Well yeh, some aspects are easy but I sometimes wish I could just get stuff off the shelf!

Just another quick update - I got the front wiring reconnected last week and a few other little faffy jobs.

Last night I continued with the driver's door by adding a bracket with which to fix the door mirror. Previously, the mirrors were attached directly to the door skin which was far from satisfactory so I've made up a couple of brackets. I had thought about using the brackets that Uncle Roy supplies but hopefully you can see from the photo that this may have caused problems with future access to the upper door hinge which is why I made my own brackets from angle iron and a nut (which is why I was asking about threads elsewhere!!)

Another quick update - over the last couple of nights I've greased & refitted the heater control cable, fitted the bonnet catches & fitted the new outer door skin complete with a 2CV door mirror (much better than the previous arrangement)

I'm on lates this week and I had a bit of a disappointing morning before coming to work this afternoon. I decided to take a break from Belinda's bodywork and fit the plastic fuel tank that I'd had rattling around for a while. As well as providing a bit of extra fuel capacity and gaining a tank that won't rust, I was also hoping that it would cure the gauging problem that I've had since putting the car back on the road (the gauge indicates 3/4 full with a full tank and travels way past the empty mark when emptying)

I thought I'd cracked it when I noticed that at full deflection, the float travels to slightly above the fixing plate & I'd figured that if fitted to a smaller tank, it wouldn't have chance to travel to it's limit. Looking at the larger plastic tank it appeared that there is a bit of extra capacity to the side of the sender mounting hole to allow the float a bit of extra travel.

Anyway, the tank change was easy, the only slightly difficult bit being that the filler neck on the plastic tank is slightly wider than the smaller metal one which required a bit of extra persuasion to get the filler tube to go back on.

After lunch, I went to the filling station, filled the car up to the brim and watched the fuel gauge rise to ....... 3/4 and stop again

It has been suggested that the sender is bent but that's not the case so I guess it's time to try another sender.

I have told myself that it's better to have an under reading tank than the other way but at least a correctly reading gauge would increase my distances between fill ups.

When I bought mine in '06 it used to register 1/2 when it was full. For the last year or so it just hasn't worked at all. When it's half way the needle spases out from empty to full and that's about it

But it's fine - I fill up, religiously, every 200 miles. And keep a gallon in the boot just in case!

I got by for years without a fuel gauge, just kept a jerrycan in the back and a chinagraph pencil in the front to write the mileage on the windows at fill ups. Both of which should be easy for a guy in your line of work to obtain Bertie?

Its such a luxury having a working fuel gauge though since I fixed it!

Sam & Xmas - I know I shouldn't complain at having a 3/4 working gauge but it's just annoying!! When I had my green Dyane, I had to bounce up and down and listen to how much of a splosh I got from the tank!!

Bertie,
too late now, but I'd always test a sender unit before fitting it into a tank, by connecting up the wiring and moving the float arm between the 'empty' and 'full' positions.

I guess you've done the test which involves shorting the sender wire to earth, which checks whether the fault isn't at the gauge...

Finally, I have a feeling that a sender unit for a metal tank has a shorter dip tube than one for a plastic tank, so your effective flight range may now be reduced.

ken

After a fortnight's hard earned :confused: leave I returned to Belinda this week and decided to repair the passenger door, having completed the driver's door a few weeks ago. As usual, when you've got two of something, the second one is much easier to do and this was no exception, only taking one evening to remove the old wood & prep the metal frame and another evening to chop out the poor metal, weld some new stuff in, weld in a mounting bracket for the mirror and fit new wood.

Of course, I've still got to paint both doors with top coat (they're still in primer/undercoat) but I bet you all wish your bodywork jobs were that easy eh? :p

Remove door. Find better door in lock-up. Fit better door.

Job done.