I have found an old push pull fuel tap which I think might fit my petrol tank. Can anyone tell me how you replace the cork on the push/pull fitting? It has a brass fitting stopping it coming off. Does this unscrew?
Cut the old cork off. Soak the new one in boiling water and it will be soft enough to stretch over the stop.
Hi,
If you look at the end of the pull/push there is what looks like a small round bit in the middle and it can be tapped out with suitable drift. Once this is removed the old cork can be taken off and a new one fitted and the cork holder can be tapped back in until the cork is just held snug but not compressed. They are tight fit and must be eased in to avoid damage. Use a bit of oil to help this process. Once in use they last for many years if they are not allowed to dry out. Leave a bit of fuel in the tank or put some grease on the corks to preserve them. Sometimes though, the taps are worn internally and may not be fuel tight even with new corks.
Replacement Ewarts taps are available but some have a 'cork' of a different material and whilst fuel tight they are quite hard to pull on especially when going on to reserve whilst on the move.
Dave.
New plungers can be bought for not much money, not worth the time messing with corks. Soak them in boiling water, then squeeze the water out. If you like a bit of vasoline when you squeeze them in to help prevent shreading the cork and they will do fine. Fuel itself can cause the cork to shrink and dry out. Removing them and placing it in boiling water will swell the cork up. Should last about 5-10 years before they need doing again. When they get too worn and want replacing is when soaking the cork doesn't last long before leaking again.
You need to be selective with new plungers due to the variable quality of the cork used in manufacture.
The earlier version of the plungers screwed apart for easy cork replacement, I found the lower one shown in the photo at an autojumble.
Hi,
There are some poor quality corks out there. I might have ago at making some so will be saving wine bottle corks as they are good quality.
Watch this.
https://youtu.be/yFUgrBoLhlE
Dave.
I bought a bag of ten corks off Ebay, and use the "punch out pin, replace cork and refit pin" method, and it takes less time than it took me to type this post.
I've found that the repro plungers with corks (also on Ebay) are of variable quality and wouldn't use them again. The head of the plunger looks cheap and nasty too.
Well after learning that I could punch it out, that's what I did. I have ordered new forks plus a new plunger with cork fitted so hopefully will be working again soon.
I found after soaking the corks I still could not get them on, so I split them down the hole to fit them and have had no problems since.
Quote from: pbucks on 06 May, 2024, 19:42
I found after soaking the corks I still could not get them on, so I split them down the hole to fit them and have had no problems since.
Did you squeeze the water out and lube with a dab of Vaseline?
Once they were on I squeezed what I could, no vaz, one fitted nicely the other I had to sand down a bit and it's still a bit of a hard pull, but no leaks :)
They can sometimes be a little tight, but they do ease up eventually when the fuel shrinks them back down.