Scenario: Feb 20, 2000, Polar Bear Run, St. Louis, MO
Prepared for the annual Poalar Bear Run by dressing warm. Fired up the TR3
and it started just fine (as always). Fueled up. Headed out to the
rendezvous point and joined the other 16 LBC's queueing up for the run.
Car runs fine for the first 15 miles then all of a sudden it acts like it
ran out of gas. Can't be, the tank is full. Hand operate the pump but it
is just pushing air. Pull off fuel line from tank: nothing. Check tank:
full. Go home (thanks to fellow participant) and fetch electric pump and
hose. Stick hose in fuel filler and hook to pump on engine, wire to
electrical system. Run pump, prime carbs, hit starter and vroom. Drive
home.
Conclusion: Perhaps tank lining flaked off and plugged fuel line. Time to
pull tank. Pull tank and remove fuel level sender and "Hey! What's this?"
Red silicone sealer all oozed out inside the tank. Scratch first
conclusion.
Conclusion: The person who put this car together (PPO) who is notorious,
nay - infamous, for taking shortcuts decided to save the pennies a new
gasket costs and slobbered a bunch of silicone on the old gasket and called
it good. Some of that excess silicone found it's way into the fuel line.
Problem #1) I just know there's a piece of that silicone in the tank
somewhere because I back flused the line with compressed air and blew it
back into the tank but I think it is hiding behind one of the baffles. I
think I'll just carry some fuel line (8 feet or so) as auxiliary fuel feed
and when this happens again I'll take the line off and then back flush the
offending item somewhere other than the tank.
Problem #2) The last thing I need to do is take the TR3 apart now, before
I get the TR8 on the road. But shipwright's desease has struck and I have
taken out the heater (didn't work) and I am looking at the wire harness
that is as brittle as glass. (Yeah, the heater didn't work because the fan
blades were binding on the core (assembly error) and the core was about
half full of crud. Did the car have a heater? Yes! Did it have one that
works? Well...)
End of report. Back to the Spruce Goose discussion.
Dave Massey
57 TR3
71 TR6
80 TR8
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