Bizarre (to me) Fuel Pump Cover

[Tomnistuff]

My car is a (August 1966 build) Italian version 230 SL Manual.  I've never paid attention to fuel pump covers until now.  I'm finishing the restoration and can't figure out how to put the fuel pump cover back.

It has too many screw holes and doesn't look like any Pagoda cover I've ever seen.  I know it was on the car but I don't have any photos of it on the car.

If you all tell me it's from a Volkswagen, I would not be surprised but I think I need a correct short fuel pump cover and pump mounting bracket.

Here's a photo of the mounting bracket and another of the pump cover.

Any suggestions?
 Tom Kizer

[Rick]

The mount under your car is not original.   An adapter plate has been built to install the upright later model "small pump" in place.  Originally your car had the "large" pump and it was mounted on its side.

There might be others that are more informed on the 230SL.    I have attached a fuel pump diagram from a w128 for possible reference.

[66andBlue]

Tom,
until VIN 007205 the 230SL did not have the round pump cover but a more box-like cover. You can see it here #100:
https://www.sls-hh-shop.de/main/categorymapimage/in02_0240.jpg
Since your VIN is later (correct?) you need the round one.

[Charles 230SL]

As noted by 66andBlue, prior to chassis 007205 230's had a 'box' covering the fuel pump. Pictures of an early 230 pump cover are attached.   

[Shvegel]

I have a round cover for the long pump I bought by mistake.  It is fully restored and painted.  Let me know if you need it.

[Tomnistuff]

I've solved one mystery.  The cover in the first post is from a C107.  It's the same stamping but it has a hole in the back.  I still can't find the an identification for the fuel pump mount that was all rusty, had three supports hanging down and was bolted to the cross member (the second photo in the first post).  It works perfectly and has been restored to look and function like new, so I'll keep it and make my own cover to go with the short fuel pump that I resealed and tested and which also works perfectly and silently.

I can only assume that at some point before 1987 (the year I purchased the car), the previous owner needed a new fuel pump so his mechanic cobbled up a system to adapt a Bosch short style pump to the car.  At least it worked for more than 25 years before I started the restoration.

Since I don't want to go back to a tall fuel pump, I'll just make a new cover out of something I can buy at Walmart like a gallon jug sized Tupperware or Rubbermaid container.  Whatever I make will be better than the C107 cover I took off.

Tom

[66andBlue]

Don't do it Tom, you'll regret it later! 
By the time you run around finding suitable material, then measuring, cutting, readjusting you'll have a lot of time invested in something which will still look out of place and make your stomach churn later on every time you look at it.
Remember the short pump has to hang lower than the long pump so the length of the cover is the same for both pumps. The short pump however needs more access. Take a look here: https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Fuel/FuelPumpCovers
You need Type 4 for the short pump.
You can buy a new one on eBay (http://www.ebay.de/itm/Haube-Benzinpumpe-w113-mercedes-/282620742106?hash=item41cd8249da:g:e1cAAOSwr6xZnGAB) but whether the seller ships to Canada is unknown.

Or you can buy the same part directly from the manufacturer in Goslar, Germany: http://www.classic-manufactur-goslar.de/index.php/nachfertigungen
Let me know if you have trouble communicating with the owner and I'll help you.

[Tomnistuff]

Thanks for your opinion, Alfred.  If doing what you suggest wasn't such a big distraction to getting the car back on the road before snow flies here, I would do it.

I decided to try one more time to find the way the C107 cover was installed so I imagined a Type 4 w113 cover being "simulated" with the C107 cover.  It meant using the diagonally opposite two of the three mounting holes instead of following my engineer's instinct to line things up perpendicular and parallel.  Installing the C107 cover diagonally was really quite easy once I rotated the angle of the outlet fitting just a few degrees.

Later, when it's on the road and I get the urge to "fix" something, I'll try to get back to doing it in a more "perfectionist" manner, at least using a Pagoda cover.  Right now I'm in my "masochism avoidance" work mode.

By the way, in the first post photo of the rusty mounting bracket, the single rubber isolator attachment leg toward the front of the car is also made by the manufacturer of the Type 4 pump cover.  Its photo is in the link that you sent me in your last post.

Here's how it looks now and how it looked when I bought it in 1987, except it's a lot cleaner and newer looking.

Tom Kizer
Levis, Quebec, Canada

[66andBlue]

Tom,
it certainly looks good and there is no question that it will function as intended.

[Zum 230SL]

Shvegel, I sent a PM regarding the old style fuel pump cover.