Fuel petcock feed fitting that is interference / press fit? How to fit it?

[Protonus]

On the bottom of the petcock is an interference (press) fit, right angle elbow fitting, for the fuel feed.  Why they used an interference fit fitting, I have no idea (anyone know?).  Mine keeps loosening and I gotta give it another whack from a hammer to reseat it.  I'm about to rebuild the petcock, and I'd like to fix it "right" so it stays tight "forever". Normally with interference fit things like bushings/bearings, I would freeze the inner part and heat the outside part and then quickly install and use a c-clamp to draw them together.  Is that ok to do here?  Anyone else done this?  It seems like the fitting almost bottoms out in the housing, not sure if it will get any tighter with this method or not. 

[QBS]

Perhaps Loctite could be of assistance.

[Lucky]

I've had loose ones, it never seemed to take much to get them back in & stay.. just tap them in with a light hammer

[supervision]

Mine would always seep a little, while I was kitting the petcock, I glued it with JB weld, let it set over nite, or 2, never seeped again,also I gained nothing from kit. The leaky press fitting was the only thing wrong.

[davexz]

JB weld !

[Lucky]

i'm sure it would be no big deal to tap it for a barb with pipe thread, or better yet a ballvalve with a barb...

[Protonus]

JB weld !

So I rebuilt my petcock last night.  Was planning to freeze the fitting and heat the housing to get a great press fit, but I noticed, the fitting bottoms out into the housing!  Can't improve on that, what a stupid design!  So I took the fitting off my spare parts bike, and found it fights tighter/better, though it still bottomed out (stupid!).  I think the PO may have sanded my original one so it didn't fit as tight.  So I used the one off my spare parts bike, cleaned it with brake parts cleaner, and JB Weld'd it into place.  It was a close enough fit with JB Weld in there I had to hammer it in all the way.  It isn't going anywhere for a while at least.  Not an ideal solution (having an adhesive exposed to fuel etc), but better than "hitting it with a hammer when it leaks). 

I plan on threading my spare one for a NPT to AN fitting and replacing it with AN line to the fuel filter and to the carbs.  Hate rubber line/hose clamps, AN all the way!

[The Prophet of Doom]

I plan on threading my spare one for a NPT to AN fitting and replacing it with AN line to the fuel filter and to the carbs.  Hate rubber line/hose clamps, AN all the way!

Imperial fittings on a metric bike!  I hate imperial measurements.  Metric all the way!

[Lucky]

Protonus,

I threaded in a 1/4" 90 degree barb in a dead (yes folks, dead, as in tank-water corroded out) 83 petcock.

because the hole is relativley shallow & pipe thread taps are not blind, (and tapered) i had to grind down 3 taps to various lengths to get the fitting to thread in any more than a few threads. Plus i had to run a die backwards down the fitting.
fortunatley i had 3 taps to do this with or it would have been an expensive way to do this...

there is enough meat on the petcock to do it. I would have prefered or would like to find a small one piece barb/valve to provide positive shut off as well. (maybe with a quality pancake filter) i might consider integrating a 2 stroke filter element though.. somehow...

using a 1/8 fitting wasn't an option, the hole is too big, although i did consider threading the petcock 1/4 npt & then filling the hole with epoxy & threading that 1/8 npt, effectivly making a 'close' bushing..  but i'm not sure that would stay fuel tight over a long period, also i figured threading in the 1/8 fitting would probably crack the epoxy...

the new fitting sits lower than stock by 1/4 inch or so. i'm not sure you'll have room for AN fittings, & to make the turn

let me know if the image doesn't show.
--Lucky

[Lucky]

pic shows my 83 petcock conversion described below

[YellowJacket!]

pic shows my 83 petcock conversion described below

That looks great!

David

[Ron_McCoy]

Great job Lucky! 

I worked as a welder for many years and have repaired a great number of fuel tanks. JB Weld is impervious to gasoline. When repairing a gasoline tank that hs been repaired with JB Weld, the biggest problem is getting all the JB Weld off of the area to be welded.  OF course the area to be JB Weled needs to be clean before it is applied, but I have seen many tanks repaired in this manner that weren't leaking at all.