Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Mother of Invention...

I was all ready to fire up the '46 FL to ride to The Winter Thaw Party on Sunday...I re-installed the tanks last week and now she just needs a battery and gas...I filled the tanks banking on the fact that I would have no leaks. Hey, I aligned the shut off and installed new brass washers and tightened everything up just right...wrong again! The lower banjo leaked like a sieve!

Fucked...while tightening to fix the leakage around the lower shut off, it broke in half! That's a first...

Gas poured out every where!

Siphoned out what I could...the rest rest spewed forth...

Off with the tank...again!


Fucked...again...

This may work...using the half holes and a screw driver to turn it out...

It worked! Got the busted piece outta the tank...

Found a suitable replacement...

The surface on the tank is pitted and just won't seal...

Hhmmm...

Using a little valve grinding compound and the lower broken piece of the shut off I began to attempt to lap the surface by hand...
not good enough...


Ahhhh...now we're talking...power tools! Made a lapping tool for the drill using a screw, some fuel line, a fitting, some copper fuel line and the lower broken piece of the shut off...

BEAUTIFUL! It worked like a charm and I was doing Hole Shots all the way to the "Winter Thaw" Party!

Three days later and it's dry as a bone baby!



2 comments:

  1. I love the way you always have the part you need to hand... nice fix!

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  2. Jeff, had to do the same lapping on ol Bessies fuel tank to get rid of the leaks. I did also go for modern dowty seals rather than the brass rings.
    Now my concern is other than fuel leaks though.
    Will get there eventually.

    Best
    Sverre

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