I got up at first light this morning and got under the car to take off the new master cylinder, convinced the reservoir tubes weren’t located properly.
I took out the rubber grommet from the master cylinder carefully and put it on the end of the reservoir tube. It was a very tight fit and located with a reassuring silent snap that you could feel between your fingers. The end of the tube has a flare and this needs to pass completely through the grommet to locate properly. I marked the pipe with a marker pen to indicate the fully located position and removed the grommet and repeated on the second pipe.
With the reservoir removed I lightly greased the outside of the plastic tubes so they would slide easy in the bodywork bulkhead, got under the car and pulled them through a good 18”.
Only then could I wrestle them with a little fluid to lubricate the grommet into correct location in the Master Cylinder. With the pipes greased on the outside they slid easily back up into the car while I manoeuvred the Master Cylinder back into place and refitted it.
Next with reservoir off I gave it a good clean out to remove 40 + years of grime and then noticed the filler cap had a vertical crack in it. Most probably from the PO over tightening it. So that’s another thing to add to the list!
After putting it all back together I cleaned out the air inlet box drains. What is it with California cars and pine needles? The bloomin thing was full up with needles and sand. (It’s my second Californian car and my first was full of pine needles too)
Anyhow, once cleaned up I fitted my new drain hose and fed it correctly through the hole in the very bottom of the car. Fortunately it was the same hose and wire hose clips as used on the engine bay funnels so I had over 2m left spare and a bag of clips to use.
Next I gave it all a good second clean then turned my attention to the Fuel tank.
I fitted new hose to the pipes in the car with stainless hose clips and even managed to find some new unused fuel hose in my shed at 9.5mm that was just long enough to fit.
I took off the expansion tank and gave everything a good clean up. Again all the vent/breather 4mm hoses just snapped off when you touched them, so I’ll have to buy another metre on Monday. The metal plate around the filler cap with the 8 x M5 bolts was a bit scabby, so I stripped and sanded it down, painted it and its hanging on a wire currently over my hall radiator!
Next I shone a torch inside the tank and saw bits of an old level sender gasket down in there, so after a bit of a large cocktail shaking exercise I managed to get all the bits out. (Must have been changed by PO at some time as the sender has a new one on it)
Another shine with the torch and….hold on a minute, that doesn’t look good.
The Fuel pump suction pipe copper mesh suction strainer looked like someone had reached inside the tank and painted it with underseal???
I quickly whipped it out for a look and found this.
Completely blocked with Sh*te!
This was bizarre as the tank inside looked very clean, just the strainer seemed to be covered. Presumably since it’s the pump suction it just drew 40 years of muck onto it.
Any how, it needed a good soak in cellulose thinners to soften it, followed by a very soft paint brush to lightly agitate it to clean it all off. Finally a wash through from inside out to clean it all off.
I wonder how it ever managed to suck fuel in that state? How many of you have checked yours?
I then refitted it to the tank and finished cleaning off all the spiders webs and sand with a damp cloth.
When I lifted the tank out a couple of the felt pads fell out, so these were cleaned and glued back in with the remains of the glue I got for the rear bulkhead soundproofing.
The tank had a rub mark on it, above the passengers feet, on the vertical plane, and another rub mark on the car, so I got some new felt pad and glued a bit there too.
Finally I cleaned up the clamps and blocks, gave it all a damn good WD40 under there (since there was no rust I didn’t want any starting) and dropped the tank back in place.
I had to knock off early to collect my son from town, so used this point in the work as a natural break.
The plan is to test it when the hose arrives and I can vac it out, and do a vacuum holding test to see if the diaphragm has any pin holes that you simply wouldn't see by just sucking on the tube.
I’m considering buying a reel of white cable and making one by transferring the plugs and stuff over.
) Will find out tomorrow when I pick them up. 
(hope he stubbed his toe though)