Tip 2 Check your Steel Fuel Lines

[Peter Cresswell]

When opened the garage door on the morning of Drive it Day I was hit by a wall of petrol fumes. A quick inspection under the showed there was a slight leak in the steel pipe that runs from the petrol pump to the bulkhead. A few days earlier I replaced the fuel pump and the flexible pipe on the outlet from the pump, and a think all the pulling and pushing to replace these parts exposed a weakness in the rest of the system. When I was replacing the steel pipes with new copper ones, several other places were obviously about to fail. I now now new metal and flexible pipes, and along with the new pump and Viton tip float valves the fuel system is ethanol proof up to E10. Incidentally, the fuel pump still had its original label - SU Limited, Birmingham, England. So definitely from the leaded petrol era!

I would recommend all MG B owners (and people with any BMC/BL car) check the age of the fuel system and replace it as necessary. Many cars have copious amounts of underseal on these components which make it difficult to check, and if the pump is over 5 years old, then the diaphragm is unlikely to be ethanol compliant.