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Fuel cap gasket

X

xcgates

Forum Newbie
De-rusting a tank, I noticed my fuel cap leaked like a sieve, likely due to the obvious severe cracking of the rubber. Nuts.

Looks like it's a circle of rubber that's maybe bonded to a flexible metal disc to force a seal against the tank. Any reason not to just cut away the rubber and cut out a new one from a sheet of nitrile rubber, or something else gas safe? The cap came apart easily, just the rubber was certainly bonded to the metal disk, either orgininally or from time.

Looking at a few parts diagrams, I can't find a company that calls out the gasket separate from the cap. Below is a link to some things that shows up on Amazon, and I already don't have a matching key set, so I'm not worried about that. Mostly just would prefer to keep a perfectly good cap if possible. Lordy knows I was just fiddling with a quad a friend of a friend tried to fix with a cheap modern carb rather than rebuild the original carb. :oops: (both my friend and I gave up after a bit of time and other things took priority)

Amazon.com: Viprh New Fuel Gas Tank Cap Fits for Suzuki GS 300 450 550 650 750 850 1000 1100 1979-1986, for Suzuki GS1000S Katana 1979 1980 1981-1983 : Automotive

Buy Viprh New Fuel Gas Tank Cap Fits for Suzuki GS 300 450 550 650 750 850 1000 1100 1979-1986, for Suzuki GS1000S Katana 1979 1980 1981-1983: Gas Caps - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
a.co

 
I've used the sticky-back 1/32" sheets of neoprene rubber for cap gaskets and fixed leaks, most recently on the 'Monza' type push-button flip cap that Norton and Laverda used. Many owners complain that with a nearly full tank, it pours out of the front on hard braking, as mine did. I had a sheet on hand, and I've used it before, so on it went. I had to re-poke the vent hole in it so it would breathe better, but after that, it was perfect.

Neoprene isn't the gold standard in fuel resistance, but in my case, it has never been an issue. It's not submerged, just splashed a bit on the inside edges on occasion. Nitrile or Viton would be ideal, I expect. I measured my old one with a caliper, and it was a bit thinner than 1/16", so the slight increase in thickness of the fresh and much more pliable sheet I had vs the 50-year-old crushed down original seal was just the ticket, and was an easy 5-minute fix.
 
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I have heard of people buying one of those cheap aftermarket gas caps and extracting the gasket for use with their original. No clue whether this would work with the particular one in the link.

The other tactic might be to change the lock cylinder with your original, or swap or file the wafers on the new one so your original key still works (verify that the keys in the photo look like they'll fit the slot). Two keys is extremely annoying, and unnecessary. You don't need Fort Knox security here, just something that will stay closed.

All that said, look around for a different supplier than the link, one with actual US inventory. These don't seem to be all that hard to find, and I strongly suspect they all come from the same far east factory.
 
chuck hahn said:
I do the gasket swap all the time Brian. Cheap and easy way to circumvent the lack of them being available
Click to expand...
Nice! You must be one of those people I've heard of... I knew I had seen a report somewhere.
 
Well, I went and ordered both a cheap cap, and a sheet of nitrile rubber. And a some spray paint to repaint since I chipped the existing bad rattle can job dropping the tank.

Bleh.

I've got two tanks, might as well give myself options!

More fun than work these days!
 
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