Never take your eye off the ball!

[Re-Carbed]

This morning I opened the bonnet of my 1.1 carb Metro daily driver to re-fill the washer fluid after a long trip yesterday and noticed a very strong smell of petrol - my fuel pump was leaking and it was everywhere. The cause? The bottom three allen key screws that hold the two sections of the pump together had come loose and petrol was leaking out, past the gasket. Didn't expect that and of course one stray spark could have been a catastrophe. Also whilst correcting this fault I noticed that most of my carb damper oil has gone - simply disappeared - where to? So I refilled that and now it's running better at pull-away rather than near-stalling. Old English cars - don't give 'em and inch!
.....Just ordered a brand-new complete Quinton Hazell fuel pump for my car - just in case - and it was cheap!

[DotMatrix]

your fuel pump problem is a strange one. I haven't seen that problem before.
regarding damper oil its common to fill this up from time to time. by the way it does matter what type of oil you fill in.

[Re-Carbed]

The new pump arrived and I fitted it. During the process the brass fuel inlet tube came away from the top casting of the old pump very easily, and I noticed a pile of gaskets on either side of the insulating block showing either shoddy initial manufacture or later replacement. Now no more leaks though I'll carry around the old pump and tools for a while whilst it settles in.

[Dave VVC]

I would bin the pump, make/fit a blanking plate over the hole and fit a electric fuel pump
and wire it through a switch for better security, plus if you run out of fuel, all you need to do
is key on the ign to prime the carb, rather than keep cranking the engine.