Fuel System Help and Advice

• Gas Taps and Unleaded Gas

Gas Taps and Unleaded Gas

We receive a number of complaints about gas taps seizing up. A lot of the British taps have brass on brass internals and were designed when gas had lead and sulphur (both lubricating elements) in it. We all know they took the lead out and last year they took out the sulphur. For some reason this problem was originally limited to Northern Florida but now occurs everywhere. A solution is to use an upper cylinder lubricant in every tank of gas. There are several proprietory brands or even a small quantity of two stroke pre mix oil will work.

We have seen little evidence of valve seat erosion (the big fear) in connection with the use of unleaded gas however the stems on Triumph inlet valves do show signs of premature wear. Upper cylinder lubrication should help in this regard.

-Mike