Spark plug question?

[Brosky]

It's always about the driver/mechanic Dave.

Support crews come in second place on the ladder.

 

[PeterK]

As a matter of safety, fuel pressure gauges are not mounted INSIDE the cockpit. Two reasons: 1) Fuel inside the cockpit. and B) Fuel inside the cockpit with ignition potential (i.e. electrical wires)

For a fire to burn you need 3 things:
1) Fuel
2) Source of ignition
3) Oxygen

So assuming that you have a fuel leak at the gauge, even a minor leak, and then have a wire short of any kind, imagine blowing on the ignited fire from the wind as you drive down the road. Bad idea for a permanent setup.

For testing, maybe OK but carry a fully charged extinguisher.

 

[Tinster]

So assuming that you have a leak at the gauge, even a minor leak
........,

<span style="color: #990000">Ah PeterK!!

You must be remembering when I installed my new teak dash
and refurbished gauges. The oil pressure gauge line slipped
off and pumped a quart or two into all my nice new Power
Block wires and filled the passenger foot space.

I'm gonna take a pass on brining a gasoline line into the
driving area of the car. The Crypt Car would not think twice
about burning me up alive.

d </span>

 

[TR3driver]

Which of course is why I said to leave it under a wiper. Strictly a short-term test setup (though I have driven several hours on the freeway that way, with closer to 40 psi in the line than 3).

Of course the line to the gauge should be "fuel" line, which is pretty tough stuff. I won't say it's impossible to put a nick in it as Peter describes ... but I'll bet what he saw was not "fuel" line. "Vacuum" line is different, not nearly as strong (and most likely attacked by ethanol).

If you have sparks around the battery, a nearby fuel line is the least of your worries. Liquid gasoline is actually kind of hard to light with a spark (eg a flooded engine); while batteries give off an extremely explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

To mount a fuel pressure gauge inside the cockpit, you normally use a pressure transducer. Basically a diaphragm with fuel on one side and an inert liquid on the other. Generally these come with proper fuel gauges (and explain why they are so much more expensive than an oil gauge, for example). Put the transducer under the hood : No fuel in the cockpit.

Of course it doesn't matter so much on a TR3, since the whole gas tank is in the cockpit !