Let me look. I think I may have filters,,, if that helps...?

 

No problem on the filter, as I got one last night.
We are going at it first thing in the morning. Found out watching a couple of Utube that the disconnects I have with the handle will not work, so off to the store first thing.or cut the handle off. That sounds more like a plan.

 

What a adventure Jon and I had today replacing the fuel pump.
Eight hours later he had BBQ and I had fish. Madam had chichen pot pie and half of mine. LOL
Fist thing, the garage door gave up after 38 years, good start. Should have stopped there.
Know the worse job was going to be under the car, that was where we started. If we couldn't do that, the rest was going to be put back, so lets start there. When you go looking for the pipes on the bottom and see a heat sink covering the area, don't think you have something different. It's not under there, go to the front of the rearend about a foot or so and look up on top at the slit between heat sink, there she blows and I really mean that. You can go through a hole in the framing and that crack to pull on the pipes.
Did not tie a string on the first connector release, had it on a wire and it popped off. That part worked great, I took a insulation rod retainer, the ones that hold it up to keep it from falling down. Drilled a small hole in the connector release for a tight fit and was able to place the tool on the pipe with a little help from a screwdriver, then the rod pushed it right up to the tank. A wide screwdriver on the solid parts of the tool pushed it right in. This was after many failed attempts at using my hands. Could only get a finder on the tank in any contorted position I got in. No matter where you put a light any hand or tool blocked the light. My neck is really sore, trying to make bi focal work. Pipes out and on to the easy stuff. LOL
Normally Gus is right on, so his write up lead the way. We did have a couple of differences.
One being only one electric connection at the filler tube on the door release. We didn't take the battery or tire out, just disconnected the battery. The plate covering the tank has 5 bolts as shown by Gus, they are 10MM as information and a ratchet wrench is easy. Like Gus we took the lines at the center off the metal pipes.
The ring came off as advertised, do that first and it will make getting the pipes off a little easier.
The pump is held in place by the one 8MM bolt. We did notice a quarter inch of fuel, just on the bottom and the pipes are well above the bottom, so a couple of gallons left should be OK if left in, just heavier.
A couple of things on the Delphi pump.
Save your rubber insulators off the old pump, the Delphi will work but the originals work better, don't cut the litte knobs of the bottom, just bend the bracket open slightly to remove. I had to cut one small area at the end of the rubber to get a better fit.
The pig tell wire worked fine, I put it into the pump last, as the female one on the old connection was something you need to be very careful with. The pins needed a little adjustment to install the clip. The strainer I got from Autozone was not a great fit. Had to cut around the hole area to get it in the pump, good luck on getting the retaining washer on, thin the thing out and push like hell. Not going anywhere, it sets on the bottom.
Set the tank in place, being careful the insulation on top is pushed down on the sides, pull the connector on the right up on top of the tank. Now we connected everything up but did not bolt the tank shield on, we wanted to make sure all stayed in place on the bottom holes.
Went under the car to make sure the holes lined up and better than when we started. Getting the pipes in the hole no problem, getting them to clip into the required connector, not so much. I have bruises on my thump from pushing on the pipes. One hand snaked up through the framing to wiggle the hose. Still not going in, pushed with a small screwdriver and got resistance but would come out if I pulled hard on it. That was a false indication and you should give it a good pull before thinking all is well. Decided to get creative after the wife found a small 22 inch screwdriver set and ran down to Harbor Freight and picked them up for $6. Got a few strange looks, guess we should have changed cloths or put on a clean shirt.
The flat head was a standard 1/4 inch, I ground it down by rounding it out slightly, it was more a circle very thin. Being 22 inches, I could hold the pencil light on the connection and push the new tool into the spring area, pushing on the pipe and it went right in. I did spray with WD40 a couple of times.
By now, we have been fighting it for a while and my neck gave out. Got washed and headed to the restaurant.
Will put the plate back over the tank tomorrow and get some gas and see how we did. I feel like I could do it again in a few hours with no rush, but do I want to, hell no!!!

The tools will make the job much easier as you cannot believe how restricted the area is.
Will get some pictures of the tools tomorrow.

 

After you telling about your trouble getting the fuel lines back in I remember now the problem I had. When I pushed the tank back into place the rubber that the tank sits on moved just enough to be just a little bit in the way. Like you said it is so hard to see in there and I thought I had the lines connected. I found out when I started to put fuel back in the tank that it was leaking at the connection. It wasn't a big leak but I had to get that rubber out of the way so I could get the lines to seat properly.
Congrats on getting it in.

