Carb float

[Healey Nut]

So my BJ8’s have the brass floats .
Fired up the 64 today to go for a drive , distinct smell of fuel , fuel pouring from front carb overflow .
Checked and cleaned the shut off needle valves but noticed the front float wasnt sitting as high in the fuel and didnt bob up and down as well as the rear . Fished it out with two slim screwdrivers and sure enough it full of fuel .
no obvious cracks or fuel leaking from it .
I have it sitting on a paper towel and no wet patches .
maybe if I heat it a little with a hair dryer to increase the pressure in it the fuel will be forced out ?

 

[steveg]

Suggest buying the nitrophyl replacement floats for permanent solution.

 

[Healey Nut]

Suggest buying the nitrophyl replacement floats for permanent solution.

Nitrophyl ? I assume thats some kind of fuel resistant plastic ?

 

[Healey Nut]

Ok so my trick worked , I warmed the float until I found the wet spot where the fuel was being forced out . I drilled a tiny hole in the wet spot to drain the fuel . I then soldered over the hole and filed off as much as possible to make the solder just a thin film .
I now have the float submerged in a sealed glass jar held down with an old bearing race .
Im going to give it a few days and see if the “submarine is taking on water”
my only concern now is if the tiny amount of added weight will affect the way the float moves up and down etc .

 

[steveg]

Hold it under the surface in a saucepan of boiling water and if there are any leaks you'll immediately see a stream of bubbles. Joe Curto suggests this and also states the brass floats are prone to stress cracking. A sunk float could be a single-point-of-failure out on the road.

Nitrophyl is a cellular hard rubber which is impervious to modern fuels. Holley, etc, are using it. I bought 2 from Moss to replace my brass floats and they weigh exactly the same in grams - a benefit, as the brass floats vary in weight, which gives different fuel volumes between the carbs.

 

[Lin]

I would set it on a shelf or throw it away. Minor expense. :joyous:

Lin

 

[Healey Nut]

I would set it on a shelf or throw it away. Minor expense. :joyous:

Lin

Thats where will differ Lin .
Restoration is about taking old broken worn out stuff and bringing it back to life . Yes I could have got on the net and placed an order with credit card and viola a new one would be in the mailbox .
I see fixing stuff as a challenge, what do I have to loose other than an hour of my time , its not like Im putting myself in danger trying to fix it and if it doesnt work then so be it .
One of the things that ticks me off about car shows and restoration is guys stand beside there cars with all kinds of plaques and trophies etc spouting about how wonderful their cars are when in reality all they did was write a cheque to someone who did it for them and all they did was order a pile of new/repro parts and assemble it .
Thats not restoration thats a mecano (erector) set .

 

[Lin]

With almost every component I agree and do the same myself. In fact, my spouse tells me that I do way too much of that. I am just referring to this particular part. In this case the nitrophyl float does offer an advantage. However, you get no argument from me on your point!

 

[dklawson]

+1 to the Nitrophyl.

I have done like you and repaired leaky brass floats. The warning by Steve (and Curto) about stress cracking of thin brass is valid. I have seen this first-hand with floats that I have repaired.

 

[steveg]

I agree with the philosophy of "first, fix it". I unwittingly threw away my original dip switch when it gave out a few years ago. The replacement gave out in a year when a rivet separated, so I was faced with fixing a design defect in the replacement. Talk about a bad vibe.

Some things cannot be fixed reliably, such as an old, tired wiring harness and have either a safety implication or the ability to leave one stranded. I'd argue the float stress-crack issue is such. Sometimes it's better to replace something tired, rather than waiting for it to break to fix it. Especially when one has an inexpensive, superior alternative.

We're lucky to have the suppliers we do have and the ability to replace or fix any part of our cars. I hope folks like Joe Curto and Jeff Schlemmer have someone lined up to take over when they retire.

 

[dklawson]

I hope folks like Joe Curto and Jeff Schlemmer have someone lined up to take over when they retire.

I had the same thought recently. Curto and Schlemmer have unique skills that the British car community cannot afford to lose.

 

[tahoe healey]

I agree with Healey Nut about the car shows. Worse is the professional restorer who brings a car to a show so he can get a better price because the car "won". I work very hard to "preserve" my BJ8 as original as possible with NOS or rebuild the rebuild-able ones.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

...
Nitrophyl is a cellular hard rubber which is impervious to modern fuels.
...

Well, to be fair, brass seems to be impervious to modern fuels as well. The HD jet I put in denatured alcohol--50%+ ethanol--a year ago is still doing fine and if brass is a problem we better have a look at our jets, needles, banjos, etc. I've seen lots of solder joints fail, however.

 

[steveg]

Bob - To be fair, nobody said deterioration of brass was a problem due to modern fuels. I'd guess Holley etc were using plastic floats which at some point had problems with modern fuels. A few years ago when the Ethanol mandate was taking hold, Curto told me there were issues with the rubber diaphragms deteriorating. Your experiment proves they've solved that one.

In one of his videos, Joe Curto states the brass floats are prone to stress cracks.

I tested all 5 of my floats. Only this one leaked - at the solder joint.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

re: "To be fair, nobody said deterioration of brass was a problem due to modern fuels."

Kind of implied, at least in my feeble mind (but I get most of my exercise jumping to conclusions).

'Nitrophyl' is just a trade name--registered by the Rogers Corporation--for nitrile/Buna-N rubber so, yeah, should be OK with fuel and oil, but not 'ozone, ketones, esters and aldehydes' (Wikipedia), so if you're using any fuel additives I'd have a look at their labels.

 

[Michael Oritt]

If I were floating around in the middle of the ocean I would rather have a modern PFD constructed of closed cell foam versus an old fashioned inflatable "Mae West". Both might keep me afloat but once a hole develops in the latter I am fish food.

 

[LarryK]

Fixin' is good, but how much drive time do you want to lose by fixin' instead of drivin'? Summer is short!