Felt used for fuel tank XK 140

Felt is used between the fuel tank and the chassis & body, but the actual amount, size and position of the various pieces of felt remain unclear from the information in the Service Parts List. Listed are the following items for the XK 140:

The (black) felt used by Jaguar is about ⅛” (or 3 mm) thick and normally 2”(or 50 mm) wide (except C8414 which is 1”or 25 mm wide). The positions of the above pieces of felt:

• Basically the XK 140 fuel tank has 3 felt strips (18” or 45 cm long) placed across the top of the tank front to rear, but the filler opening at the LH side “interferes” with one of these three strips (see 3^rd bullet).
• At the LH and RH end of the tank the felt runs from the tank mounting points front to rear over the tank. The RH strip is coded C8373. For the LH strip see 3^rd bullet.
• Because the fuel filler opening is placed at the LH side of the tank, the felt strip at this side is not 18” long but had to be cut in two pieces: C8371 and C 8372 with a total length of 16” leaving 2” space for the filler opening.
• The third strip (again C8373) is placed in the centre of the tank parallel to the other strips.

The (original situation) picture below shows where the LH strips went. Black glue was used to hold the strips on to the tank.

 Original   Restored

The top strips installed on the fuel tank.

There is another 44” (or 110 cm) long and only 1”(or 25 mm) wide felt strip placed along the top of the tank from side to side. This strip is positioned along the front of the top of the tank to protect the tank from rubbing on the chassis cross-member.

Tank in final position including felt strips