The Blocker

I started the journey to resurrect my Lancia on the 5th of May 2024.

I would be lying if I said that I am not disappointed in my progress. When I started this journey I expected to have the car moving under its own steam and to be working on bodywork.

The reality has been very different and a big wake up call.

In just over a year I have done a lot of work but the car engine still does not run without easy start.

In the last year we have changed the water pump, fuel pump, fuel filter, replaced rubber fuel hoses, replaced a very leaky garage roof, identified a loose wire in the ignition system that was preventing the car from having spark and used more easy start then we would like.

At the time of making this post I have had the engine running from a temporary fuel source but we have not had any petrol from the tank reaching the carbs. We have also established that the new fuel pump works and all of the hard lines for the fuel are clear.

The remaining item to check was the sender unit in the petrol tank where the fuel is picked up and sent to the carb. The owners club had advised that this was the only place that there could be a blockage and that I could expect the fuel strainer attached to the fuel supply inlet (a mesh like sack or filter) to be blocked. After arriving in Birmingham late on Friday I dowsed the whole sender unit in WD40 to soak overnight.

The next morning I removed all pipes and electrical connectors and extracted the sender unit. The first thing I noticed was that there was no fuel strainer attached at all to the pipe and the pipe itself was completely blocked with rust. I used a screw to break up the rust blockage and gently coerced it from the inlet pipe. once I removed all rust I blew out all pipes with compressed air.

I then replaced the sender unit and added more fuel. It took quite a few attempts but after copious amounts of easy start we could see the fuel filter filling up with fuel from the tank .

This was a special moment. After we filled up the fuel filter we continued using easy start and as the last bottle of easy start spluttered as it its contents finished the car sprung into life. The car ran for a few minutes and then we ran out of fuel and the battery ran out of steam.

The engine was lumpy when running but that was to be expected. There was a burning smell as the engine ran and we realised that the rubber gator around the rod ends had been pushed out of position during the water pump change and was touching the now warm manifold and this was quickly rectified.

The fuel gauge in the car has not been working since I started working on the car so I fear the sender unit measurement sensor is not working so I will be replacing the sender unit with a new one. This will also help to prevent a rust blockage in the near term as the new sender will have a fuel strainer attached. At some point the petrol tank will need to be removed and either replaced with a stainless steel tank or refurbished to deal with the rust in the tank.

I think the car will need more fuel and a fully charged battery to get it running for an extended period so I have a new battery that will go in and a trickle charger that I will be using to keep the battery in good health moving forward.

Once I have the car running then I will give it a full service and carry out an engine flush to get rid of any internal rust in the water ways before adding fresh coolant.

I will be spending some time with the car in the next few weeks and hope an extended period of time with the car will give my project a big push forward.

Fingers crossed...