Problems. Overflowing carbs, did I set height right? (pics)

[AdamKosecki]

Hi,

I just, for the first time, cleaned my carbs. Using the Ron Silver manual's specs I set the float bowls to 22.5 mm using a set of digital calipers. I did this by ballancing the bowl so that the bendable tab on the floats is just barely touching the spring valve thing. So lightly that it is not compressing it at all. From there I measured to the ultimate top of the floats from the edge of the carb. There is a groove along the side that is lower than the rest of the edge, I did not measure from the bottom of the groove; instead I measured from the edge as if it were even all the way around.

I put the carbs back on, opened fuel lines, bam! both carbs overflowing like crazy. Clearly I measured the float heights wrong. But how? Am I measuring from the right points?

Another question is the position of the clip on the main jet needle. I set it to the second from the top per Ron Silver's advice, but when I took them out they were in the top position. Am I right to drop them down to the second?

Thank you!
-Adam
'66 CL77

[joeweir1]

Did you rebuild the carbs?Are you sure your float needle is seating properly and not hanging-up.Also,I use 26.5 for the measurement on my CA77, not sure about the CL's.It does sound like you may need to increase your adjustment if both are overflowing.

[mustanger]

Hi Joeweir1 and the rest of you.

I'm going to weigh in on this even though I may be out of my league. One of my carbs was overflowing when I put it back on and I decided my problem was that the floats were bent. You adjust the level by bending them up or down, and that thin metal can get bent sideways too. It's easy to do when you're putting the bowl back on. There's not much wiggle room for the floats sideways on these carbs. It can scrape against the side of the carb and stick open or shut. If this is the problem then in your case the float is wedged against the side and can't float. If you adjust it you might have the opposite problem and the bowl won't fill up. I'd try tweaking the floats and hope that eventually solves the problem.

How's that for a Newbie?

[AdamKosecki]

Hi,

Ok, unless I'm completely missing the point on something I have the floats set correctly. Maybe I missused some lingo so let me try this again. When I open up the petock the carbs leak gas. Today I watched closely and determined that the fuel is leaking from two places on each carb:

1. drain screw
2. around the edge where the bowl mates with the carb body

Clearly the drain screw gasket washer needs to be replaced. This most likely also means that my float bowl gaskets (the large rubber ones that seal between the bowl and the carb body) need to be replaced too, right? They seem pretty old and hard.

I guess all this can be summed up with one question: If I have the floats set at the right height and the bike is not running, should the level of fuel in the bowls rise to a height that would spill over the edge of the bowl and leak through the crappy gaskets?

[kustommusic]

Adam, Good gaskets will hold back the fuel but your level shouldn't be that high. I'm reading all good advice given here, make sure your float isn't hanging up in the bowl,, make sure your needle valve actually shuts off the flow when closed. Don't continue till you are sure these areas are good! Good Luck and let us know what you find, Steve Greer

[AdamKosecki]

How can I check that the needle valve is actually shutting off the fuel? Is it a bad thing that I set the needle valve in carb cleaner for a couple days? It didn't seem like it would have any rubber parts in it.

Any other suggestions on debugging this?

[joeweir1]

To test if needle is closing just leave bowl off and lift up on float and turn gas on and see if it is seeping out of the needle.Did you examine the hole where the needle seats?Your best bet is to put a new kit in the carb.I think it is hard to keep these that sat for years from seeping and seating perfectly.They either stick or leak.good luck