petrol taps again

Hey George, have a flick through the N.O.C. shop, (type 'TAPS' in the search box) they cover a fewstylesat very good prices. If you are not too fussed with originality, the lever Triumph style work well, I have a couple on my Bonny and have no problems.....well, not so far anyway!

I have fitted BAP taps tothree British motorcycles. Not original style, but I was fed up with leaks starting soon after fitting original types, and these do at least seem to me to have an oldish look about them. None have leaked in the several years that I have been using them, and they are relatively cheap. Only problem is that the metal is not very strong and I snapped the thread which screws into the tank on one of them but it came out easily; OK now I know better than to swing on the spanner.

I think that they are all 1/4" BSP (?) inlet and outlet.

The "main" tap will have a stack pipe on it allowing an amount of fuel to be left below the pipe for reserve. The "reserve" tap will drain down the tank to the bottom. Bare in mind that you might still have inaccessible fuel below the the stack pipe on the "main" side unless both sides of your tank are interconnected. (unlikely) I fit both sides with taps that drain down to the bottom. My reserve is supplied by what is left in the "saddle" on one side. Nothing worse than running out and having inaccessible fuel on one side

I agree about having 2 main type taps. I 'ran out' one day when I hadold type reserve andmain taps on my Commando. Looked in the tank and there was quite a bit left on the main side but I was unable to slosh it over to the reserve side.

Both my BAP taps on all machines are now reserve type. As has been stated the main type has a short pipe inside the filter. The filter is a plastic fitting which just screws in place and can easily be removed from a main tap and the pipe pulled off to convert main to reserve, so you can buy either type.

Hope it works OK for you, you might find it useful to wrap a few turns of PTFE tape around the thread which goes into the tank. And don't forget to go easy on the locknut !

For me, Loctite thread sealant works better than PTFE tape. Makes it easier to position the tap in the direction I want without excessive force. On old tanks where the flanges is in bad shape the usual fibre gaskets are useless.

I suppose it depends on one's physique, but I find it quite easy to lay my Commando on its LH footrest and then get the wheels in the air to persuade the unused "main" fuel over to the other side -- call me a nervous Nellie, but I like to have a reserve to the reserve.

Previously richard_mills wrote:

I agree about having 2 main type taps. I 'ran out' one day when I hadold type reserve andmain taps on my Commando. Looked in the tank and there was quite a bit left on the main side but I was unable to slosh it over to the reserve side.

Previously julian_wells wrote:

I suppose it depends on one's physique, but I find it quite easy to lay my Commando on its LH footrest and then get the wheels in the air to persuade the unused "main" fuel over to the other side -- call me a nervous Nellie, but I like to have a reserve to the reserve.

p.s. also easy to get the Commando back on its wheels; this bit is important ...

Previously richard_mills wrote:

I agree about having 2 main type taps. I 'ran out' one day when I hadold type reserve andmain taps on my Commando. Looked in the tank and there was quite a bit left on the main side but I was unable to slosh it over to the reserve side.