ReDesign by FEATHER

I have sent a few of my Hard Aluminum 928 Gas Cap pawls to some guys and I think some of them have figured out how to take the gas cap apart without breaking them or needing my Gas Cap Separation Devise.

However, I have just sent one of the Devises to Mike Benno in Portland to have as my agent for probably the rest of the year. I included with it about 15 of my new Pawls and a few good used red gas cap outer shells. The Program is of course limited to the later style gas caps with the longer inner snout since I have not developed any replacement for the earlier pawls.

The Program is this:

First, anyone can simply buy one of my Paws from Mike face to face for $30. If anyone cannot be face to face then I suggest that you contact me directly here and I'll mail you one for $35.

Second, Mike will be taking your gas cap and cleaning it up some inside and then subjecting it to the Devise to take it apart. Then he will clean it up some more, open it up, and replace the Pawl, grease it a bit and put it back together for you. For that you will pay him $50. The one warning is that any risk of the red part of the cap breaking in the process will have to be one the owner of the cap. If it breaks in the process of taking it apart, and if Mike has one of the replacement red outer shells, the cost of the shell will be $60. Kind of based on this, if anyone presents with a previously broken cap with the hope of having one of the good used replacement outer red shells, the cost then is $80 for the shell, and that is only if Mike has at least two of them so he still has one in reserve for the breakage issue. And even then the replacement red cover is available only together with the Pawl replacement. In other wards, the red cap outer shell is not simply for sale in this program for $80.

I think MIke will be announcing the availability of this limited program either here and/or in any local 928 email kind of network

Michael Benno

Thanks Jerry for the setup. Yes, I received this very cool tool and a bag full of metal pawls this week and decided to begin my learning curve on my own car. The tool works really slick and I was able to easily disassemble the cap and get to the pawl, which was already broken in my cap, even through it was still operating normally.




I ran all the parts through my ultrasonic cleaner with mineral spirits and everything came out perfectly clean!

Here is the detail on the new pawl and the original broken pawl.


For those in the Northwest region, I have a bag of spare pawls and will be happy to refurb/replace your cap as Jerry describes above. It would be good to organize a 928 meetup in the region this summer. There are quite few members in Seattle area and a growing number in Portland. So maybe we could do a summer meet/drive in the Olympia region.


Also, if you want to mail me your cap, I am happy to mail it back. Just PM me.

Mark Anderson

I'm not sure if it helps but we soak the cap in hot water before trying to separate it

Jerry Feather

Mark, that may very well help, but I have not done it yet for the few that I have opened up. However the last one I tried I broke, but not because of the heat or cold, but because there was so much dirt and crud in it that the three finger too would not slide down the inside of the inner lugs. I therefore also recommend that anyone first try to clean out the inside of the cap some at the lug points perhaps with a butter knife or similar with a cloth over the end and some kind of solvent. And then even to use a bit of grease on the points of the three point tool. Mike used his ultra sonic cleaner to clean his up and it worked great.

Michael Benno

Good suggestion! My ultrasonic cleaner also heats so putting it in to clean before separating would be a good solution.

Michael Benno

Finished a couple of gas caps today and I thought I would post some results. I really need to start taking some before pictures. But these two caps were some the dirtiest I have seen. Using the heated ultrasonic cleaner and mineral spirits really dissolves all the dried grease and dirt and the parts come out looking brand new. The heated bath also helps soften the red cap making it more pliable for removal. One of the caps I serviced today had a cracked cap and I was worried that it would split more when I removed it. I think the heat really help make it more flexible. As for re-assembly, I am using a ceramic wax bicycle chain lube that will go on wet and then dry and not attract dirt and dust. Jerry supplied me with a couple extra caps, and so in this case the customer was able to replace his broken cap.

If anyone in the Pacific Northwest has a cap they need serviced, drop me a note.

Jerry Feather

Dang! Those clean up JFB. I bought myself an ultrasonic cleaner and will recommend that anyone else who might end up with one of the separation devises for a while that they also buy one. They are about $73 on eBay shipped.