I was about to treat the inner surfaces of the tank to some ethanol resistant resin when I realised that my fuel filler insert would be a wonderful water trap. If I left it out in the rain it would soon fill up and seep past the locking lid into the fuel compartment. Since water will not flow uphill, the drain I need will have to go through the tank itself. Designing something that drained from ground zero within the filler cap insert exercised “ lonely” (my solitary remaining brain cell) for an hour or so.
Finding a suitable piece of 14mm hexagon aluminium bar was the catalyst for a couple of hours on the lathe. Here are the results:
The top drain mount has a through drilling and this connects to 3 x 3mm holes drilled across the flats of the head as close to the bottom edge of the nut as possible without breaking through. When making it I forgot about 5 x the captive nut plate that retains the filler cap assembly but I simply drilled and tapped it 8mm and screwed the drain into it then sealed the bottom of the thread with araldite. All the ararldited bits will get a coat of ethanol resistant resin before the two halves get bonded together.
I will bond the top end into the insert (obviously on the downside when the bike is on the side stand).
I have put the outlet pip next to the fuel tap because the pipe internal to the tank will have to be connected before the two halves are bonded together and the greater the distance between the input and the output the better chance I have of absorbing the slack necessary to connect them before bonding I.e no loops on the internal pipe. I will protect the internal pipe with some larger diameter pipes where they are likely to chafe on the internal baffles.
None of the last four or five day’s work has been on my schedule of tasks which counts towards the ETTC. This now stands at 180 hours