Vitesse Fuel Tank Drain Plug Bracket

[Mark B]

Hi all

I am reffiting the fuel tank in the Vitesse, and have the sponge doughnut fitted over the drain plug, which I think acts to seal the hole in the boot floor. I also have a drain plug bracket. Long time since this was removed and can't remember how it fits or it's purpose.

The parts catalogue shows it fits under the sponge seal, but curious of what it does.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Mark

[Pete Lewis]

Aha this is the seemingly useless bit of tin with a short up stand and a hole for the drain spout

 Ummm yes fits unsupported under the foam ring ,,    ummm yes  .    Purpose ....umm  yes

Dave may have the answer

Solved on my vit6 as the new tanks dont have the dreaded drain spout  so the worlds most odd bit of tin got ....binned

I do wonder if it was to let water ..out

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

I'd forgotten about that bit! It may be as Pete says a support for the tank to prevent the sponge being squashed so flat that it won't let water out, but then there are other drain grommets around the boot floor so I'd always assumed the sponge was to keep water out; a sort of more appropriate / efficient seal than just a rubber ring. It doesn't appear in the early parts catalogue at all - was it to do with supporting the extra weight of the increased-capacity tank of the later cars?

I've not got to the tank-refitting stage of my convertible, and the estates don't have one, but I'll have to try to identify this bit in my spares pile before deciding whether or not to refit it at all... 

 

[Pete Lewis]

part number  is 610470 bracket- drain -plug

but all manuals as much use as chocolate tea pot,    not nothing in the sealing manual that i can find 

as for fuel tank its well take it out and refiting is the reverse of!!!

so did it go inside the boot or under the floor  as some sort of splash plate/deflector   ???

Pete

[Mark B]

Hi all

I'am considering leaving it out. The exploded diagram in the manual shows it fitting between the sponge doughnut and the boot floor which will mean having to use sealant between the bracket and floor as there could be a gap between the two surfaces.

I don't think it is to support the tank in any way as the tank is bolted solid.

There must be a reason for it as I can't see Triumph producing thousands of them without a deffinate need, just wish I new what that need was.

Mark

[Colin Lindsay]

4 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

 

so did it go inside the boot or under the floor  as some sort of splash plate/deflector   ???

Pete

Inside definitely, between the tank and the floor, but no idea why.

[Paul H]

I think the metal plate allowed for the tank to fit easier , ie the hole in the boot floor was over sized to allow the tank drain plug to locate . The metal plate was added to complete and cover the hole 

Paul 

[Nick Jones]

Its supposed to keep the water out.  What it actually does is hold water and rot out the boot floor and tank bottom.

I have a nice rubber grommet instead from a Nissan Almera or Micra IIRC. Banjo bolt and pipe are feed the FI pump just out of shot

[Pete Lewis]

Good ideas

 , So what was the flange supposed to do , and with it not sealed to the floor still seems it just stopped  the foam ring working its way through the boot hole,  all  a bit  odd.

Guess its a visit to HQ and trawl the service  bulletins  for some triumph thoughts

Pete 

 

[Mark B]

Hi all

Just fitted the tank and left the bracket off. I was going to seal it to the floor before dropping the tank and foam seal in place. I found that the rubber drain plug is in the way so the bracket won't fit flush with the floor. The position of the bracket is determined by the position of the tank drain plug when the tank is bolted in. 

All seems ok minus the bracket, so onto the next job.

Thanks

Mark

[Gary Flinn]

I can remember having this part blasted and powder coated when rebuilding my Vitesse, then deciding not to fit it or the Sponge seal.

I Purchased a rubber blanking grommet the correct diameter, carefully cut a hole to match the drain plug, then coated the whole area inside, including the bottom of the tank and drain spout in Dintrol 3125 Rust Proofing fluid.

As Nick states the foam simply acts like a sponge and rots out the bottom of the tank!!

Not a good idea on the part of the original designers, the earlier Herald 948/1200's never had this part fitted to my knowledge, so maybe it was some sort of support for the larger tank on the Vitesse and later 13/60 Heralds?

Gary

  

  

[Pete Lewis]

It doesnt support anything as it does not make  contact with the tank only touched by the foam

The Vit & 13/60 tank has a bottom support bracket which locates in the edge of the spare wheel well

Bin the lot and use a proper  grommet seems the best idea , thats if you have a spout !!!

Pete

[dave.vitesse]

Yes Pete is correct re the tin plate, most now gone. The sponge seals the boot and stops the plug thing making knocking noise. Also it may well absorb water and help rot out the boot!

Dave

[Colin Lindsay]

So it wasn't to support the tank, but was to stop the boot floor moving about? That makes more sense...  

[Pete Lewis]

there's a lot of  guessing ....like brexit

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Theresa May, Emmanuel Kant and Walt Disney.

Don't even try to find a comparison with Brexit, otherwise we'll have half wanting the bracket removed, half wanting it to stay on, and a few trying to avoid a hard seal between the tank and the boot floor so that water can pass freely through in both directions, whilst whinging that anything else is a breach of the Good Workshop Manual agreement.

[Nick Jones]

Well, mine's been running without the bent tin or the foam since 1989 (done 8k in that time) and the world hasn't ended, the car hasn't fallen apart and the boot floor hasn't cracked or even rusted away....... Perhaps I've simply bypassed one of ST's built in self-destruct features?

As for the other shameful shambles, the sooner our MPs remember that their primary duty is to their constituents and the safety, security and prosperity of the country as whole and not, as is clearly the case at present, their own ambitions/pockets first, their party second and anything else an over-the-horizon distant third.

Nick

[dougbgt6]

Don't Beat about the bush Nick, tell us what you really think.

Doug

[68vitesse]

Thought MP was an addreviation for money grabbing plonker from what goes on in parliament.

Regards

Paul

[dave.vitesse]

brexit = headache. Now don't get me started.

The bracket and seals were there to stop the tap/bung and mounting banging against the boot floor. Plus the seals to stop water getting into the boot.

I guess, metal against metal, even brass,  not good with petrol around.

Dave

[Pete Lewis]

I like the way two little words launches a dramatic drift  

Am I surprised 

Im sure Daves right but I  jusf cant make it anything of sense , a loose bit of tin held  down by the foam doughnut 

Are we In or Out then  

Back in the late 60s The common market we got signed into wrecked our worldwide truck sales  so im   an Out 

 

[Colin Lindsay]

 

Let's all vote for the Hokey Cokey party. They know what it's all about.

(I have a sneaky feeling someone added that EU flag to that t-shirt and it was actually originally about something else altogether.)

[Nick Jones]

On 17/11/2018 at 17:17, Pete Lewis said:

Back in the late 60s The common market we got signed into wrecked our worldwide truck sales  so im   an Out 

You're holding holding a grudge for 50 years......?!  I do hope you are joking. The world has changed a bit since then.  This is why 16 year olds should have been able to vote......... they'll have to deal with the consequences of their lost citizenship long after those who voted them out are gone.

[poppyman]

[NonMember]

9 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

You're holding holding a grudge for 50 years......?!

It could be worse - the morning after the referendum my local BBC radio interviewed some old codgers who'd voted leave because "we fought a war against that lot". Never mind that the French were our allies, or that a good proportion of the German planes shot down in the Battle of Britain were taken out by Polish pilots.

Anyway, the British truck exports weren't killed off by the EEC any more than US car sales were killed off by Korean immigrants (really - Koreans in Detroit in the '70s were at risk of racial victimisation because the car industry was losing out to (cheaper, more efficient, more reliable) Japanese imports and the unemployed ex-car-workers were too damned stupid to tell different foreigners apart).