So it's taken a few days for the crush washers to arrive. In between, I sourced two from Champion crush washers multipacks (one in each), but couldn't get them on tight enough to not weep. Gave up, and swapped a slab of beer for the help of a friendly local mechanic who got another quarter turn on it with long breaker bars. No longer weeping, so happy days!
Dunno if this is true, but was told (by somebody who should know) that old crush washers had a different metallurgical make up, and are easier to compress. Modern ones have less copper, so are harder to compress.
The car is now running noticeably more smoothly, and the mid-range hesitancy under load is gone. Although it's been a royal PITA, I've now got a better-running car...
Bosch and Wesfil (Cooper Filters) are great - know their products (and how they work), happy to help.
Supercheap not so much - and sorry for the rant here - They sourced the part from Bosch, but whereas Bosch delivered it to my door next day for no additional charge, Supercheap promised pick up in 2 - 4 days yet took more than a week. Bosch also win points for sending a pump with the correct banjo connector. And being quite a lot cheaper.
Things I've learned (again) about working on 2/7/9 fuel systems:
don't have a full tank of petrol. If you do, drain with siphon via the access hatch on boot floor.drop the pump carrier and inspect all the rubber components before ordering bits. Ditto for in tank pump. When dropping the pump carrier under the floor, have some blocks of wood to rest it on so it doesn't hang by the fuel hose. have powder / CO2 fire extinguishers - keep one close and the other one further away (so somebody else can use it on you if you do self-immolate).Don't take short cuts with parts for cost or expediency - 9 times out of 10 it will cost more and take longer.
