Been on holiday for a bit, so no real progress, cruise ship not our mode of transport FYI. Nice package arrived while I was away, NOS rebuilt distributor for a Standard Eight, albeit a later one than mine. Vacuum advance works, and inside does look basically new and has wax anti-tamper seal over the base plate screw. However, the points installed seem worn out, and the cap and rotor arm aren't quite new but are serviceable. Strange. Date code on it seems to be 1963, so it's been waiting a long time to get fitted. Stolen the later pedestal from the future engine for the car too, but now I need some of the shim gaskets before I can install it... So more waiting, hoping it still runs after all this. Some other parts came too, but I've been sent yet another incorrect master cylinder pushrod so I'm going to have a go at fabricating one. I've also finally got new dies for my flaring tool, so have at last managed to flare my new clutch line, of course I still can't fit the new master cylinder without a pushrod.

No argument.   It was oxygen tank no.TWO that exploded on Apollo 13! John

The large bore balance tube effectively makes the two tanks into one while at the same time acting as a baffle to reduce fuel slosh on cornering. So a single pump is all thats needed to draw evenly from the two tanks. Filling the sills with petrol does seem a little sub-optimal' for a road car but the big tube across the floor isn't really any different from the petrol tank in a Spitfire or any of the pre-TR7 TRs. This isn't meant to be rude but this is just the reliability by duplication falacy. If one tank is filled with contaminated fuel, or suffering from internal corrosion then it's odds on that the other one is exactly the same. Unless you always fill them from different petrol stations and ensure that the fuel they're selling doesn't come from the same terminal (because odds on it does). Similarly if you have two pumps each feeding from their own tank, how do you know if one has already failed and the other one is about to? Do you have a test/switching routine to check each pump/tank. Like they do on aircraft. And you can think of a few other common mode failure examples. Essentially it's just a way of making things more complicated and expensive, and ironically often less reliable. When NASA sent the astronauts to the moon the two most critical pieces of equiment (aside from basic breathing air) were the motor of the service module (to get the guys back from the moon and into earth orbit) and the lunar ascent motor. To get the lunar module off the moon and rendezvous with the command module. Just one of each. Even the breathing air stuff was singled up. The only duplication there, just like safety relief valves on boilers, etc, was to allow for changing out consumables (filters) or sending stuff to get maintained (relief valves) where the equipment had to be able to keep running in the meantime.

Hello All                   I have been out in Spitty today and nothing has fallen off! The Gearbox and Ford clutch plate seem to work ok (no great but they have never been great!) I made an extension to the clutch thrust pin to give a bit more travel as it was crunching a bit going into reverse! So I am hoping a few more miles and the clutch may get a tad better(in my dreams!) So the NOS ford plate seems a viable option in a 1500 flywheel admittedly I machined mine to give more friction area but would probably be ok with out?     Roger

Thanks again, Hamish!   I thought I knew all the GT40 websites, but have missed this one.  Looks interesting, contemporary and with lots of builders!. John

https://www.gt40s.com/threads/mk2-balance-pipe-fuel-tanks.34919/   here you go John.  but I’ve had a love of the gt40 since my dad got shafted by a “mate” for an original le man car. It was in the 1970’s and prices were relative.    Dad asked said mate to have a look for him as he was going to buy it. Said mate bought the car for himself !!!! thankfully sideways isn’t like that and Craig helped me buy the Alvis. 

Thank you, Hamish!  Never seen those pics, where are they from, please?    But they describe why I don't want sill tanks or a balance tube!  And would the pump draw fuel equally?    The flow resistance from either side will not be the same, even if the hoses are equal length. Paul, us simians think alike! John

I understood the gt40’s were initially 2 filler near independent tanks and later a single filler with the fuel tanks in the cills the broad section below the doors you sit on to slide in.  there were 2 balance pipes on the single fill system one a quite large bore pipe that connected the 2 tank uprights for air escape/equalisation under the dash  ( the fillers were in the top of the front wings) and a massive drain pipe to connect the 2 cill  tanks that ran under the front edge of the seats. Through the cabin !! Think I would go with 2 separate tanks and engine feeds but being drawn down at the same time. No switching of tanks and the fuel gauge in one should be the same fore each side.  and no big fuel pipes in the cabin.

John Strikes me that wholly independent tanks, either with a switchover solenoid ahead of a single pump or two separate pumps with non-return valves, would give you (i) built in redundancy, (ii) security in the event of contamination or damage, and (iii) more reliable information on contents(?) But I'm just sitting in an armchair, waiting for a bit of rain to wash the remaining salt off the roads...

True dat.