molded oil cap insert

[2slow4now]

I made an oil cap insert from some thermal plastic in a mold I made. The cap insert has a small bolt embedded in the plastic with a seating collar so it will tighten up on the oil cap without stressing the plastic. I made it so all you have to do is remove the stock bolt that holds the oil cap together, save the nut, cap retainer, the cap, and install the insert.


Cap before.

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Cap after.

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The finish still needs some work because the only plastic I have is white but if I get black then no painting!

 

[gusu]

That's pretty cool.

 

[vl4bad]

I made an oil cap insert from some thermal plastic in a mold I made. The cap insert has a small bolt embedded in the plastic with a seating collar so it will tighten up on the oil cap without stressing the plastic. I made it so all you have to do is remove the stock bolt that holds the oil cap together, save the nut, cap retainer, the cap, and install the insert.


Cap before.

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Cap after.

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The finish still needs some work because the only plastic I have is white but if I get black then no painting!

its fine if its plastic, just get some high heat matte black!

 

[2slow4now]

You have to look around a bit to find plastics that will hold up to some heat. This one is supposed to hold up to 300.

I used a silicone mold that you can make yourself. There are a bunch of companies that offer this stuff. Mine is specialty resins. Casting Resins & RTV Silicone Rubber for Resin Casting

You can use just about anything to make the housing for your mold. The cheapest I have found is cardboard from beer boxes. For me it's readily available. Has a slick surface on one side so the silicone doesn't embed itself into it. It cuts easily with a utility knife. Other useful mold making items are duct tape, scotch tape, modeling clay, plexi glass, dremel, popsicle sticks, small picks, digital scale, solo cups, clear spray paint, and some imagination. Making the mold is a big part of the job. The quality of your castings depends greatly on how well you make your mold. I spend hours just to make a mold. They don't show you that stuff on you tube.

 

[91-GS]

Looks nice!
Now you can make a rubber mold of the entire thing and cast it as one piece using something like tinted fiberglass resin.

 

[2slow4now]

I might do that but for cost reasons of making the molds right now I'm going to just see how this insert does. I have it on a car right now for testing to see how it holds up. I even did an impact test on one that had some air bubbles in it and I didn't like how it looked. Stuck the bolt end in a vise and not in a cap and smacked it with a 2lb deadblow hammer. One whack and nothing. Second harder whack and one small crack. Third hard whack and it cracked in thirds but still held together. I honestly think the only reason it broke was I hit off center. If it was in a cap I don't think it would have broke. Would probably have to hit it hard enough to break the cap to break the insert.

 

[2slow4now]

Well the cap insert has been on a car for the whole summer DDing and half the winter. Driven approx. 180 miles per week. The gloss paint didn't like the heat much. No surprise there. The only other thing I can see is at the thinnest edge around the outside has pulled up very slightly. Probably being so thin on the edge allowed the heat to affect it more. Doesn't harm anything but aesthetics.

I think if I made a whole cap so the plastic is thicker then it won't pull up. The other thing is I found some black plastic that would look similar to the oem cap and still has the thermal resistance as this plastic. I guess I'm gonna make another mold and spend more on black plastic.

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