A couple of weeks ago my wife mentioned that the Cobra smelled gassy.
Once again that "no not again" panicky feeling came over me as I rushed
out to the garage to check for leaks. No puddles anywhere and the
bottom of the tank looked dry. Phew! Nothing at the fuel pump end
either and no puddles on the intake manifold. Feeling much relieved I
told my wife in a very patronizing tone that she was imagining things.
Of course, there was a slight gasoline odor, but I figured it was from
the little bit that always seems to slop pass the Monza filler cap when
the car is driven. Besides, Cobras always smell that way. As John
Nygaard (then co-owner of CSX2577) commented after test driving my car
shortly after I bought it, "feels like a Cobra; smells like a Cobra."
In spite of not finding any evidence of a leak, I did feel a little
uneasy. The smell DID seem stronger than usual so when I spotted the
reddish puddle on the garage floor the following Wednesday, I wasn't too
surprised. As TeriAnn Wakeman pointed out a while back, my snake seems
to have trouble retaining its petrol.
The stain on the garage floor was located about where the middle of the
car normally sits. The good news was that the gas tank and fuel pump
were probably okay plus knowing that my wife would never read this. It
seemed to me that the only reasonable place for the leak was the
fittings that connected the two-piece fuel line together. Let me
explain about that. After rebuilding the gas tank and replacing the
fuel pump last summer I decided it would be a good idea to replace the
aging fuel line too. Most auto parts stores sell 5/16" steel brake
pipe, but the longest piece they typically stock is 60"; a bit too short
to reach from the tank to the fuel pump without longish pieces of rubber
tubing on each end. Using that much rubber tubing didn't seem like a
good idea so that left the choice of using either two standard lengths
pieced together or ordering one long piece. I had preferred the
one-piece solution until I took a look under the car. With the engine
and transmission in place a one-piece line would be nearly impossible to
install. For the time being, two pieces was the way to go. A single
piece line could wait for a time when the engine and transmission
weren't in the way. The fact that I had to cut the old line to get it
out re-enforced my decision. Even the two-piece installation wasn't
easy.
Looking at the underside of the car I could see gasoline dripping from
the frame about even with the transmission. With 60 series tires, one
side has to be jacked up quite a bit before there is enough room to
crawl underneath. Believe me, this isn't one of my favorite pass times.
Once underneath I confirmed that the fittings were leaking. Obviously I
hadn't tightened them enough when I had installed the line. I've been
very paranoid about over-tightening fittings every since I snapped one
off on the Healey I once owned, rendering my only means of
transportation brakeless.
A stainless steel band securing the line was pressing the fittings so
close to the frame that I had to cut it. With the line pulled free I
was able to get wrenches on the fittings and tighten them. I only
tightened until I could no longer see seeping fuel, but decided to wait
a while before re-securing the line. I wiped the area dry and moved on
to something else.
The something else was flushing the clutch hydraulics, a job I had been
avoiding because it had been such a monumental pain to do the last time.
This also required under car access so seemed like a natural since I was
already there. I started by taking the cap off the fluid reservoir, an
integral part of the clutch master cylinder. Getting the cap off wasn't
easy because of the difficult access. The only way I could get a good
grip on the cap was to snake my arm through the vent in the fender. The
fluid was too murky to see the bottom of the reservoir so I knew it was
past due for a good flushing. It hadn't been done since new clutch
master and slave cylinders had been installed two years earlier.
I decided to use my Eezibleed so I could run lots of fluid through. The
Eezibleed comes with a number of different screw-caps for various size
reservoirs. I tried the cap that fit the brake reservoirs because the
clutch cover appeared to be the same size. It was close, but slightly
bigger. I could screw it on but when I tried tightening it down, it
would pop off. Most of the caps in the Eezibleed kit were stamped sheet
steel but the one that seemed to fit best was molded plastic. Hand
tightening easily seals the steel caps but I have never had much luck
getting the plastic caps to seal with hand tightening alone. I thought
about using a squeeze bottle to draw fluid through from the bleeder
side, but the thought of all the times the tiny reservoir would have to
be refilling motivated me to give the plastic cap a try. As expected,
it was a struggle. I started by getting the cap as tight as possible by
hand. I deflated the nearest tire to under 10 psi and hooked up the
Eezibleed. Air and a fine mist of fluid hissed out from under the cap.
