General Project Peterborough

[Liquid Knight]

That's the beauty of it. Nylocks or double nuts to make sure it's not too tight. I used to use bits of old fuel pipe over the bolts but that can perish after a while.

 

[Liquid Knight]

I've hit a proverbial wall with the project. I need one of these...

...and obviously out of the 845 Weber and 62 Webber parts listed on eBay there isn't a single outlet spout. I've tried hydraulic ones, air line ones, plumber stores; nothing. The part does not exist anywhere. :bang:


I have a plan. :devil:

 

[Liquid Knight]

Un-bloody-believable! :bang:

 

[Bartpanda]

Un-bloody-believable!

The neck for carb sender unit to high?

 

[Liquid Knight]

The neck for carb sender unit to high?

...and the filler neck 10mm too narrow.

I'm very close to scrapping the car right now. I should have the first hint of black silicone where repairs should be. From under the car I can clearly see the black silicone beneath the wax oil on the floor and sills. I'm about to clean the old tank to see if it's salvageable using patched made from the new tank.

:bang::bang::bang::bang::bang::bang:

 

[Liquid Knight]

One good thing. The bracket I made for the fuel pump was perfect. The handbrake cables passed through it just as I planned.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Oh look!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FUEL-PETR...Car+Make:Fiat|Model:Panda&hash=item58a81a4981

Does anyone want a set of mud/snow winter tyres for £100? I paid £140 but need the money to get my car running again.
dragonman

 

[Liquid Knight]

I don't mind spending my day off crawling around under cars. That's part of the fun of owning classics over the years. I do take exception to it when I don't get anything done.

So the swear box is full today after a week an hour here and twenty minutes there faffing about with the wrong fuel tank truing to make the sender unit fit and fabricate a fuel pump bracket that the hand brake cables can pass through this...

...happened.

Not a big deal I can weld on a reducer at some point but as I'm here I may was well see if the new tank fits.

It doesn't. To make the sender unit neck long enough it sticks out too far up top. Hmmmm... :idea:

Cut a hole in the floor?

Chop the end off the sender unit and lower the neck?

I know the bottom of the old tank is fiberglass filler, black silicone and wax oil...

...I'll clean the top and see if it's salvageable.

Hmmmmm.... No.

More black silicone than a weekend at the Torture Garden, more filler than the entire works of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park put together and more holes the plot lines of every single HBO series ever made.

Still I could use the old tank as a template and start from scratch. It would be cheaper so I might not have to sell my tyres. Just can't afford to have them fitted this month.

 

[Liquid Knight]

I guess if I did cut a hole in the floor I could weld it back up again once I could afford the right tank.

It's not a black silicone bodge.

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Oh look!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FUEL-PETR...Car+Make:Fiat|Model:Panda&hash=item58a81a4981

Does anyone want a set of mud/snow winter tyres for £100? I paid £140 but need the money to get my car running again.

dragonman

Tank: "Not suitable for 4x4" oh well nice try though mate

 

[Bartpanda]

Do not panic, it is not that bad the tank is new after all, shorten the neck, make some reduction to the "intake" pipe and thats it, you have a new tank. My tank on terkking looks the same as your old one I could not fill it more than 15 liters. I hope the pandabellas tank will be better, it looks good with original paint and no leaks, but you never know...

The storry with your tank reminds me of mine, and my fiatnuts-friends plan to write a book about "situations" when replacing the parts in old fiats, the title... "exactly the same but totally different"... explains the plot of the book I think

 

[Liquid Knight]

Tank: "Not suitable for 4x4" oh well nice try though mate

The picture looks identical.

Oh well. Making a new tank from scratch would be cheaper and more fun.

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

It's similar to the one that I got, and aftermarket tank - all mounts are the same but like Bartpanda says a couple of bits are different. The filler neck is at completely the wrong angle and this was the main cause of the destruction of my plastic filler neck pipe - which are even harder to get hold of than tanks! If you can get round this problem though you're laughing

 

[Liquid Knight]

Certainly got a bit of work to do.

Back to work tomorrow so another Panda shaped garden ornament.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Something arrived in the post today...

...from my eBay Italy friends.

Nice little motivator eh?

 

[Liquid Knight]

What better way to mark American Thanks Giving day than getting back to work on my turkey?

Well I would have sooner but my brothers dads Kia Sedona has a knackered washer pump and it was a pain in the cheeks to get to. My neighbors Nissan Almera ran out of petrol and ever since has been running like a bag of crap (compared to usual) and needed a new fuel filter and the ECU resetting.

Now those were out of the way I have a couple of hours to dissect my fuel tank to see where it went wrong and give it another try before making on from scratch.

With the new section removed it's obvious the swirl pot in the bottom was in the way of the pick up pipe reaching the centre of the tank and it had to go...

...spot welds drilled out and bowl removed the pick up can now sit flush with the top of the tank.

Lap welding small plates around the holes outside before filling the holes from the inside I ran out of gas so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Typical.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Drilled holes welded up now I need to fabricate another top.

 

[Liquid Knight]

As I was rudely awoken earlier (got home from work at seven, ten mile run and in bed about nine only for hurricane nephew to hit the house at twelve) I thought I'd make good use of the time.

A little bit of progress...

...bloody untidy welding.

My welder has been inconsistent lately. I've stripped the torch and winding mechanism down, cleaned everything and it has made it a lot better but I still had to flap re-run and flap again before putting my hand over the filler spout and blowing into the overflow to check for leaks.

Happy there was no loss of pressure I cut a hole in the top measured the pick up pipe neck and welded it in place...

...pretty much where it should have been the first time around.

Maybe this time it could work.

Tomorrow I'll widen the filler spout as I now have to get ready for another twelve hour night shift. :bang:

Hopefully the arceye will keep me awake.

 

[Liquid Knight]

So I had three options.

1/ Buy a reducer pipe. Yeah right.

2/ Make a reducer pipe. Risking the tank might not fit (again).

3/ Cut the spout off the old tank, clean the filler off and weld it to the new tank.


Tank II

Ready for paint and fitting.

 

[Liquid Knight]

So the engine end was done.

I've fitted a one way valve in the fuel line to make sure the pump stays wet.

The moment of truth. Does the tank fit?

So far so...

...bugger!

What a stupid design! The filler pipe sits so low on the original tank...

...it's impossible to more than two thirds fill the tank without the filler neck being full.

I'm getting annoyed with this.

So I bodged it.

No black silicone or filler this time but a bodge none the less. Bloody pointless idea of a van with a quarter of the load space taken up with a fuel cell but at least the thing runs.

Well it did. The engine runs on the throttle for between ten and thirty seconds and dies out. :bang:

No I have installed the choke cable it doesn't want to start at all.