Fuel Sender, Tank & Filler

Having sorted out the geometry of the fuel sender arm and float it was time to fit it to the tank. To do this I drilled the tank for the fixing holes and inserted low profile M4 rivnuts - these have a very shallow head that pulls into the hole when fixed leaving a virtually flush surface:

I trial fitted the sender and checked the full and empty resistances for a final time. The sender was then fitted utilising the cork gasket supplied which was smeared with Blue Hylomar to provide a good seal. Fibre washers were used under the heads of the bolts to prevent any vapour creeping up the threads:

You can see from the above photo that it is necessary to modify the terminals on the sender to avoid intruding into the boot space. All that remained now was to fit the tank and connect the remaining hoses and wire up the sender and fuel pump:

Well..... the tank would have been fitted if I had remembered to collect the tank straps when I collected the tank! With everything now in place (nearly) I trial fitted the boot floor and pump box out one last time:

Nice and Neat. Next up for some attention was the Aston style fuel filler. This comes with no holes drilled in the fixing flange (although there are indents on the underside) so six m5 holes need to be drilled and then rebated for the heads of the fixing bolts. Next up you need to fabricate a rubber gasket to fit between the flange and the body - easily done with some 2mm neoprene. Here's the resulting parts:

The fixing flange was used to mark the fixing holes in the body.

First of all the flange fits to the body:

Then the cap is screwed on - make sure you do this with the cap open - this allows the catch to move in and give more clearance:

I've not bolted it in yet as I need to check something with GD. GD normally fit a vent pipe via a brass fitting into a tapped hole that needs making in the filler neck of the flange. However, the locking cap in the filler neck is vented and the Aston Cap itself is vented. So fitting another vent pipe seems a bit unnecessary?

A couple of weeks ago I ordered all the trim and seats etc on the understanding that it would take 6 weeks to manufacture. However the trimmers called yesterday to say it was all ready!! I asked them to send it to GD and I'll pick it up when I go down to get the windscreen and some other bits. I'm hoping that I'll have a windscreen within the next two weeks - the signs appear promising.