Replacing leaking fuel hoses on 4.2 Cerb
Discussion
I was told by the experts that the fuel lines that run inside the transmission tunnel on the early Cerbs could not easily be replaced without removing the engine and transmission, the later cars have steel pipes running inside the passenger compartment attached to the top of the tunnel, which made more sense, but the earlier cars were obviously plumbed at the rolling chassis stage just before the body was lowered on!
After returning from a blast down to Goodwood one sunday I noticed a smell of petrol, when I squeezed the hose plumbed into the fuel rail it slightly oozed petrol, caught it just in time as it carries the most pressure as it comes straight from the pump, it was then that I decided to pioneer a new surgical procedure.
Set of 4 railway sleepers get the car high up enough to work under it safely, though not exactly comfortably.
This lot is what need removing before you can get at the inside of the tunnel to get the old pipes out.
Remove the aluminium heat shield by drilling out the pop rivets
Remove cats and exhausts
The copper line on the LHS is the return fuel line from the cooler mounted at the fron of the engine, the rubber line next to it is the breather from the inlet boxes which runs back to the carbon can. The supply line runs along the other side of the tunnel but is not visible as its above the heat insulation, you have to feel about quite a bit to find it.
One you have managed to cut all the cable ties and extract the old copper pipe you can start threading the new ones back through the same torturous route, this part of the job is not easy either, I managed it on my own but some help as this stage would be useful. Don't forget to thread some new heat shield over the new pipes first, I also made the compression fittings in a vice before final fitting to ensure the olives were cut nicely into the pipe.
Follow the contours of the chassis, pipes were all attached with plastic cable ties at the factory, I fitted them with stainless ties for good measure.
The return feed back to the tank.
Replaced the fuel filter while I was at it.
Bind the ends of the heat wrap with aluminium tape
8mm bulkhead fittings supported by an aluminium bracket bolted to the bulkhead using two existing bolts in that area.
I will add the final picture of the finished installation tomorrow and a few more details, hope this is of help to others with early cars, it can be done without removing the engine, I think the final cost was around between 100 - 150 notes, though it did take me about six weeks as sourcing all the bits was not straight forward, also getting the old copper pipes out was a bit of a struggle.
My local Pirteck branch were very helpful with the pipe fittings, but they did not keep all the bits in stock as they mainly supply pipe work for hydraulic rather than petrol applications.
The heat shielding material and stainless cable ties were from a kit car building firm, will post a link for them also tomorrow.
The finished job:
After returning from a blast down to Goodwood one sunday I noticed a smell of petrol, when I squeezed the hose plumbed into the fuel rail it slightly oozed petrol, caught it just in time as it carries the most pressure as it comes straight from the pump, it was then that I decided to pioneer a new surgical procedure.
Set of 4 railway sleepers get the car high up enough to work under it safely, though not exactly comfortably.
This lot is what need removing before you can get at the inside of the tunnel to get the old pipes out.
Remove the aluminium heat shield by drilling out the pop rivets
Remove cats and exhausts
The copper line on the LHS is the return fuel line from the cooler mounted at the fron of the engine, the rubber line next to it is the breather from the inlet boxes which runs back to the carbon can. The supply line runs along the other side of the tunnel but is not visible as its above the heat insulation, you have to feel about quite a bit to find it.
One you have managed to cut all the cable ties and extract the old copper pipe you can start threading the new ones back through the same torturous route, this part of the job is not easy either, I managed it on my own but some help as this stage would be useful. Don't forget to thread some new heat shield over the new pipes first, I also made the compression fittings in a vice before final fitting to ensure the olives were cut nicely into the pipe.
Follow the contours of the chassis, pipes were all attached with plastic cable ties at the factory, I fitted them with stainless ties for good measure.
The return feed back to the tank.
Replaced the fuel filter while I was at it.
Bind the ends of the heat wrap with aluminium tape
8mm bulkhead fittings supported by an aluminium bracket bolted to the bulkhead using two existing bolts in that area.
I will add the final picture of the finished installation tomorrow and a few more details, hope this is of help to others with early cars, it can be done without removing the engine, I think the final cost was around between 100 - 150 notes, though it did take me about six weeks as sourcing all the bits was not straight forward, also getting the old copper pipes out was a bit of a struggle.
My local Pirteck branch were very helpful with the pipe fittings, but they did not keep all the bits in stock as they mainly supply pipe work for hydraulic rather than petrol applications.
The heat shielding material and stainless cable ties were from a kit car building firm, will post a link for them also tomorrow.
The finished job:
Edited by Erich Stahler on Friday 17th July 22:59
Edited by Erich Stahler on Monday 20th July 18:54
Gassing Station | Cerbera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff