Sorry for the delay but I thought there was a catch in my birthday present- I’ve had to build another arc for the chickens! Female cunning got me bang to rights yet again; will I never learn?
Anyway, I have now reconstructed the fuel tap; it’s a large brass one, much bigger than anything that I’ve come across with the JAP engines, so I had to repair it rather than replace. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to make it serviceable again, so I dismantled it, soldered a new knob onto the moving part and, because it’s a conical tap that relies on being a snug fit in the hole, I lapped the two parts together using fine valve lapping compound. I’ve tried blowing down it when it’s closed and there doesn’t seem to be any leakage, so I think I’ve sorted that out.
Whilst doing the fiddly bits I put all the larger bits in the acid tank to soak. Have you ever wished that you hadn’t done something? This was just the case and it seems that everything that is supposed to hold liquid has got a hole in it; the diesel tank has some pinholes along the seam underneath and the oil bath air filter has a pin hole as well.
The air filter was stripped with wire wool and the hole cleaned up. I decided that solder was about the easiest and most permanent solution to this hole, so the blowtorch came out and in no time at all the hole was filled. All I have to do now is to straighten the centre tube and paint it, then move on to the tank. That will be tomorrow’s job because I’ll give it a blast with the steam cleaner at work.
