Fuel Tank & Rear Fuel Lines

The fuel tank is bonded in and is made clear in the GBS build manual. I needed to ensure the tank was centralised so the fuel filler pipe is in the right position. Before mounting, I made some marks on the fuel tank when centralised so when putting in place with the black PU bonding sealant I got it in the right place.

Put a picture here!

Once the fuel tank was firmly stuck, I then thought about how to run the rear fuel lines. The two options I considered was to run the fuel lines between the gap of the diff and the chassis. I saw a blog that did this successfully and got IVA first time, but there were some other comments about rubbing of the lines. I tried the route but found that the lines when running from the tunnel to the diff were not secure enough and would rub in the gap. So no to this option.

The other option was to run them to the left, around the side of diff whilst avoiding the handbrake cable and fixed brake lines. To do this I made a small aluminium bracket with a rivnut to be able to hold a P clip. This bracket was bolted to the ear of the diff. Where the fuel lines transitioned to rubber fuel pipe just beyond the tunnel, I used an offcut of fuel pipe with a cable tie attached to the chassis to ensure the fuel lines didn't touch the fixed brake pipes or handbrake cable. I wrapped the fuel lines together firmly and secure with cable ties. I used some off cuts of fuel pipe as additional protection for the fuel pipe from the cable ties.

Rear Fuel Line Around The Diff Attached to Diff Bracket

Where the pipes transitioned to the rubber pipe I used some off cut of fuel pipe to protect the nylon fuel lines from touching the brake pipes or chassis. I used the supplied fuel line clips from GBS with the circular clamping for even pressure and tightened them up over the brass fuel pipe inserts.

Once past the diff, the fuel lines needed to be secured to the chassis with a P clip. The pipes then split apart to join onto the low pressure fuel pump (red) and return to fuel tank (black).

Fuel lines P-Clipped to chassis.

Generally please with the result. The fuel lines are really solid and do not have the potential to rub anywhere.

Since the fuel lines are wrapped together, to ensure it's clear I used the correct grade lines (supplied by GBS), here's a picture!

Fuel line grade used - provided by GBS

Nylon Fuel Lines

    

The nylon fuels lines run from front to back through the tunnel exiting into the congested rear area and the engine bay. There are dedicated brackets in the chassis which the lines are fed through with associated grommets. What's a bit strange is that whilst the brackets are useful, there are not enough to hold the lines all the way through the tunnel. I would advise that GBS could make this a lot easier on their standard builds by doing IVA compliant spacing of brackets throughout the tunnel.

Fuel lines run over the bracket

    The lines run through grommets at the back of the     tunnel. They run forward over an aluminium              bracket with additional protection where they are        cabled tied to the chassis.

Under the handbrake through grommets 

 The fuel lines then crossed to the right   hand side of the tunnel so they could     exit on the intake side of the engine.

To the right hand side of the gear box

 Once on the right hand side of the   tunnel the fuel lines were tied to the   fixed brake lines with cable ties and   additional protection of the fuel lines   where the cable ties were attached.

 The spacing of attachments to the   chassis are well within the IVA   spacing requirements.

The fuel lines then exit on the RHS of the car on the intake side of the engine. Once the rest of the front fuel system is done they will be cable tied to the chassis along with other systems like the clutch hydraulic cable. You can see the little brass inserts in the fuel lines which need to be there for the transition to rubber pipe so the clamps don't crush the nylon pipes.

Handbrake & Handbrake Cable

The handbrake cable is so long! Reading the GBS Facebook group page and others blogs confirms this. Lot's of different solutions to this, the main one being to run the cables through the gap between the differential and the chassis before turning them ninety degrees towards the chassis brackets. The other option is to turn them just after exiting the tunnel and running them in front of the differential. This then requires the cable to be shortened.

I decided on the second option because the gap between the diff and chassis is not really big enough, so chafing would happen, and also the cable has to go upwards a bit and this makes it foul the fixed brake lines.

Since the sheathed cable is so stiff, it needs p-clipping before the chassis bracket to ensure it doesn't rest against the differential. I installed some p-clips on the upper side of the differential 'ears' which held the sheathed cables in the perfect position, very firmly, so ensuring they don't flap around or foul anything else.

Left hand p clip

Right hand p clip

Since the sheathed cable exit the tunnel and turn very quickly, it affects the way the handbrake adjuster and mount sit in the tunnel chassis bracket. To help this, I have used a cable tie to pull the cables closer together so the mounts on the cables are normal to the chassis bracket and seat correctly.

Cable tie to hold handbrake cables

In general, the exit from the tunnel is too congested for the Mazda build due to the chassis bracket that holds the fuel line & handbrake cable. My advice to GBS would be to space it out a bit more and give more formal bracket locations for the fixed brake lines and wiring loom.

The handbrake kit itself if very easy to mount. However, the space for all the systems is very congested. The handbrake crescent is quite wide and sits quite high leading to the risk of it rubbing other bits as it's engaged and disengaged. I made a little aluminium bracket to sit in the tunnel which separates the fuel lines and the handbrake crescent to ensure it doesn't clash. The rear wiring loom in the area is cable tied to the fixed brake line and also sheathed in split conduit to ensure no chafing can occur.

Aluminium Bracket