The old plastic splash washers are getting hard to come by. I have taken most of mine from old fuel cans that have rusted out or making my own out of cork. N.O.S. ones are hard to get and very expensive. I've seen people paying upwards of $20 for them online. Recently I came across similar plastic seals that are very cheap by comparison and wonder if they might do the same job? This company has them in 1" diameter. They are not rated for use with fuel, but can certainly withstand food acids, vinegar, alcohol etc, so should at least last a while. Has anybody ever tried them? You would of course have to pierce a small hole through them for use as an anti-splash washer. They sit a bit lower into the tank too, which means you can't fill your tank right to the top.
Out of interest, are the early ones the same diameter as the later victa caps? Jakmax do a part JM533 which is the later splash cap insert and you can get those for a dollar or 2 usually
I recall not that long ago the same topic came up somewhere. The verdict was that although the modern Jakmax ones are slightly larger, they can be made to fit by sanding them down a bit. I'm not sure how true this is or if my memory is playing tricks on me. I would like to know if anybody has successfully used them in the earlier Victa tanks. I did ask one online seller for the diameter one time and he basically told me to buy one in order to find out. I never did because I considered this a sign of laziness and trying to sell something at someone else's expense. If it didn't fit, he obviously would not care less. If too lazy to check with a ruler or calipers then probably too lazy to post and would not be interested if you asked for a refund etc.
I just tried a 1974 fuel splash plug in a 1964 fuel tank and it won't fit ,it's too large ,also tried the bigger plug in Victa 18 , Rotomo , Villers and Kirby and still won't fit.
The tapered red Silicone or (low density polyethylene) T plugs may be ok ,they are about 16 USA cents each if you buy 500.
Not sure how good they would be for fuel as I've never tried them in fuel ,I have a couple of smaller red plugs here so I could leave one in a jar of fuel for a few weeks and see.
One difference is they are about 20 mm in depth. May not be worth buying from eBay as a lot of the sellers description doesn't match the image ,so you'll end up with the wrong ones.
Thanks Max, I wonder if those early plastic splash washers were all that special, as I recall many would crack around the edges not long after purchasing a new mower or fuel can. I'll give the pug caps a try one of these days. Good idea to drop them in a jar of fuel for a few weeks and see how they go. If they melt or go all wrinkly then we know not to use them.
