10CR Preparations part 3

(Or; Is the DHC trying to tell me something ...)

Went to the tyre shop today to have the front wheel alignment checked. When changing the front anti-roll-bar recently I made sure to take some measurements so I could get a decent base set up when I re-assembled everything. And judging by the way the car behaved when I drove her to the tyre shop showed me that it was pretty much spot on, only the steering wheel was a bit askew. And so it proved to be, as a result of which I was on the way back home well within half an hour, Which meant I would have lots of time left to work on the car, like changing the fuel tank's sender. So I was pleasantly surprised when the "FUEL" warning light came on with some 20 kilometres to go, more than enough fuel left to get me home, and a nice empty tank to change the sender without spilling lots of fuel. But it wasn't to be, with less than 10 kilometres to go I lost power and within a few hundred meters the engine cut out completely .... bugger.

Luckily I came prepared with a spare can of fuel, but after putting that in, the engine still refused point blank to start. So nothing I could do but call the ANWB and wait for one of their vans to arrive (I hadn't expected I needed any tools so ...)

And after waiting in the rain for well over an hour the promised mechanic turned up. First impression was that there was no fuel reaching the engine, but removing the hose from one of the carburettors showed that more than enough juice reached them. Also the ignition turned out to be quite OK ...we clearly had a problem.

Long story cut short, turned out that the juice that was reaching the carburettors wasn't petrol but water. Strange to say the least, until I remembered that the car was soaking wet when she returned on the back of a truck after the previous 10CR. And I haven't driven her much since, and mostly with a fairly full tank. I can only conclude that she sat in some fairly heavy down pours in the 4 weeks that she was away.

So the next wait, now for the tow truck, began. Luckily this time I had someone to talk to. And three hours after my scheduled arrival the car and I were dropped of at my home. At first I just wanted to leave the car there till after the weekend (yes time again for the Historic Grand Prix @ the Nürburgring) but after a well deserved lunch I decided to take out the tools again.

Draining the tank revealed a fair amount of water. This picture shows the water that came out when draining the tank by disconnecting the fuel hose ...

Clearly visible are the water "marbles" at the bottom of the bucket. But the tank was far from empty. There still was some 3 litres of fluid left, most of which turned out to be water. But in the end I managed to empty the tank and switch my attention to the fuel sender. Checking it underneath the car with a multimeter a few days ago showed me that something was not good. As the "FUEL" warning light had come on a few time at least showed that the mechanical side of the switch was still OK, well sort off. As you can see the float has developed a tiny leak. Not yet big enough to cause problems, but that probably wouldn't have taken long.

Luckily I had an NOS FI tank sender in my spares attic. And with the new sender in place and the rear of the car still jacked up I thought it a good idea to check the bearings of the back axle's half shafts. I shouldn't have done that, as that adds another item which I have to address after this weekend and before the start of the 10 CR. Time to cover her up ...