Gordon_M

On Dave Engels YouTube channel he commonly cuts these bands on buggy wheels, but it is normally so that he can shorten them and re-install them tighter.

The 'strange aluminium spacer' may be there deliberately as a sacrificial corrosion point, cheap, easily replaced, and preventing corrosion on the tank face. I assume it faces aluminium on one side and steel on the other?

There's a photo of the guilty party up the thread, a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun. If you had a Thompson with the safety off and a loaded magazine, but no round chambered, and you dropped it on its' tail end from a height of a couple of feet, the weight of the bolt was sufficient to slide back, chamber a round, and fire it. You would probably only make that mistake once though.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you try any invasive mechanical repair it'll just get worse. Dab of sealant and running unpressurised would be the thing.

Pores rather than crack I think, it'll flex every time that head bolt is tightened. Clean and cover, but don't be too hard on it as it is eighty years old. 8-) Running the cooling system unpressurised would be the thing.

Yes but not easy. The big problem is finding the extent of any crack, and if it is porosity you are limited to sealer.

It could be a crack, or a small porous spot in the block. One of the things most people don't realises just hollow pressure the cooling systems are on these engines. A new truck and radiator would have a 4psi radiator cap on it, and it would only reach that pressure when working really hard. Clean it and paint it again, maybe with some sort of sealant, then turn your radiator cap back to the first click so it is locked in place but not pressurising the radiator, and just drive it

May be peened over on the back so you may have to grind or file a little.

That's just a blind rivet that has been peened over I think. Should tap out with a fine on the back

Sharp tap sideways will do it. Doesn't have to be a chisel, any solid metal that will transfer the tap without shearing the head off, just go carefully. These sort of rivets are normally used to attach plates to castings, liken engine block.

Push rivets, they normally have a sort of dull self-tapping thread. There is a procedure to get these out, use a BLUNT chisel and tap the head sideways firmly, they will normally displace far enough for you to pull them out. Of course you have to do it carefully to avoid damage to the plate underneath.

Worth draining it anyway, the drain is a simple hex plug.

It does have a filter element in there Keith, thin stacked brass sheets, endlessly cleanable. The problem is the gasket at the top the housing doesn't re-use well, and owners strip the bolt thread by over-tightening trying to get it to seal. I generally suggest not to dismantle the housing unless you have a complete spare

You don’t change the filter, you drain it, or strip it and clean it. As a quick fix undo the drain plug and assess what comes out. If it isn’t clean put one of those little plastic lawnmower filters in line temporarily. Do not dismantle the main filter unless you are confident you can get it back together and sealed - easy to break / strip.

Insulate the fuel line, make sure you have the heat shield in place above the pump. I have idly wondered if reproducing the heat shield in stainless may not make it work a bit better than the original mild steel.