[SEL] How I did It - Fuel Filler - Hercules Economy

[FRM8198 at aol.com]

Hi List,
The fuel filler on the Economy uses a flip top lid.  Since  this engine had 
been using a pipe plug for lid, I decided to make  one.
A 3/8' x 1" bell pipe reducer was used as the basis for the  fabrication.  I 
thread a piece of 3/8" pipe to the reducer and chucked  it in the lathe.  I 
machined out  the inside of 1" side and also trued  up the lip edge and rim.  
Next, I used a hole saw (same diameter as the  machined reducer rim) to make the 
top out of a piece of 1/4" plate.  Then,  I used a piece of 1/2" dia x 3/4" 
round stock to make the lid hinge part.   A 3/16" dia was drill through length 
of the round stock.  The round  hinge piece was welded to lid so that the top 
of the lid is even with the  top of the round stock.  Two pieces of 3/16" flat 
x 3/4" wide x 1"  long iron were shaped to fit the sides of the bushing 
reducer to form the  other part of the hinge.  3/16" holes were drilled into each 
of the upper  part of the shaped pieces using the welded lid hinge to locate 
them.  A #12  bolt was used to hold the shaped parts to lid hinge.  Then, the 
flat shaped  pieces were ground to match the 1/2" dia stock and fit the outside 
of the  bell reducer.  The lid (along with bolted shaped iron pieces) was  
temporarily clamped to the top of bell reducer rim to mainain the position  the 
two shaped flat iron pieces before being welded to bell reducer  sides.   After 
these shaped pieces are welded to bell reducer, the  bolt was removed.  Since 
my welding is not the best, the welds were ground  smooth and JB Weld was 
used to clean up the assembly.  A large cotter  key was used as the hinge rod.  I 
used a short 1/4" dia bolt and an  Acorn nut to hide the 1/4" hole in the lid 
left over from using the hole  saw.  The unit looks good mounted on the 
engine.  

Francis  Maciel
Santa Maria, CA