Fixing the leaky tank

So, I have had the little camera inside the tank to look at the mount damage. This is the front, where the leak is; this is the better of the two:

This one appears to show the worst leak:

This is the tap connection from the inside:

These next pictures are the two rear mounts, which don't leak:

Curious tank sealer.

So you may remember that I qualified the use of the 'Seal-All' in this application in the blog post 'Leak Test'. To effect a repair, we will start by using a small wire brush in the Dremel to clean the area to be sealed.

In goes the sealer. you can see it land from the gap beside the mounting plate - I pushed it into place with a chopstick!

So I have replaced the offending tank bolts to avoid the threads become contaiminated with sealer. We will leave it for a few days to set.

Fuel Cap

Back in an earlier post I commented that the fuel tank cap was not a proper Ariel one:

Fortunately I had an old one lying around which I had dismantled by drilling out the siezed centre screw. The female thread in the cam plate was just about usable:

All I needed was a new seal, cut from a sheet of neoprene and a new centre screw which I bought from Drags

I made a new 'stiff nut' using a 5/16" BSW nut, a hacksaw and a hammer:

All together and in place. Looks the part, though the centre screw is too domed:

Leak Test

As I may have mentioned I have a leak in the fuel tank. I found a product online called 'Seal-All' which purports to be suitable for leaky tanks and is 'gasoline proof'.

I thought I would devise a little qualification test. These are the bits we will use - ignore the regulator! The plan is to make a hole in one of the tins, seal it, and then subject it to long term immersion in fuel to determine if it leaks, or if the sealant changes.

I made a suitable hole in one of the tins using an 8 mm wad punch, which should be very similar to the hole in my tank which was cut with an over long M8 bolt. The idea is that the area of adhesive exposed to the fuel will be comparable to the real hole in the tank:

I laid the adhesive over the hole and let it cure in this position for 24 hours:

After the cure, it is still soft, like a hard cheese. 

So this is the test setup. I have fuel in the top tin, covered with a polythene bag. This is sealed to the tin with a tight elastic band, but the bag is loose to allow movement of the bag to compensate for volume changes in the air above the fuel, preventing any pressure developing in the can which would change the test conditions; the bottom can is there to catch the drips coming through the sealant from the top can:

We'll leave it for a month and see what happens, investigating periodically so that we can get a reasonable idea of how long it lasts - I don't want to look for the first time at 30 days to find a leak which may have happened after 2 days! For the record, the test started on Wednesday 31st August 2016.

Here is the first inspection, 5 days in:

Still no leaks. The sealant is a little harder - maybe a 24 hour cure is not long enough?

Second inspection, two weeks in; still no leaks:

Its possibly a little harder - I'm starting to consider where this will handle any vibration?

Latest picture. 21st September, three weeks in. No change:

More than four weeks, still no change:

6th October - five weeks:

Still no change on the 12th October - that's six weeks:

October 2024 - this repair still hasn't leaked!

Servicing begins

Well, its been a beautiful day here in North Norfolk, the sun is shining, it's quiet but I have spent most of the day in the office. A lunchtime walk revealed the tide out and an empty beach, just to underline how lucky we are to live here.

I had a couple of hours spare in the evening to repair some floorboards and make a start on servicing the Square Four. I had a number of jobs to look at before the summer season, so stripping had to start.

Its always a bit of a fiddle to get the oil pressure gauge line undone, and as usual I used only the tools I carry on the bike. This revealed that you need two 3/16" BSW open spanners, so I added another to the tool kit. Once the tank was off, I planned to remove the plugs, carburetter and distributor in order to re-torque the head and cylinder bolts.

The spark plug spanner I made last year is intended to replicate the one in the spare parts list, and it works well in getting to the number two plug which is now confined by the new bi-starter parts:

The plugs themselves, one to four from left to right are a little sooty; we will keep an eye on that, but there is no evidence of any oiling. The oil comes from the weeping head gasket!

