Fixing torn copper screen gas inlet
What glue would work to glue copper to brass (or copper?) and would continue to work for years when almost continuously under gasoline? (Only if I ran out of gas would it not be below gasoline**.)
A couple other questions further down.
I need to repair the reserve inlet from the gas tank of my new 1969 Honda CB450 to the petcock (and then to the carburetors).
Right now, it looks like a tube sock a little over an inch long, and a little more than 1/8" in diameter, made out of copper mesh, copper screen.
When seen from a distance it looks like a zipper that is open a bit, that is, the tube sock is torn down the middle on two opposite sides, but there is still 3/4 of an inch that is good as originally.
It's meant to attach to the copper or brass petcock, where there is a trace of it still attached but only the teensiest part is above the level of the hole, not enough to attach the rest of the screen to.
The hole in the petcock is about an eighth of an inch in diameter, although maybe it would be bigger if I could remove the remains of the previous attachment of the original copper "tube sock". (I haven't seen this part for two weeks and I'm not sure anymore, nor do I know how hard it would be to get it out. I've never had a motorcycle before, nor seen copper mesh stuffed in a hole.)
How do I attach the tube sock to the petcock??
My ideas follow:
I could probably repair the tears by using thin copper wire (like the size of standard 4-conductor phone wire, and sewing each side together. But I would think the 3/4 of an inch that is still good is enough, right? I would only put it back to ther original length to have a margin of error when I make some other mistake trying to attach it. And that seems like a good reason, do you agree?
Once that is decided, how do I attach the tube to the petcock. Maybe I should glue some rather stiff wire into the hole, and then glue that inside the tube along the length of the tube, and run some glue around the bottom of of the tube where it meets the petcock.
I have some wire that my friend who used to run/own a plating business says is magnesium or something fairly uncommon. I can find out if it matters what it is. It's quite thin and quite stiff. The newer version of the petcock has about 2/3rds of the "tube sock" enveloped in a copper semi-tube (open for 140 degrees of the circle the length of the tube) so disabling part of the circumference of the tube screen with glue should not unduly limit the capacity of the screen to admit gas.
Is this a good idea, or better yet, do you experienced, clever guys have a better idea??
My idea involves glue, and your idea might too. What glue or epoxy is strong enough with two metals and will work under gasoline, and won't clog anything??
I tend to use Devcon 5-minute epoxy for things like this, but I have to look at the label again to see what it says about metal and gasoline. Or maybe superglue, so I know there will be no chance of the glue clogging the petcock inlet or the "tube sock". But I know that label doesn't say much, and I rarely get superglue to stick to anything. I don't know if I use too much or too little.
Maybe I'll use the Devcon around the bottom of the tube, next to the petcock, where I can keep most of it outside the tube, and the rest only as far in as the copper.
If the screen fails it's not the end of the world. There is another screen in the petcock that can be cleaned by emptying the gas tank and easily removing a little bowl from the petcock. But of course I don't want this to happen 2 hours from home in the rain. There are two inlets from the same gas tank The main inlet is 3 inches from the bottom, and has no screen, because iiuc the crud doesn't exist that high. It settles at (and near?) the bottom, and the reserve inlet without the tube sock will be drawing gasoline from the very bottom.
Thanks
Unrelated to my repair needs:
**I've run out of gas 17 times in 42, but not for about 10 years, so make that 32 years. I'm more careful now. I can't remember every time but at least 4 of those 17 times, I've coasted, sometimes for more than half a mile (One time a half mile on the elevated part of the BQExpressway, down a ramp and into a gas station a short block away (no lights)) and one time only 30 feet, into a gas station and right up to the pump. (Twice I ran out just before the crest of the Manhattan Bridge, headed for Brooklyn. Once I coasted over the crest, and once I had to ask the guy behind me to help me push it about 10 feet, to the crest. He didn't seem to mind (although he barely had a choice.)) Each time I made it across Tillary Ave, once with a green light and once by blowing my horn and a traffic cop kept the cross traffic stopped until I went through. Then another 500 feet into the SAEEWAY gas station that was there in the 70's and 80's. (It must have been called SAFEWAY, and then lost a trademark suit. So they changed the name to SAEEWAY.)At least two of the times I've had to hitchhike to a gas station and back. The two times I remember, that went incredibly well, taking only about 15 minutes total each time. One time an older woman picked me up and took me back, and the other time, I got one ride in one direction and another back.
But my string of good luck can't last forever, and I think it's ended.
I almost won a RT ticket for two and hotel accomodations in Las Vegas and a celebratory dinner where I would have gotten a national award for having run out of gas the most with the most interesting stories. I was in the top five, and maybe second.