So today I decided to try and rebuild my petcock. The R65 has just the one tap, located on the left hand side of the tank. Interestingly many people are initially confused about what the various tap positions actually do but to clarify- the long handle of the tap points to the desired function. Therefore when the long handle is pointing up- you’re using the reserve fuel, pointing down (6 o’clock) and you’re on main fuel. Pointing left or right, the fuel is off.
Sadly, pulling my petcock apart I discovered that it had suffered some abuse at an earlier time in its life. It looks like it had been held in a vice judging by the indentations on the soft alloy body. These could have been ground out but unfortunately the force had actually distorted the barrel of the body meaning that the threaded nut didn’t engage the thread properly. This was probably the cause of the leak, regardless of the condition of the rubber O-ring.
Interestingly, there were a few more pieces in the broken down fuel tap than clymer suggested- I’ve included the diagram from Clymer here for reference. This is one of the weaker sections of Clymer. There are at least 4 variations of the fuel tap and by the time of the r65 they were onto the final iteration- a right angle tap. If you are trying to get your fuel tap apart here a couple of key points:
- The large nut which attaches the tap to the tank is reverse thread on the petcock. Meaning you have to twist it clockwise to remove it.
- The plastic cap with the writing on it is just that- a cap. It can be gently prised off to reveal a threaded nut underneath.
Update when the new one arrives!
