I was adding some oil to the engine tonight and looked into the "mushroom" and noticed that the metal screen had pulled away and was non-existent in places. I pried the tabs back enough to see the "crimped" area in the tube that held the original one in. The metal that the tube is made of is thick enough that I'm thinking that the 'crimp' was already there prior to the screen being installed. What is the smoothest way of installing a new screen? Thanks.
Hey Jim - I have no idea. Hahaha, but I will reply and bump your thread to the top because I think this is a great question, and it's one that I haven't seen before. SOMEBODY has done this before.
Although with the way this board goes it won't be long and we'll be arguing about aftermarket screen vs. original screen, wire type, holes per square inch, 'what was good enough for Henry', etc.
Seth; How true!
Jim Weir
You must unsolder the top cap from the body. Then you can unsolder the screen from the body.
It has to be spotlessly clean to have good solder joints going back together.
Depending on year Royce? Jim says he pried tabs back, only the early teens are soldered, are they not?
So, is the screen soldered into the crimped area? Perhaps I should post a photo?
Well, I solved the problem. I went down to our local McLendon's Hardware in Puyallup and found a tea strainer that had close to the same mesh of screen that went into the oil cap. I was unable to get the solder to stick to the cylindrical portion of the cap, so I used some modeler's CA+ glue (which has a high-temp rating), some Zip-kicker (accelerator) and the screen is fixed. I included a before (what was left of the screen) and after with the new screen.
The caps I've seen, the screen is crimped in, and won't come out. I don't know how you would pry that crimping apart to install a new screen. Since you have a late oil cap, I'd just look for a replacement cap. They are not hard to find.
OK Please for education 'what is the purpose of a screen" in the oil cap?
It catches the oil, and doesn't allow it to run out the top of the cap.