Gas Cap Mounting.
Drilling and Countersinking.
As of 1-12-06
This was a little more involved than I thought it was going to be. I told my wife I would be in for dinner in a little while, and it turned out to be a lotta while. The mounting ring that comes with the kit is blank and needs to be drilled for the mounting hardware. I asked for help on the CobraForum and received a quick response as to what they did. I really didn’t like having to drill and countersink the ring, thinking that it would not look factory and that the finish would be marred. But after ordering a reducing ring with predrilled holes from Finishline that looked great, I found out that it didn’t match up with the cap that I had. (Oh so close!) Well I decided to not spend the extra for their cap, but send it back and modify myself. It turned out better than I had thought.
First step was to make a template to mark the holes by. I traced out the ring on a piece of graph paper and did some heavy figuring. I laid the paper over the back of the ring and used a automatic snap punch to mark the hole locations. I went with six holes at 60 deg angles.
The inner part of the assembly mounts in a 2 1/16 hole with three screws. They had the center marked and it was accurate. I used a 2” hole saw and then a sanding drum on a dremel to enlarge the opening. (Who has a 2 1/16” hole saw?)
I used two blocks of wood with a screw down through them to enable me to mount the ring in a vise without marring it. I used my mill with a drill bit to make the holes and countersink them. Taking my time (while my dinner was getting cold!) I worked around the ring repositioning the blocks to clear the area to work with.
I originally tried to mount the ring and then screw the cap on. NOT! The latches do not clear the fender. Make sure to screw the cap on the base as tight as possible by hand, then mark one of the holes with the cap still needing about 1/10 turn. Then you can screw off the cap, mark and drill the holes. Make sure you keep the ring in the same position when drilling the holes as when you marked it with the cap on. Then screw the cap back on with the screws in the holes, (so you can get them in) and finish mounting. With the base mounted, you can turn the cap much easier, this is the reason for leaving approx 1/10 turn left.
Washers and nylon ringed nuts finish the underneath.