Once I had the carburetter off, I was able to tackle the head bolts with the usual variety of spanners including my new baby torque wrench, using the torques Ariel specified.

I was able to get a half turn on most of the bolts, which I expected.

I planned on removing the distributor to turn it through 180 degrees, to put the condenser 'bulge' near to the oil tank and give myself enough clearance for a carburetter insulator. Having done this, and attempted to re-time the engine I realised that the position of the distributor did not now allow it sufficient movement to adjust the timing. Furthermore, there was no way I could add a carburetter insulator without new manifold studs - so back to square one.

However on putting the distributor back in I realised it was not turning freely - so off it came again. I found that the shaft was so stiff I could barely turn it by hand. It freed off, with WD40 and some light oil, but how was it intended to be lubricated? I could see the 3/32" hole in the body, and the milled flat down into the drive housing, but there was nothing to introduce oil to the shaft. Was I missing something? I think that there was a modification in this area for the Mk2?

Actually the modification Ariel recommended was to allow oil to drain out of the distributor but Paul Ptak, on the AOMCC Forum came to the rescue. He said:

Pull the rotor arm off and drip some light oil into the shaft? The machine screw under the rotor arm is drilled though and I believe the shaft is cross drilled to allow the oil to get from inside the shaft on to the bushings.

Why didn't I think of that? I've done it hundreds of times on distributors on various cars... I must be losing the plot. Thanks Paul!

So that was almost it for the evening. I didn't fancy rebuilding the distributor (good thing - I was obviously tired) but I did try the new-first-paint tank in place:

And I also stared to look at various missing clips. Having bits in stock, especially fasteners, is a wonderful thing. These are from Draganfly:

 Here's one I made earlier:

Obviously needs a hole and some paint but we will replace the one holding the brake cable to the mudguard with this.

A Few Little Jobs before the Summer starts

So rounding off the winter activity, I have cleaned the new/old fuel tank to get it ready for use. Whilst I am at it, there are a few service activities to carry out, and I best make a list to get them identified and make sure I don't forget!

Here we go:

1. Take the tank off and transfer all the parts onto the new tank
2. Torque down the head nuts again
3. Rotate the distributor to give the carburetter more clearance.
4. Fit the carburetter insulator
5. Ignition service, while the plugs are out and the distributor is apart. Ignition at TDC, points at 0.012" and plugs at 0.020"
6. Tappets, while the tank is off and after re-torquing the head - 0.001" inlet and exhaust, with a cold engine.
7. Fit the new tank, and make sure the balance pipe doesn't leak.
8. Road test & oil change
9. Fit the cable clips to the headstock
10. Make and fit the proper cable clip to the front mudguard

I'd better buy an oil filter. Now which oil shall I use????

Another New Tank

Regular readers may remember the stripy blue tank I bought last year, which I had blasted. Following the blasting it became obvious that it was going to need a lot of welding...

I decided to scout around for another and came up with this:

It's a very solid tank and it is in first paint. I fitted a new tap and the crossover pipe from the rusty tank. It's sitting here with 20 litres of acetic acid in it, to descale the inside for a week. The plan is to fit in in this form and run it over the summer, to see how it goes - I have to pull the tank off to attend to the head bolts, the tappets and to move the distributor.

More on the new tank

As reported a few weeks ago, the replacement tank for the Ariel is coming up for it's turn on the bench. Or is it...

It's back from the blasters now and not unexpectedly it is a bit of a state. The bottom has been removed to blast the inside, and the next few months will see a bit of tin bashing & welding, to put this lot right.

Here are the pictures:

Picture 1 - Offside Rear

Picture 2 - Saddle Nose, Offside

Picture 3 - Saddle Nose, Nearside

Picture 4 - Rear View

Picture 5 - Front Offside

Picture 6 - Front Nearside

Picture 7 - Underneath

Picture 8 - Offside

Picture 9 - tap area

Picture 10 - Brazed Mount