T: Fuel Tank Viton replacement plungers

[fogrider]

There are a few posts on here from 3 years ago about leaking corks on the old plunger taps. I soaked new corks for 2 days, they still dripped. Wanting to retain the original taps, I finally spotted the Spares Co Viton alternative plungers. Brass finish caps, not nickel ,sadly, but excellent products, not a drip to be seen --- magic !
Ethanol proof too. Bargain.

 

[LoneStar]

These work well too, and allow you to keep your original petcocks. You do need to sand down the OD a bit to avoid sticking.

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[fogrider]

I had seen references to O rings and assumed fuel would leak past , assuming each ring was narrower than the fuel hole. Clearly, O rings do work, cheaper too !
Oh well, the clubs' one piece Vitons are in and working. Job's a good 'un.

 

[fogrider]

10 hours later - the right hand tap has now started dripping from the plunger bore, so presumably down into the carb too. ****ocks.
Lever type now in place until I can workout what's adrift, nothing obvious so far, clean/smooth bore, seal seems a firm fit. A mystery.

 

[vibrac]

Interesting to know what so called petrol you are using
If its not Esso supreme or you dont live in central england all bets are off I guess

 

[fogrider]

Fresh from Tesco, 'round the corner. I'm told it's Esso. Don't think I bought the supreme though. Strange one tap was OK. Maybe some distortion in the tap body due to some previous overtightening ?, but the Viton would surely distort to suit ?
The Viton sleeve was slightly loose on the plunger shaft, so a possible central leak path - work in progress.

 

[Keith Martin]

We have gotten in the habit of leaving the fuel lines on bikes unhooked from the petcocks overnight to check for fuel leaking past petcocks in the off position. Brand new English made petcocks often leak past the petcocks in the off position. The viton replacement plungers sometimes do not have the o rings in the correct place for some petcocks allowing them to leak past. Often the o rings will tear a little rubber off on the inside of petcock as it may have a burr where hole was drilled through.

 

[Speedtwin]

I tried the vitron replacements from the spares co, did not work very tight and still leaked, so changed to ss lever ball taps .
Old ewarts are in the box of other stuff.
Night before going on holiday my better half said there was a smell from the garage,nothing new there I thought.
Went to check at midnight and found a full tank of av gas which was in the Comet had leaked to the floor from the aforementioned vitron replacement seals in the ewart taps.
Balls, saving grace place had not exploded.
Floor was cleaned to an exceptional finish, av gas certainly beats mr muscle as a floor cleaner.

Moral of the story a bit like turning fifty and never trusting a fart.
Never trust a fuel tap.
Al