Stuck float?

[datzenmike]

Very punny.

[Rusty Dawg]

I took the carb apart and cleaned it, but I think I must've pinched the plunger when I put it back together and now it's leaking from the top gasket.  I think it might be time to bite the bullet and spend the money on rebuilding the engine itself.  I think I will go with a different carb too.😩

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Weber DGV. Get a manifold for an MGB. They are cheap.

 

 

[difrangia]

If acquiring one of the Webers 32/36's, I'd insure that the carb body has 'Made in Spain' or somewhere in Europe cast into it.

 

There are Far-East copies out there and all that I've read on these is: Get the European carby.

 

I mounted our Weber backward on the original manifold using an adapter plate as the choke assembly interferes with the valve cover if mounted normally.

Edited February 2, 2022 by difrangia

[Rusty Dawg]

Howdy,

 

Well, it seems as though it wasn't a stuck float, but instead a hole in my float.  I sent it off and they did the best to fix it, although they said it wasn't 100% guaranteed that it would work.   There is no longer any parts for this dinosaur of a carb and thus repairing the float was our only shot.  Unfortunately, the soldering didn't work and I still get fuel in the bowl.  I am going to make some calls tomorrow to see if there is one left in someones very back shelf, but in the meantime I thought I would try "Seal-All" to try and seal the slight opening that is right on the seam.  It claims to work with fuel.

 

Thoughts?

[datzenmike]

That wasn't done at all properly. Solder should not ball up like that but flow.

 

To do right, the float should be heated and two halves separated and re-tinned. The two edges heated and excess old solder quickly rubbed off with a damp cloth. Then assembled, pressing any gaps as close together as you can. When heated with a small amount of solder paste applied as solder is applied, it will be drawn between the two contacting surfaces by capillary action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[difrangia]

Mike has the right idea.

 

Proper fix is unsolder the two halves, prepare properly, and re-solder. It's one of those 'lost arts' that have almost ceased to exist.

 

Or locate someone who can craft one from modern man-made material using your old one as a pattern.

[datzenmike]

Sometime in the '80s most floats changed to phenolic (plastic) they can't sink.

[wayno]

OK, I had a sunk float issue a long time ago on my 1963 L320, I took the float out and heated the float with my stove or maybe it was a propane torch, it was working just fine right before it blew up/apart, I fixed it but I found another float before I tried it, that said I figured out how to make a more modern float work, this is the float I made work, I have a photo of it in the carb, but it is in my really old computer and I do not know how to transfer it to this computer without an internet connection.

 

Here is my float I blew apart and repaired, it is a lot heavier with all that solder on it, and I have no idea if it is actually fixed, it may just sink.

 

 

 

Here it is with the little spacer I mentioned that you should not lose.

 

 

Here they are side by side, I made this work and the truck ran fine when I could get it started, I hate 320 distributors.

 

 

I searched around and found this link that a member named Sealik posted to my thread back in December of 2011, I have no idea if this place exists anymore but I searched it and that link is still good, you could contact them and see if they have the float listed in the link, Sealik has not logged in to Ratsun in over 6 years.

 

http://www.carburetorfactory.com/oem_nikki01.php

 

I will not sell or send these parts anywhere, I keep them in case I need them, like I said I am not even sure I actually fixed it as I never tried it, but that black float did work, but I never posted the photo I have of it in the carb because it looked goofy and I did not want to get teased about it, and i do not recall what carb it came out of, it was likely a J13 carb or a Datsun 210 carb, it was something I had around here that I was not going to use.

 

This is what I made my 1963 Datsun 320 into, I don't like the shortened box, I tried to find an NL320 rear box section but the one I found was too rusty, them wheels did not fit properly, it has stock wheels now.

 

 

 

 

[Rusty Dawg]

23 hours ago, wayno said:

OK, I had a sunk float issue a long time ago on my 1963 L320, I took the float out and heated the float with my stove or maybe it was a propane torch, it was working just fine right before it blew up/apart, I fixed it but I found another float before I tried it, that said I figured out how to make a more modern float work, this is the float I made work, I have a photo of it in the carb, but it is in my really old computer and I do not know how to transfer it to this computer without an internet connection.

 

Here is my float I blew apart and repaired, it is a lot heavier with all that solder on it, and I have no idea if it is actually fixed, it may just sink.

