Lancia Motor Club

After having had a really strong smell of petrol inside Fay I looked underneath the car but there were no visible signs of a leak, so I emptied the boot to find that the well where the fuel gauge sender sits, was full of petrol :o
I had this once before but a tighten up of the screws did the trick, this time I thought it best to get a new seal for the sender unit to tank, I was pretty impressed as a call to Omicron at 4.45pm on Friday afternoon, resulted in a new seal arriving in the post first thing Saturday Morning.
I removed the fuel sender, but on inspection of the cork float I found it had cracks in the surface through what looked like a coated surface, presumably to stop the cork absorbing petrol, this surely has a bearing on the accuracy of the fuel level reading, so is it possible to reseal the cork float, and if so with what?

2nd query is that the seal for the small cover plate on top of the sender unit for the rheostat (resistor), has broken up, I've sealed it with a RTV sealer, but does anyone know where I can get the proper gasket?
Thanks
Brian
8227 8)

My solution was to fit a couple of champagne corks. Must be a decent vintage of course. Still works
 fine after two thousand miles.

you could paint it with a thin coat of POR15 tank sealant paint....

Thanks Tim,
I haven't got any and at £15 a time I feel disinclined to go that route, however I have also been told that dope available from model aircraft suppliers would do the job.
I thought perhaps you'd be in the Minervois as the Tour de France's run tomorrow is from Carcassonne.
Brian
8227  :o

Hi Brian
We are in the Mivervois but not for the TdF. Its windy so will be windsurfing when the spandex clad boys go past!

Brian, I thought the point of cork was that it didn't get saturated and sink hence its' use on boats, fishing nets etc. Is the crack actually causing a problem? If you aren't sure might it be possible to float it in a bit of petrol in a sealed jam jar to check?

Frank,
It seems to have some sort of glazed finish over part of it.
I'm reluctant to remove it from the float arm to test as you suggest, I'm also reluctant to spend £90+ on a new one.

Brian
8227 8)

How about one of these?

£90 Brian? I'm sure Lidle can do you a bottle of plonk cheaper than that!

Thanks Richard,
Any idea where to get one?

Brian
8227 8)

Screw tops not a lot of use Frank ;D

Brian
8227 8)

From http://m.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/gasgaugefloats.php Not sure of size, and also whether a plastic bottle stopper float. Tried to email Aircraftspruce, but connection blocked. Will try from a desktop later

I can supply these corks, which are very high quality and would work well - with a bottle of wine attached for much less than 90 euros ....

Most definitely the best fun option identified so far!!!!

                                        Andy

As long as I get 90 euros for Advertising your vineyard Simon ;D

Brian
8227 8)

No reply from Aircraftspruce, so how about using a brake fluid float?

Isn't fiberglass resin fuel proof? If so you could coat the existing float and seal the crack at the same time.

Milliput ....... it's petrol proof!!  A material regularly used by Appia owners to repair petrol tanks!!! And it's readily available and cheap. Just a smear all over would probably do the trick.

                                Andy

Thanks Richard, but a bit total to fit in the tank.

Brian
8227 8)

Thanks Andy,
Can you buy it in small quantities, and where from?

Brian
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I've used Milliput before for a few things. You can probably pick it up at a good model shop or a Google/ebay search will come up with plenty of choice. Just comes as two putty type sticks which you mix equally as far as I can remember. With the right mix it dries rock hard. You can always sand it back to a thin layer if there's any thicker areas.

Exactly as Stanley says and around £3 per pack if I remember correctly. I recommend the google option as this will give an indication of how versatile it is!!!

                    Andy

Thank you men.

Brian
8227 8)

it is like putty though when mixed so would not this be difficult to "paint round" the cork without adding weight???

It can be flattened really thin like rolled pastry and once dry could be sanded again. I've no idea of the size of the cork involved so that would determine if it retains bouyancy or not.