After the disappointing faux pas of the previous weekend, I had spent the week making sure that I had all the correct parts to be able to complete the rebuild of the Lotus brake callipers. This time I had the correct parts and rebuilding the callipers with new pistons, seals and bellows was pretty straight forward.
I then refitted the callipers back onto the car and also fitted the last two of the brand new set of brake pipes. I finished off with a brand new set of brake pads, so other than bleeding the brakes of air, the braking system is now completely finished!
I then finished fitting the washer bottle and the bonnet securing catch and I was done. It was good timing too as the welder arrived to weld up a couple of holes in the boot floor. I left him to get on with it and went indoors for some lunch and have a relaxing afternoon.
However, a couple of hours later, he knocked on the back door to tell me that the fuel tank in the car was leaking. I went out to investigate and found it was the additional 'works' tank that was leaking. We quickly unbolted it and tipped the petrol out of it. Luckily I had only put about a gallon in it the week before.
This was also the same tank that I had put some acid in to get rid of any rust a few weeks back. Closer inspection of the underneath of the tank found a couple of odd 'bumps' under the paint. The 'bumps' turned out to be filler that had gone soft and started rising. Removing the filler revealed tape that had been placed over a hole and then had filler applied. Obviously the acid and petrol had been eating away at it for the past fortnight and this was the end result.
I also found another area in the corner where the same 'repair' had been carried out. When I get time, I will clean this tank up a bit more and see if there are any more holes hiding anywhere. Luckily, I still have the original main tank I can use, but it's very disappointing that the 'works' tank isn't usable. (At the moment anyway!)
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