Carb - Cleanup the fuel pipes / Fuel Tank hoses and inspection

[Modano]

Hi
I'm putting my 10-yo paused Coupé (Carb) back on the road.
Today, I removed the hose that brings fuel from the carb back to the tank and a lot of gasoline went out (which surprised me).
Is that a possible behaviour ? My first thought would be to think that the return line may be dirty or even worse, blocked.

My first question is : can I blow air from the hose (engine side) to the fuel tank (obviously disconnecting it from the tank) to check whether dirt come out or is there an intermediate device that I would damage ?
Same question for the other hose (tank to pump) ?

Second question is : these two hoses above the fuel tank are really old and smell gas. I think they are porous now. Is it an easy job to change ? Where is the hose to pipe connection ? On the right side of the trunk under the black plastic casing ?

And finally, after thoroughly put WD40 on the small screws, can I check the condition of the tank by removing the sender unit ? Will I see anything there ? May I clean the "filter" there ?

Thanks a lot for your valuable answers

[peteracs]

Hi

In answer.

Yes, you can blow air through the pipes. I would remove all the old rubber pipes, the latest fuel will destroy them very quickly with a chance of fire being very much a risk. Use the latest ethanol resistant rubber pipes.

The hose to pipe connection is just in front of the tank underneath the car. The hoses are fairly short, maybe 20cm.

Yes, you can check the tank condition by removing the sender unit and cleaning it. You should also check the sender resistance as the wiring can become broken and you will not get any fuel level readout on the dash.

Peter

[Modano]

Thanks
Following your advice, I unplugged both hoses (the return was really hard to remove), blew through them (didn't see any specific dirt, air flow is OK, maybe a couple of small debris, but nothing serious. Then I don't understand why there was so much gas staying in the carb to pipe return hose...

I surpringly removed the nuts rather easily (put some WD40 a hour before, just gently tried and it went real easily, pretty sure this was already removed during its lifetime).
To be honest, I didn't know what I was expecting....but I'm pretty sure I expected a worser situation : I just saw a small collection of debris just underneath the jauge. Could remove them with my magnetic pen (aka 10-time life saver ). I put a camera inside, and I couldn't see any catastrophic rust (I saw some pictures on this forum where it was much much worse). I took some photos because maybe I'm just wrong. What do you think ?

The filter in the tank sender unit was also rather clean. I put it in clean gas and shook it to remove a couple of debris. I manipulated the floater (poor thing has never seen the top level since 10 years).

Now for the tank to pipe hoses, I located them underneath the tank but on top of a center chassis part (cannot recall it) and to be honest I'm really not sure to figure how to get there to remove and replace them

[Neil-yaj396]

When I replaced some tank to pipe hoses I dropped the tank. Easy if the fittings are free (one of mine sheared).

[mangocrazy]

When I replaced some tank to pipe hoses I dropped the tank. Easy if the fittings are free (one of mine sheared).

I had the same happen when dropping my tank. I had thought about cleaning up the threads with a die before undoing the nuts as there was a fair bit of corrosion and road dirt on them, but didn't to save time. I'm still annoyed with myself even now. There's a moral in there somewhere...

[peteracs]

You should be able to do it without dropping the tank. I managed it just recently when I exchanged the hoses I thought were ok for ethanol, only to find that there was a new standard and the ones I had installed originally were no longer rated as suitable.

Peter

[Modano]

Hi all
Thanks !
Regarding the general shape of the tank what do you think ?
In UK are you also with Unleaded 98 (e5) in your beta’s ?

[peteracs]

From the photos it looks ok, dropping it out and looking at the top would also be useful at some point.

The normal unleaded is E5 as per France but we do have some unleaded without ethanol (Esso brand 99) which is available at some locations.

Peter

[WestonE]

It is wise to replace the hoses they will be decayed and a fire risk. They can look OK from a brief look but when flexed you see the cracks. They decay most where they are hard to see until the tank is out.
With the tank out you can treat it with tank cleaner.

Eric