rotating the top section of the body allows me to point the inlet and outlet in the correct directions needed. Then with a small angle bracket cut and painted I mounted the whole thing on the bulkhead with the inlet pointing down to where I need to fit the fuel pipe run from the fuel tank. I’m considering fitting a fuel pressure gauge between the outlet of this filter and the inlet to the carbs, they look cool in my opinion and will add some bling as such to the engine bay… not to mention being able to set the pressure to the correct 7psi required for the carbs.
So next on the list is the fuel pump itself. I have opted for an electric fuel pump over the original mechanical unit simply because I like the idea of the toggle switch on the dash board to turn it on and off… pure vanity I know but that’s what I want. The pump is a Facet red top which over exceeds the requirements for the engine so it should work well within the setup. I have made a bracket which the pump is rubber mounted on to help isolate the noise and ticking of the pump when in use. I have two two rubber mounts on the lower of the bracket where it will mount to the fuel tank allowing for a double isolated bracket which in theory should work well, however in reality it turned out to be too much flex and when fitted the whole bracket then vibrated and bounced on the top of the fuel tank. The revision of this was just to remove the lower two rubber mounts and directly bolt the bracket to the tank, so no flex within the bracket, but the pump is still rubber mounted to the bracket to help absorb the noise.
I need to order some fuel hose and hose clips etc… then I’m going to pop 20lt of fuel in the tank and set the pump away. This will help flush the tank and lines of any sediment, not that there will be much as I have already cleaned everything and sealed it once done and will give me a better idea of how loud the pump will be when driving…. Hopefully not as bad as the test run in the video below.
So next up then is just to make and fit some fuel pipe etc.. which I need to order and then that’s one step closer to running the engine. Another good step forward!
