leaking petcocks

[Gavin Housh]

Does anyone know of a source for new rubber washers with three holes in it to fit in petcock? I've found that o-rings of the appropriate size from Ace hardware work well inbetween the petcock and gas tank threaded spigot.

 

[Chris MacAllister]

I couldn't find any so ended up buying new petcocks from Fischer Competition Cycle, Butler PA.  They work great.
Chris

 

[Chris Brown]

Gee Gavin, I just posted the same question on Vinduro.
So there is a washer with holes for the on-reserve-off positions. I'm going to try and make a couple out of neoprene sheeting. I'll let you know if it works.

Seems to me new petcocks are $30-$40 each. Yikes...

Chris

 

[Gavin Housh]

Chris, I've made some of these rubber washers before out of 1/16" red neoprene sheeting from the hardwhare store.Success rate is not to good, I get one out of two or three that work. I'm using a cnc router with a 2mm bit to cut these out. I have to sandwich the rubber between two pieces of 1/8" plastic to keep the rubber stationary during the cutting process. I can program this machine to cut these washers so that they fit perfectly in the petcock. The problem is that even though my bit is cutting at 20,000 rpm the rubber kind of fuzzes up during cutting leaving an edge that is not sharp. This is not a problem on the outer circumference of the washer, only on the three small holes in the middle. What happens is that when you turn the arm on the petcock repeatedly on and off the slot in the round disc connected to the arm sildes past the holes in the petcock. As the slot moves over the holes it cacthes that rough fuzzey edge and starts to tear small pieces of the rubber off, that end up in your fuel filter (provided you us one). Some of these washers don't seal right away and others have lasted two years and still going. I think that when the three holes in the middle are being cut that they are such small holes that the heat of cutting can not be dissipated quickly enough and the rubber kind of welds itself back together after the cutting tool has made its pass. After cutting I have to push out the bits of rubber in the holes using a magnifying glass, dental pick, and exacto knife. So even though I can program the router to make a perfect pass the rubber does not cooperate. When these washers were made originally I think that they injection molded them leaving the edeges nice, smooth and square. Anyway I guess I'll keep making them this way $40 is to much to pay. If anyone has any thoughts on this subject please respond.

 

[Kip Kern]

Contact Al Buehner, he just had a bunch of them made up!

 

[Chris Brown]

Thank you Kip!