Err it actually looks like there is no gasket there at all to me?
Clean all that dirty plop off and check!
Yes you can make your own gasket from a sheet of gasket paper. It is nothing special in that position. Although I do remember from years ago that there was a "Bakelite" type spacer used with 2 x gaskets either side?
I expect someone on this forum will confirm this for you?
Attached is a picture of a Talbot Tagora Engine with the spacer in question.....
Please note this is NOT a spacer.
It is a heat insulator to restrict the amount of heat transferred from the engine to the fuel pump and thereby to the fuel, to help prevent the fuel getting too hot and vaporising at that point. It also sets the pump at the correct spacing from the block (1.6 model) or height from the timing case (2.2 model) for the arm or plunger, and if there was no insulator fitted then you would not get the pump to fit and work! The arm or plunger would foul the cam too early and the pump body would not even reach the flange to be able to fasten it.
And yes, the insulator should have a gasket either side.
The down-draught carburettor has a similar heat insulator under it to separate it from the inlet manifold for the same reason.
Grapes car is a 1.6 but the photo that Graham has added is a 2.2, with the fuel pump right at the top.
One word of caution Grapes, if you really have fuel leaking from your pump I doubt it is a fault of the insulator or gaskets. Failure of those gaskets would cause an oil leak from the engine. Any fuel leak will come from somewhere else on the pump such as the inlet or outlet connections or the filter cap at the top on your 1.6 fuel pump.
Roy
Author