 

 

 

Here it is with the little spacer I mentioned that you should not lose.

 

 

Here they are side by side, I made this work and the truck ran fine when I could get it started, I hate 320 distributors.

 

 

I searched around and found this link that a member named Sealik posted to my thread back in December of 2011, I have no idea if this place exists anymore but I searched it and that link is still good, you could contact them and see if they have the float listed in the link, Sealik has not logged in to Ratsun in over 6 years.

 

http://www.carburetorfactory.com/oem_nikki01.php

 

I will not sell or send these parts anywhere, I keep them in case I need them, like I said I am not even sure I actually fixed it as I never tried it, but that black float did work, but I never posted the photo I have of it in the carb because it looked goofy and I did not want to get teased about it, and i do not recall what carb it came out of, it was likely a J13 carb or a Datsun 210 carb, it was something I had around here that I was not going to use.

 

This is what I made my 1963 Datsun 320 into, I don't like the shortened box, I tried to find an NL320 rear box section but the one I found was too rusty, them wheels did not fit properly, it has stock wheels now.

 

 

 

 

Holy crap, that is way cool Wayno.  What did you have to do to make it an extra cab?

 

I will see if I can contact the person you mention and if not, I will need to find another carb shop that can actually properly repair my float. 

[Rusty Dawg]

Any suggestions on whom I might be able to send the float to in order to properly repair it given that it seems to be a "lost art"?

[wayno]

I would agree with Mike in this, it appears they did not do it right, maybe whoever it was does not normally do that type of thing.

 

Look for a classic carb place.

 

The way it looks to me I would clean that side of solder with a propane torch, I would then use a c-clamp very carefully to close the gap, then soak it with solder paste that Mike mentioned, I call it Flux, then I would solder it together, but that is me and you can see how well that worked for me on my old float that sunk, but I have never done that type of thing before, that was my first try, and mine might actually be sealed, but it is heavier because of so much solder on it.

I do all my plumbing soldering also, it is about it being clean, the solder flows up when everything it right.

[wayno]

2 hours ago, Rusty Dawg said:

Holy crap, that is way cool Wayno.  What did you have to do to make it an extra cab?

 

 

 

Doping stuff like that takes dedication, it takes time to paste it together, that one took 2 L320 cabs, and a 411 wagon roof piece/section, if I could find a 510 roof for my 520 Ute I made(el camino), I would likely make a box cover/canopy that would make it look like a wagon.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

You can use two-part epoxy on a float.

[Rusty Dawg]

4 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

You can use two-part epoxy on a float.

Really?  The fuel will not eat thru it?  I was even debating on whether to use Seal All since it claims to work with fuel.

[difrangia]

I believe that 'Gorilla Glue' (polyethylene) will withstand gasoline. 

[Rusty Dawg]

I have read that gas could very well dissolve Gorilla Glue.  Loctite epoxy weld, Seal-all and gas resistent JB weld are the only ones I show that will hold up in a gasoline environment.  Who knows for how long though.

[wayno]

Fact is I would just keep trying to solder it back together until I succeeded or found another float, I did both, I found a more modern float that I made work(see photo below) although it did float at a weird angle, the truck ran once again, but in the end, I found another proper float.

 

 

I do have a photo on my old computer of that carb working properly installed on the engine, the computer still functions but it has no internet access, I do not know how to get it out of that computer onto this laptop computer, if anyone can explain to me how to transfer it that I can understand I will try.

I do not really know a lot about computers, I have watched a computer guy stick something into a USB port and transfer all my photos onto it, then he stuck that in my new computer and transferred all of the photos onto/into it, I watched him do this but he was fast and there were too many steps and he lost me.

 

[wayno]

Well I thought of a way, I took a photo of my photo on the computer monitor, it is hard to see but the fuel level is where it is supposed to be in this photo.

 

[Rusty Dawg]

12 minutes ago, wayno said:

Well I thought of a way, I took a photo of my photo on the computer monitor, it is hard to see but the fuel level is where it is supposed to be in this photo.

 

Brilliant!!! 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Many performance shops use epoxy inside carburetors. It's pretty common for making mods that would otherwise require some sort of plugs or solder. I have seen it come apart inside carbs, but this is undoubtedly due to bad prep, not the epoxy itself.

[Rusty Dawg]

Good to know, thanks Matt.