Another Schoolboy Error

Ha! It's sometimes the simple things that catch us (me) out.....My petrol tank isn't fitted yet. So for my shakedown testing, I connected a long fuel hose to the fuel pump and  dropped the end into a fuel can. As well as being a necessity, the other benefit is that I'm only buying and using a few litres of fuel at a time - less chance of it going stale.

Now. the hose is long so that the fuel can can be some distance from the car. When not in use I hung the fuel hose up over some copper pipe at ceiling level. That way, any fuel left in the hose would drain towards the pump - rather than dribble out on the floor. It looks like a hospital drip.

Anyway, the 'patient' was doing well and I was pleased with testing so far. With the fuel hose being long, I was particularly surprised that it took only a few presses on the starter to pump fuel through and for the engine to catch. But not today! I went through my new routine:

• I took the battery of charge and put it into the engine bay.
• I connected the battery terminals
• I dropped the end of my fuel hose in the can
• I turned the engine over a couple of times
• i connected up my 'kill switch' that provides current to the coil
• I pulled out the choke and got ready to 'blip' the throttle rod under the bonnet.

After many presses of the starter, the engine still wasn't catching. I worried about flattening the battery and /or flooding the engine and so stopped for some head scratching and basic checks....

• The battery seemed healthy and had been happy turning the starter
• I checked I had fuel in the fuel can. Yes
• I checked that the hose extended far enough into the fuel can. Yes.
• I checked the electrical connections to and from the coil. All good.
• I checked for a spark on the HT lead to the coil. Bright and sharp.
• I removed the distributor cap and checked the rotor and plug gaps. Nothing untowards there
• i checked the HT leads were tightly connected. All okay.
• I pulled the plugs. They were not sodden, but were sooty - so got a clean.
• I checked for a spark on the HT leads - OK.
• I checked the gaps - they were fine.

I put everything back together and it STILL wouldn't start. It was really puzzling as it had run fine the day before. I began to fear that this  - now the engine was back in the car - was the first of many annoying niggles to come. The kind of niggles that go hand-in-hand with running a classic car. 

I decided that I needed to come away and have a proper think about this, so I started to pack up. And that's when I found it!

NOTE TO SELF: remember to remove the F'ing bung....

I'd forgotten that - to stop fuel vapour getting out, and dirt getting in - I'd decided to fit a bung to the open end of the fuel hose. I'd dunked the end in the fuel can but hadn't removed the bung!!! No fuel flow, no start.......

Problem solved! With the bung removed I went back to testing and the car started just fine. I don't think that's a mistake I'll be making again. I'm sure there will be plenty of other mistakes to make along the line.