Then followed a long sequence of tightening with a pipe wrench, the only
tool I had that would fit the cap, and pressure checking. More hissing
and spraying of fluid. I tried different seals from the kit and no seal
at all, with the same result. Finally I put the original seal back in
and just kept tightening and leak testing. Each time I could only
manage 2-3 degrees of cap tightening because of the limited space around
the master cylinder. Finally I got the hissing and spraying to stop
with the system pressurized. A sigh of relief; but not for long. I
disconnected the Eezibleed from the tire so I could fill it with Castrol
LMA. I reconnected to the tire; still no leaks.
Now to connect the bleeder tube to the slave cylinder, crack the valve
and wait until the fluid coming out looked nice and clean. But my
difficulties weren't over yet. I tried connecting the bleeder tube from
the top. By squeezing my hands between the footbox and the intake
manifold I could just touch the valve with the tips of my fingers. I
tried from underneath. NO WAY! Back on top. Why had those Girling
idiots put the damn bleeder valve underneath the inlet banjo fitting!
Oooops, a moment of embarrassment. The Dreaded Present Owner had struck
again. I tried salvaging face by convincing myself that the slave could
only be mounted one way. Nope, plenty of room on the engine side for
the inlet. Not only that, the line would have been much straighter.
Was it because I bought the slave from a Tiger parts supplier? Nope,
same part number. Sigh. Well, I wasn't about to change it. Back to
worrying about the bleeder tube. I tried for about 20 minutes to slip
the tube over the bleeder valve nipple without luck. I could almost do
it but couldn't quite manage enough force to get it to go all the way
on. How had I done it the last time. I couldn't remember. Finally I
grabbed the end of the tube with a pair of channel-locks pliers and
force it on. I watched as the creases from the pliers' jaws in the
clear plastic slowly fade. No cuts or cracks. Relief again.
Finally I could crawl under, open the valve and finish the job. Or so I
thought. My combination 7/16-3/8 open-end wrench was too short to reach
the valve through the only available small opening. I could get it on
the valve by pushing it with the tip of my index finger but I couldn't
apply any torque. I went through my Whitworth wrenches and found one
that looked like it would fit, but it was only 4" long, no better than
the combo wrench. Next I checked my metric wrenches. The 11mm looked
close, plus it was 8 or 9" long. I crawled under once again and gave it
a try. A little sloppy but close enough. I opened the valve. There
was an initial burst of fluid flow, followed by lots of gurgling and
hissing. Sigh again. Out from under the car one more time; disconnect
the Eezibleed; take it apart. The end of the siphon tube had swollen so
much that it would no longer stay on the feed-through fitting of the
Eezibleed cap. I tried the other end of the tube. It seemed pretty
snug so I put everything back together and gave it another try. After a
few seconds of bubbles the path between the reservoir and the bleeder
valve cleared of air and I let most of the LMA flush through. God, had
it been that difficult last time? No wonder I had put it off!
The rest was easy, though I did have to use the pipe wrench to remove
the Eezibleed cap from the clutch reservoir. By then a couple of hours
had passed without any sign of leaking gasoline so I re-secured the line
with a new stainless strap. I was finally all done and I had the
skinned knuckles and head and forearm gouges to prove it.
Flushing the brake hydraulics is straight forward and will remain part
of my normal spring renewal ritual. As for the upside-down clutch
slave, unless it becomes a problem, it stays as is until the next engine
swap. Better a spongy clutch than spongy brakes. Besides, it has been
that way for two years and has work fine in spite of the fact that there
must be air in the system. The fuel line has made it through most of a
week without leaking.
I heard this on the radio a couple of days ago. Too bad it won't fit on
vanity plates.
Eat well. Stay fit. Die anyway.
Roland
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