hose to nowhere -mystery

[teigan]

i found a loose hose in the american passenger side fuel tank compartment. one side was loosely connected to what looks like a fuel sender unit. i'll have completely remove the panel to get back there and know for sure. from the state of the tubing; brown and brittle, i think it's been out of the loop for some time. any guesses as to why my car has been running like this, without fuel system problems?

'84 S3 turbo

as a sidenote, the screwholes of the above mentioned sidepanel have never lined up properly. the previous owner had drastically enlarged the screw holes to make things mate. i've elected to leave the hardware off for now. anyone know how to realign the panels properly?

[Dr.Hess]

Dunno about your hose, but for the screw holes, if your G car is like my S car, align the panel where you want it, then drill out the holes and put a RivNut type thing in the hole and replace the sheet metal screw with the appropriate size machine screw. Harbor Freight makes a cheap RivNut application tool that comes with an assortment. I think every Esprit should come with one of these sets from the factory.

Dr.Hess

[teigan]

doesn't the panel alignment migrate over time? i'm quite fond of swiss cheese, but i wouldn't want to immortalise it in my vehicle. the original holes lined up when the car was assembled. now they're somewhere in the emmenthaler region.

[Dr.Hess]

Who says they lined up when it was assembled?

Dr.Hess

[teigan]

i hadn't even considered that scenario. becuase these cars are hand assembled by a small team, i expected some pride of craftsmanship. you could be right though. both the esprits i've owned were bought used, so i'm not qualified to make conclusions.

[teigan]

i confirmed that one end of the mystery hose was loosely connected to the fuel gauge sender. the clear hose was about 14 inches long. still not sure if it belonged there, or why the other end was free. struggling now to get the boot strut back in place without extra hands. may have to lure friends over with beer.

[Autocross7]

Got that beer cold yet??? For a cold beer I could at the very least stand there and come up with 'something' that sounds really good...

Drive topless!!!
Cameron

[teigan]

it was a german pilsner. wish you were there. that boot strut is a bugger to compress, and the boot lid is heavy. still haven't figured out why the fuel sender unit had a vinyl hose on it. maybe pouring beer on it will help. i'd buy a car that ran on beer. it would smell really good when the engine got going; reminescent of morning toast.