Petrol Tank Refurb (POR 15)

The boot would smell a little of petrol when the tanks were more than half full.
Not sure where the leak was coming from but probably time to change all the rubber seals and seal the tanks with POR 15.

To remove the tanks you need to remove the boot springs and disconnect the strut from the boot lid to make space.

The condition of the tanks were not that bad but evidence of previous repair was noted on the LH outside.

Little bit rusty inside RH tank

The POR 15 cleaning takes a while. And preparing the 3 joining pipes also.

S3 filler, joiner, S4 joiner

Note that the series 3 has a different RH tank and the filler cap and joining hose is different to series 4 & 5.

The Tank sealer does need to be mixed well, it can be lumpy.
Sealing the tanks is easy enough but ensuring the excess is well drained takes some care.

Refitting the springs is easy if the strut is removed from the boot lid.

Pulling the strut rear-wards means the spring is close to the shortest extension possible. The left spring was easily fitted by hand. The right spring was a bit stronger and just needed a small hook to pull a few extra mm.





8mm Nylon fuel pipe from ssldiesel was installed as fuel feed and also a new return to tank.

Disc Brake Caliper Refurb

The car would pull to the left on hard braking.
So its time to investigate the calipers.

new piston and seals

I thought I would find old rusty calipers and rusty stuck pistons.

But it turns out the previous owner had fitted stainless steel pistons and pins.

But behind the rubber seals there was still much rust and maybe the pistons were sticky.

The calipers were dismantled and dipped in the rust dissolving solution.

After reassembly and painting in silver brake caliper paint I was advised by the forum that its
possible for the brake pads to stick in the caliper due to being the wrong size.

It was found that two pads were a tight fit in one of the calipers. These pads were 0.2mm wider than the others. They were all filed down so they loosely fit in the caliper. So now there should be no problem in the future.

Installing the rubber seals is a tricky task, but the best method was to fit the seal around the base of the piston, offer it up to the caliper, hook the lip in the groove and push in the piston to finish.

New bleed nipples and then the system was bled until air free.
Actually - not air free.. many times tried but still spongy.

A vacuum pump system was tried and also didn't fix the spongyness. Only using a willing helper to press the pedal and apply force while bleeding fix the spongyness in a few presses.

New Rocker covers

Ordered these rocker covers some time ago from Redmond Metalcasting.

They arrived for Christmas.

Some installers have had issues with the alternator being in the way.
Being pre-warned I didn't have an issue.
Maybe a lucky choice in fanbelt sizes.

Not a big problem  - but the breather hose needs to be extended
To keep the the run fairly neat the original hose was cut to keep the moulded bends but means a few extra unsightly jubilee clips are added.

Will look to improve that later.







Work to-do

• Fuel return hose install
• Fuel tank refurb
• Oil cooler take off port blanking.
• Front caliper rebuild
• Engine Electrical wiring improvements