Henry,
That grey thing near the voltage stabilizer is one of your fuel pump
inertial cutoffs. The lawyers (in their infinite wisdom) didn't like
the idea of an electric fuel pump continuing to spew out gasoline after
a crash, so they required not one, but two inertial cutoff units on late
MGBs. The first one is an electrical cutoff under the dash (the one
that you found). The second one is a mechanical cutoff that resides on
the flat portion of your firewall on the left side of the heater box
(right ahead of the fuel filter). The one under the dash is a great
thing, it will cut off the fuel pump power if you are in a crash or a
hard bump. There is a small button on the end of the unit that if
pressed, will reset it (this can make a good anti-theft device).
The mechanical cutoff is a different animal. It uses a strong
spring-loaded valve that will trip and physically close the fuel line in
a crash. The problem is that this one uses O-rings that deteriorate
over time, and can cause a massive fuel leak in your engine bay! It can
also partially trip if you hit a hard bump or pothole, preventing the
car from running over 2.000 RPM.
My advice is to take out the mechanical unit and throw it away,
replacing it with a piece of straight through fuel line. The underdash
unit is innocuous and can be left in place.
Hope this helps,
Paul Kile
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