Axle Fuel-ey

For the second time this year I made a late call not to travel to watch the RGB racing and instead headed for the workshop.  It may not be Beverley Hills (tenuous, I know) but it's better than working on the patio.

The first job was to finish the low pressure hard-pipe fuel lines.  I'd originally planned to use smart Christmas Tree-style fittings at both ends but this wasn't practical at the rear due to limited space.  The front end has worked well though.

One of these will supply fuel to the swirl pot and one will act as the over-flow taking fuel back to the main tank. Although this is only the low pressure part of the fuel system, I'm not happy having the flexible lines connected without some sort of barb or bead. After some research, I decided that Yorkshire-type fittings may provide the solution. These are pipe fittings that already have the necessary solder attached; pretty clever. They, not surprisingly, don't seem to make them to use as beads on kit cars so I had to improvise.  I therefore purchased a straight joining fitting and cut it in half.  After a bit of filing and sanding I slid them onto the cleaned up ends of the pipes and applied some heat - via a brilliant little torch that I own that was intended for browning crème brulees. I'm very happy with the result.

I'm slightly less happy with the wavy floor/  This was damaged when the spit arrangement that we had the chassis on collapsed at one end.  Once the rear panel goes on it should straighten it out a bit.  The fuel lines were the last thing that I needed to do before something genuinely meaningful happened; the axle is in!

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little alarmed by the proximity of the differential to driver's side of the transmission tunnel but I think it will just be okay.  We'll find out at the first test no doubt.

You may have noticed that in the photograph two-up that there are a couple of odd looking thing at the back of the chassis.  These are the exquisitely machined end-fittings for the roll cage back-stays.  Have you seen something similar before?  If it's good enough for formula rep and 750MC board member Hoverd, it's good enough for me.

This uses a huge 5/8" shank rod end and a 1/2" bolt in double shear.  It's pretty damn strong.  Last job of the day was to fit my Christmas present from Kate - it's a Varley Red Top 25 battery.

That'll be something else to connect the cascade of wires too then.

Next?  Front axle and rolling hopefully.

TC

 .