Metal Gas Cap Pawl Installed
 

John (jpitman2) sent me a prototype metal gas cap pawl recently and I just installed it this weekend. See previous thread on this

This replaces the nylon version that always seems to break over time. This is the part that causes the locking gas cap to not lock any more... When it breaks the outer gas cap part stays engaged all the time instead of spinning freely when its locked... I have fixed mine once before - but the nylon part is badly designed & is overstressed for the material choice and it broke again within 2 years... ugh!

I took my gas cap apart again... and once again it was a pain to get the red outer part off - I ended up with brute force as the only viable method (we need a tool for this!!) - no damage though - they are remakably resiliant.

This version of the pawl is not the final part - but I hope John will be able to make a production run of these when he is done. (Hopefully John will chime in here).

This one was hand made and I needed to do some fine tuning - especially to add the stock spring to it.

I made the required adjustments and installed - I adjusted the spring tension to be a bit lower (my preference) and this time Im confident it will not break any time soon!!

Big thanks to JP!!

Alan

Here are a few photos:

First few as delivered - last few with more slight mods to fit with spring...

I am chasing the guys at work to get the wirecut mild steel pawls soon. These will/may not have the cavity for the lock cam drilled, but will at least be marked for the centre of the drilling. Starting will alloy, its not really much work - just a bit of filing with something coarse, cut the teeth with a hack saw, you are nearly there. I also have a couple of brass bushes to replace the plastic bush in the remote hatch opening arm that have been known to break up, if anybody needs them?
jp 83 Euro S AT 51k

How may we order these parts? I have wondered how to fix my broken gas cap since I have owned my car, though it worked for a few weeks at first.

Stay tuned, Ron.
Maybe Alan can start a list, first come first served?

jp

Yea, I'd be in for a few of them! ;)

OK - So we are at 3?: 2? for Keith and 1 for Ron.

Odd - I imagine just about every one of these is non-functional by now... Does anyone have a 20+ year old gas cap lid that still locks perfectly & ratchets correctly when locked?

Alan

Please add me to the list.

Mine still works perfectly! (fingers crossed)

Put me on the list, never hurts to have a backup!!! :cheers:

Mine in my 86.5 works. Hopefully the metal pawl will still be available when it stops.

Matt

If you have one that works my advice would be never make it ratchet - just snug it up without any clicks - I'm sure the shock stress is what finally gets them - although it sure is a poor design - a very small amount of material and a quite strong spring...

alan

Put the cap in near boiling water for a few minutes and it is much easier to bend it enough to get the cap apart...still need three hands !

Since I lost my old gas cap at a gas station a few weeks ago, I had to pick up a new one. Looks like I can put this repair off for a little while at least.

Yeah - Jim I use the boiling water technique - but its still a bear and you are right you need 3 hands (at least...), the first time you do it you are convinced its going to shatter - but they are very flexible (when warm).

Alan

Can you put it in a vise?