 

It was indeed a long day so it is a good thing that Wayne and I always enjoy getting together. The work underneath the car to disconnect and then later reconnect the metal fuel lines is an absolute bitch of a job. Both of us were ready to strangle the designers after a couple of hours. I had no chance of getting my gorilla-sized hands up in there so I did not even try. My main role underneath the car was to hold the various lights we used in an effort to allow Wayne to see better. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. As Wayne said, the 22-inch long-and-skinny flat-blade screwdriver that Christine found on the Harbor Freight website literally saved the day. Once we got ahold of that tool and Wayne ground the tip down to a curved chisel-type edge, he had both of those underside metal fuel lines secured into their sockets within 20 minutes. A real lifesaver, thanks to Christine....

We had read about the rubber pad the gas tank sits on top of sliding around and blocking the hole during reinstallation, so after I pulled the tank out into the pump replacement position, I lifted the tank up slightly, reached around behind it (my 84-inch wingspan helped me greatly here), grabbed an edge of the pad, and tugged on it. It appeared to be glued down so I concluded that it probably would not move when we slid the tank fully back onto its shelf. Fortunately, the pad did not move so Wayne had a clear shot at reattaching the lines underneath....

I hope the engine will fire right up after Wayne gets the finishing touches in the trunk put back together today and pours some gas into the tank. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him....

Thanks again to Gus' jagrepair.com site and everyone else who contributed information on how to successfully pull this job off. We had the knowledge we needed and we were eventually successful as a result....

 

Took a couple of pictures of the apparatus I came up with, the string was Gus's and a big help.
I just used a regular large bladed screwdriver to push the connector tool into the spring clip.
This picture is of the smaller headed one we got at HF 22 inches lone.
Hope you can see the small curve on the head, Make the curve first, then grind the outside to fit. Took about 3 minutes with this tool and we had screw around with a 5/16 inch plastic pipe for 30 minutes. I believe the answer was the sharper edge as if you look at the release tool, it has a shape edge on the inside.

 

Now for the rest of the story and I'm done for the day.
After spending the morning cleaning all connections with electric spray cleaner and taking all the lights out in the rear housing. I found a brake light bulb that had been giving me a warning and every time I check it was working.
The driver side when I was taking it out to clean left the metal part in the socket, So found that would need replacement before the annual inspection, which kind of started this whole thing, going to the station and no start.
OK, went to my inspection station to get a light and check out if he could work me in. Good on the inspection, not so much on the light as it's a metric size fitting and 21W. After a search my large parts store found a bag that had never been opened and they were .73 cents, so I got two before he changed his mind.
Got two gallons of high test and added it half a gallon at a time to make sure the connections under the car were truly sealed. Good on that, so turned the key, heard a little hum in the rear that stopped in a couple of seconds and hit start. Yeah!!!!. Ran a little rough for the first block, must have still had some of the old gas in the line.
The really good news, the service station guy said NC had passed a bill in December that cars over 20 years old only need the safety inspection and me disconnecting the battery and creating a incomplete was of no concern.
Passed with flying colors and even better $13,50 and not $30, this year keeps getting better.
Can't wait to get back on the golf course, surely I'll get a hole in one. LOL
Stopped by the pump and added 5 more gallons of high test. By the way, the fuel gauge showed yellow even after the two gallons. That was kind of nice to know.
All the tools are back in the big garage and it's feels like 31 degrees, so by the gas logs for me.
Thanks for all the help.
Wayne

 

Exciting times for those of us in 'emissions test counties' in NC (only 22/100 counties have any testing at all) with almost 20 year old cars. Time to start planning for 'smog arbitrage' purchasing cheap 20 year old cars from NY, California, the United Kingdom (those ones with the steering wheel inconveniently placed) and Europe. Unfortunately, our competition includes Florida (no emissions testing) and 17 other states. Many of the others only test in larger cities.

 

CRBass, you are so right, great for us and not a lot of trouble with the Roadster, as my wife says "It is on the" right" side of the car", She is a bit bias being from Bedford, just north of London.
Had no trouble with the '37 MG and might go look at a original MINI this week. Had one in England and a blast to drive.
But we all know, just sitting in a broken XK8 is better than driving a bunch of cars.

 

Congrats Wayne. Sure glad to hear that the XK8 fired right up with the new fuel pump and I know you are relieved to have that job behind you. Looking forward to our next adventure, maybe on the Spit6....