Oil weep from feed pipe nut

[garycullen]

Evan, if you are replacing the olives anyway then I always silver solder them back on.
Pipes, olives have to be scrupulously clean.
SS provides better mechanical assembly if it was engine vibration that caused a minute crack through the copper or soft solder.
Your local jay car store will have a small SS kit with special flux and some coiled Silversolder. SS is done at a higher temp but
Easily done with a small butane torch from you favourite hardware store.
Clean the surfaces, apply the flux, cut a few say 2mm slugs of SS coil and lay on the join. Applying the heat will result in the SS melting nicely into the join. ( don’t forget to put all the other bits on the pipe fist otherwise you will be doing the job twice!
I do also use a fibre washer under the bottom union to case but needs to be watched as Nev says they compress and crack.
My rule of thumb with fibre washers is “ no too tight”
Gary

[paul.jameson]

As a young student in the early 1970s I found that the rocker oil pipe on my VH was all too ready for the solder to fail at the unions, despite my best efforts to ensure scrupulously clean surfaces for soldering the unions on. Eventually, I concluded that vibration was the problem and cut each length of pipe to insert a short length of plastic pipe. Problem solved !! Some time later I found out that if you anneal the copper pipe before soldering the unions on, that prevents the problem occuring. So I would advise that all original Ariel copper pipes should be heated red hot and allowed to cool before you solder the unions on. If you do this, soft solder, as used by Ariel, is perfectly satisfactory.

[nevhunter]

You have a very large area of solder with that kind of joint done well. Annealing the copper is a good start. It can get brittle. Nev

[Mick D]

Hi

I'd be very careful if either silver soldering or annealing the pipes, you need to ensure absolute cleanliness internally, heating to 'red' hot will carbonise any oil in the pipe which may then flake off in use and restrict oil flow downstream. I don't really see much point in annealing the pipe unless you are going to re-route it and want to avoid it breaking. All metal pipe runs should, as a matter of design, have a means of absorbing vibration, generally a length of flexible pipe or, in earlier days, a coiled section.

Regards Mick

[paul.jameson]

Whilst you may be right on internal cleanliness of oil pipes, I haven't had any such problems since I started annealing them around 40 years ago.

[dennis.t]

As a young student in the early 1970s I found that the rocker oil pipe on my VH was all too ready for the solder to fail at the unions, despite my best efforts to ensure scrupulously clean surfaces for soldering the unions on. Eventually, I concluded that vibration was the problem and cut each length of pipe to insert a short length of plastic pipe. Problem solved !! Some time later I found out that if you anneal the copper pipe before soldering the unions on, that prevents the problem occuring. So I would advise that all original Ariel copper pipes should be heated red hot and allowed to cool before you solder the unions on. If you do this, soft solder, as used by Ariel, is perfectly satisfactory.

I have put a clear section of plastic pipe just before the T-piece for the rocker banjos not to cure vibration cracks but to see that oil is flowing to the rockers.
On the question of the engine oil feed unions, I had no metal pipes for the feed and return from the oil tank so I bought a pair with nipples attached from Drags and they sealed perfectly at the engine union. That was to the original old unions with no extra sealant.
Dennis

[bevanclark]

Hi folks,
Just for clarity, since I've thus far been unable to locate a New Zealand source of the oil pipe solder on nipples, is this definitely what I want ? The od of the copper pipe appears to be 8 mm, which is close to 5/16". Rather galling if I to have to import this tiny part from the U.K. Drags do not have the complete pipes with end fittings in stock.
Thanks,
Bevan

[Mick D]

Hi

Yes, that's the correct nipple for a 5/16", (8mm), pipe. In fact the picture seems to have been sourced from The Green Spark Plug Companies web site.

Regards Mick

[bevanclark]

Thanks. Yes it is a screenshot from their website. I'd hope not to have to get it from them given the postage to N.Z. is around 15 times the cost of the part.

[SteveShone]

If you know someone with even a small lathe the fittings can be knocked out in just a few minutes, Bevan. Ive done that a few times for the sake of saving having to wait - and paying the p&p even here - but I am a Yorkshireman
Dd you know that copper wire was invented by two Yorkshiremen fighting over a penny!

Steve