Tonight I started in on making the new top plate and backing plate for the fuel cell. By moving to a slightly larger oval shaped opening I can easily drop the fuel pump, regulator and wiring into the tank. This will make removal and service much easier.
The plan is to drill and tap holes in the bottom plate and then use stainless steel socket head bolts in place of the current steel ones this should minimize the opportunity to introduce any corrosion into the cell over time.
Work on the plates started out well. I cut two holes in the bottom plate with a hole saw. A little file work flattened out the lines connecting the holes. Then on to the band saw to cut out the oval outside shape. Unfortunately I got a little over aggressive with the radius and snapped the blade about half way through. Live and learn....
Without a replacement blade on hand - that was pretty much the end of the project work for the night.
So I got out the HPD chassis wiring kit and began the mental planning process for installing that in the car. One thing I immediately noticed as an issue is that the HPD harness assumes that the battery cut off switch will be located near the engine compartment ala Swift cars. Unfortunately the Citation has a rather unique arrangement where the cutoff switch is dash mounted with a remote cable attached to the roll hoop for emergency cutoff from outside the car. Hmmm.
I am thinking that the easiest thing to do is to not fight it and relocate the cutoff switch to a more conventional location, but with the chassis in Maryland right now, this will have to wait.
The good news is that the rest of the harness is very comprehensive and looks like it will be very simple to install.
Tomorrow night I will pick up a couple of new band saw blades and hopefully finish up the new plates.
Sean
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