Nothing is easy

as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson sung in 1969

While work on the Trophy is at a standstill, work continues on Tiger2. After pulling it out of the garage I attacked it with MucOff and a pressure washer to clean it up. I’ve also repaired the wiring to the left front indicator. I had to replace the wiring as the original wire was so corroded, it didn’t have a hope of conducting an empty bus, let alone an electrical charge. The wiring done and the bodywork all put back on & polished up, T2 is not looking too bad. Next is some attention to the brakes, the rear brake has seized and it still needs a new clutch prior to an MOT. However, a big fly in the ointment is Covid-19 (CV19). Even if I do replace the clutch, get the brakes done and replace the dodgy oil seal behind the front sprocket, I’m not going to be able to sell it until the current CV19 crisis is over. 

The same goes for the blue T2 luggage I have, may as well hang on to it for now as no one will want it at the moment & even if they did, with social distancing, do I want a stranger coming to the house & handing over grubby notes from his wallet? I don’t think so, not at the moment.

Tallulah

I thought I’d fit the spot lights to Tallulah I bought in early January.

Well, things didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped here either.

For the past month or so, every time I opened the garage, there was a faint smell of petrol. Now I put this down to Tiger2 as the fuelly whiff seemed to coincide with its arrival at my humble abode. A cursory glance showed no pools of petrol & there weren’t even any slight damp patches to be seen, so I largely ignored it.

That is until I decided to fit the spot lights. With Tallulah in the centre of the garage & up on her centre stand, I was wrapping some rubber around the engine bars where the spot light was to go when I could again smell petrol, only this time it was much stronger. It only took me a few minutes to notice that the plastic coating on the engine bars, close to the cylinder head was beginning to bubble.

Connector made of aluminium cheese

On the Tiger 955i and because of the shape of the tank, there are two hoses, one either side, linking the front of the tank to the back and it appeared that one of the hoses was leaking.

For anyone in the know, taking the fuel tank off a 955i is not the easiest of tasks. The battery needs to come out so the battery box can be removed. And the bits of plastic holding the indicators also need to be removed. Finally, the fuel line, fuel sender and a couple of breather pipes need connecting. I’ve done this many times in my ownership, so it only takes around 20 minutes to do.

With the fuel tank half drained & tipped on its side, I removed the suspect end of the link pipe, trimmed it & reconnected it with a shiny new jubilee clip, placed the tank back in its correct orientation and…

Still leaking, bugger.

This time I fully drained the tank (my SLK was thankful for a top up), turned the tank upside down & found the culprit to be the connector that screws into the tank. It appears to be made of a metal tube, with a thread on one side made of aluminium and a nut surrounding it that holds the rubber seal. This nut had broken in half & the rubber seal was perished. As luck would have it #Fowlers of Bristol had a new connector in stock which was duly ordered. I’m just waiting for it to arrive so I can refit the tank now.

As for the spot lamps, that actually went without a hitch, so once the tank is back on & I’ve got some more fuel (the petrol I had left in the can was used in the mower), I suspect we’ll be in #Lockdown so won’t be going anywhere soon. Never mind, with a 1993 Trophy and 2005 Tiger 955i needing a new clutch, I’ll have plenty to do.

Spots fitted and on in a relatively empty looking garage