MK Indy Fuel Filler and Fuel Pipes

Now the engine is in I could connect up the fuel pipes to the engine with flexible hoses and fit the MK Indy fuel filler to the fuel tank.

Fitting the MK Indy Fuel Filler

I could have done this before fitting the engine but hadn’t quite got round to doing it. I decided to not follow the manual on this one. The manual tells you to fit the fuel filler to the rear tub panel. I didn’t like this for 2 main reasons:

• The fitment of the fuel filler on the rear panel means you have a 90-degree bend in the filler pipe to get to the fuel tank. This becomes complete PITA to then fill with fuel as the bend is so tight the fuel hose keeps cutting off the supply thinking it is full. Making it straight down and it would be much better.
• Keeping the fuel filler off the rear tub cleans up the look of the rear panel and keeps it symmetrical.

So, I decided to fabricate an aluminium bracket that holds the fuel filler directly above the opening in the fuel tank. This approach is OK for IVA as long as this space isn’t deemed part of the passenger compartment, engine compartment or luggage compartment. All of these would be OK as long as I don’t turn the rear into a luggage/ boot area for IVA.

Is I used a bit of CAD (Carboard Aided Design) to mock up a bracket to mount off the roll bar bracket. I decided to also add a second mounting point by epoxy glueing on a ‘big head’ fibreglass M6 stud onto the chassis.

I then transferred the CAD template onto a 4mm aluminum plate and painted it with the Simonez Satin Black paint.

This was then fitted to the chassis and the filler fitted to the bracket with the standard gasket fixings. The fuel filler hose connected to the filler to the fuel tank with jubilee clips.

Connect Fuel Line to Engine

The next job was to connect the fixed hard fuel lines to the engine with a flexible fuel hose. The route of this goes under the inlet manifold on the driver’s side. To make this easier and to get access to the fuel rail inlet, I removed the throttle body first.

I then worked out how to keep the flexible fuel hose secure and to stop movement and potential wear. I needed an additional bracket at the front and could use an existing bracket down the side to secure it.

This addional bracket mounts behind the black inlet manifold support bracket in the image below. It has a saddle bush riveted to the end of the bracket which then can be used to cable tie the flexible fuel hose to. You can see this circled in red below.

The fuel line is connected to the inlet of the VVT Fuel Rail with fuel clips. It is covered in conduit to provide protection and make the IVA inspector happy.

The VVT Fuel Rail only has a single connection. Unlike the Mk2 NB 1.8 engine which has a return connection also. For a naturally aspirated engine, this isn’t a problem. It can be swapped out for a Mk2 fuel rail if you want to go turbo. This is when you need a proper return line to maintain the correct fuel pressures.

For my installation, the return to the engine is done by a simple t-piece connector under the inlet manifold. This means turbo upgrade will be easier later on as the connections are right there at the front.

These were put in pace and again covered with conduit to provide protection. I used a bracket under the inlet manifold to secure the flexible hose. A nice neat installation which I pleased with.

Summary of Build Costs and Hours

Here is a summary of the costs and person hours (total number of hours for every person that has helped) for the build so far. This should hopefully help others with the planning of their builds, by providing cost and time actually incurred for this build. A more detailed breakdown of all the costs and hours worked on the build to date can be viewed here.

Person Hours Worked This Post
Make Fuel Filler Bracket	1 hrs
Fit Fuel Filler and Fuel Pipes	1 hrs

Car Build Costs This Post
4mm Aluminium Plate ate 300mm x 200mm	£10

Totals	This Post	To Date	All Posts
Person Hours Worked	2 hrs	402 hrs	409 hrs
Car Build	£10	£13,202	£13,235
Tools / Consumables	£0	£459	£470
Total Cost	£10	£13,661	£13,705