Fuel breather mods

[kstrutt11]

I have one of the alloy Monza style caps which screws to the body with 6 screws, the vent hole is blocked with epoxy, this type of cap only has a very short pipe so I also have a longer filler hose. The filler hose has a 15mm pipe clamped in the side of it which with the use of a T piece and reducers is connected to both vents on the tank. A further small bore pipe (brake pipe) is taken off the top of the pipe mid way between the two vents, along under the rear deck then down through the boot floor.

This has worked a treat for many years now.


Kevin

[stugilmour]

... A further small bore pipe (brake pipe) is taken off the top of the pipe mid way between the two vents, along under the rear deck then down through the boot floor.

This has worked a treat for many years now.


Kevin

Kevin, that sounds like it would work well for Vernon's convertable. Solid brake or fuel line sounds like a good option to keep it positioned above the top of the tank.

As posted sbove, I plugged my vent hole in the cap this weekend, and seem to have solved my fuel leakage problems. No leakage evident now, and car runs fine with the single small bore venting over the roof section. Thanks again for the tip.

[Sea Ranch]

Dear Kevin,

Pictures, please

Randy

[kstrutt11]

I'll try to take some pictures tonight, Mine is also a convertable by the way.


Kevin

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks, kindly. No hurry, of course!!

[kstrutt11]

Here's some pictures, the vent (piece of copper brake pipe) is soldered into the top of the main tube.

It all seems to work fine, fills up OK and doesent smell of petrol.

Kevin

[vernon.taylor]

Salut

Did my fuel breather mod today. here's some pics of the parts and install:

1/2 inch / 16mm tees, butane/bottle gas type adapter, 7 mm fuel flex

Filler tube modded by a friend and the tail

Close up of the tees

the installation

Close up of the filler tube

Won't be able to tell if the fuel smells are reduced until the other smelly Lotus is sold.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

@+

Vernon

[vernon.taylor]

Salut

Been about a month now - I can confirm that the breather mod eliminates fuel odours and has no effect on performance. Fuel filling doesn't appear affected either.

@+

Vernon

[jono]

Hi Vernon,

I am just facing this job now, having bolted in my new Andy Wilthsire tank last night.

Your conversion looks very competent and it is encouraging to learn that it has eliminated the fuel odour as I was concerned reading other posts on vapour permeability of various types of hose - have you re used the Lotus breather hose as that looks just like my own?

I am interested in the source of your fittings, sizes etc. - are they standard gas fittings or were they sourced from an automotive supplier?

Regards.

Jon

[miked]

Jon,

I got some marine spec' petrol hose from ebay. It was a bit pricey and also bit thicker on the walls but I can forget it. My smell was also eliminated. Having just got the car back on the road I can confirm that filling is not a problem. Not been past 1/2 on the gauge yet though. I cut into the filler neck to make a platform to land the hose tail into so it slips in the hole.

Mike

[vernon.taylor]

Salut Jon

The tube in mine was the crystal garden type with nylon cross weaving - must be a name for it. I don't know if it's the original tubing as my car is a cabriolet. In any case a chemist friend said it was just the thing - no chemical breakdown or odour porosity. The thinner tube is 8mm fuel tubing. I got all the fittings from the local DIY shop - they were in the water plumbing section (the type for clamping the plastic tube with a sliding ring - these had the longer tail), though the 8mm adapter was from an old cooker and I used a gas rated washer here. PTFE tape (my chemist friend again confirmed this was good) around the thread of the tail into the filler neck.

@+

Vernon