Talbot Trials

So it's cold start to the day again, but we're in the garage and having another go at removing the Talbot fuel pump. First job was to remove the top part of the carpet and the top wooden inner firewall to get access to the coil clamp bolts.

That done I wedged some bubble wrap in the gap to try to stop the nuts just falling down again, I loosened them and then put tape over the nuts to catch them as I took off the coil clamp from the other side.

I disconnected the wires from the coil and taped up the ends as well as photographing their position and noted the positive terminal faces away from the engine and towards me.

That removed I now had very good access to the rear fuel pipe union. Using my thin vintage adjustable wrench I quickly removed the fuel pipes - making sure to capture the very thin washers that sits next to the thin nut.

Looking next at the fuel pump body itself I could only see two nuts holding it on and guessed at 13mm.

Having suspected it hadn't been off for a long time I was rather surprised to find the first bolt was actually quite loose. I then slightly undid the bolt on the top right and yes, that was slightly loose too. The top one was harder to get to but soon they were both off and I eased the pump away from the engine. Here is a view of the lobe that drives it - so it looks like the pump leaver goes above it.

Into the shed we went and I gave the pump a bit of a clean to remove some of the grime - especially the underside of the machine screws I was taking off. The six screws can off fine but the top did not want to come away. I'd been working over a bowl to capture any petrol drips which was a good idea. I gave the lower part of the pump a few taps with a large plastic screwdriver handle and I'd fell away - splashing petrol all over the bowl as it did.

There were three layers of membrane inside but to me it looked fine. I inspected the central nut I had to remove to release the diaphragm but it looked completely rounded off. Odd.

I carefully turned the central metal plate and was a bit shocked when it disconnected and it shot up and out. I had a good look but there seemed to be no faces on the central nut at all. At that point I realised I had the later model fuel pump. Dho. 

So we had to stop work and order the correct part - a bit of a guess but I think I have the correct one this time.

Later a Harkstead run in the MK2 for jobs. I ran into a snag so it was a run into town for parts.

Cold and then dark on the run home too but car going well.