“Tell tale” packing

.....after getting my hands on a NOS WD telltale and finding it leaks just as badly as my well-used original. I've been mulling re-engineering the seals but haven't settled on a scheme. I have 3 of them so I can afford to sacrifice one to experiments if anyone comes up with a bright idea. Whatever is in there as packing/seal is pretty petrified by now and unidentifiable to me.

I made some leather washers using wad punches and used 2 or 3 to get the approx height. The plunger movement ended up a bit stiff be it cured the leaks. Worth a try and quite simple to do if you have the punches.

Nick. 

Hi Jonathan.

From what I remember, it was few years ago, the construction and original packing seemed to be the same as you have found. I didn't have any suitable for wadding, that is why I used reasonably soft leather. I built the layers up to approx the same depth as the original packing. The drag I on the plunger only shows itself by not dropping when the engine stops, so I just push it down. The tell tail on my 16H is has not been rebuilt and has only needed adjusting the pressure sleeve to stop any oil leaks.

I have a whitney punch set that makes  tidy holes in leather .What size Hole?

Perhaps I've been lucky or maybe its simply that side-valves are self-limiting when it comes to revs, but my 16H tell-tale is as dry as a bone...it had just seen the by-pass off at 60 mph in this photo last weekend.

...Thank you!  I have metric and SAE punches, nothing otherwise... What is Whitney?  Whitworth...?

What is the height of that packing?

I have not seen a factory exploded view of the Tell Tale to determine what was fitted from the factory.  nor have i tried to remove the packing to see if there is a fiber sort of washer/cup.  I do see packing...  

Hi Steve,  Whitney is the manufacturer of the punches (and its American!) probably the same as your punch . Whitworth is something  you are going to be an expert in, as its  the thread form that  is used in the alloy on your bike along with cycle threads on most other parts. I expect you are familiar with this from your other brit bike. Lets hope your Inter is not a Bastard mixture of  Whit,Cycle ,SAE and Metric threads !!!. Seen it done.

Steve there is a good exploded diagram in this WD16H manual of the tell tail etc.

https://www.wdnorton.nl/Downloads/16h%20M&I%20manual%20200dpi%20by%20co…

Regards, Nick

...and thanks to Nicholas for supplying source.

i will eventually get to my tell tale...!