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SV: Leaking Carburettor Floats

To: morgans@autox.team.net
Subject: SV: Leaking Carburettor Floats
From: Harald Sakshaug <harald.sakshaug@datapower.no>
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 09:24:32 +0200
Hi folks !

I had problems with cracks in the floats for my motorbike when I was
diving a long way from home once. I didn't have any 
soldering iron available, so I went into the nearest gas station hoping
to find a solution. Among other useless things I found an epoxy glue
named ARALDITE. It's a two pack bad smelly and sticky stuff. It comes in
two types, red and blue. The red cures in two hours or so, and the blue
within 24 hours.

I settled for the red glue, and decided to camp for the night. I shaked
as much of the petrol I could out of the float, and left it in a warm
place (in the sun) with a lot of fresh air for a while. I think the
float was pretty dry inside when I mixed this two pack glue together and
actually "varnished" the whole float with it. I got the glue very thin
at places where the fload was ok, and a little thicker over the crack.
The next day the float went into the carby, and I was off running again.

This was ment to be a temporary solution in order to be able to complete
the trip back home. But I left the float in the carbs a couple of years
before I bought a new one. When I took it out and inspected it two years
afterwards, I found that the thinnest parts of the glue was gone, but
over the cracks it was ok. If this small fragments of glue did anything
to my bike, i don know. I was not able to pinpoint anything out. The
engine is still running ok, 8 years afterwards.

Soldering these floats is difficult, because the air inside them heats
up when the float is soldered. This always makes the solder float uneven
over the cracks. The solder is also pretty heavy, and this forces you to
readjust your float level.
The weight of the glue is also considered, but it is much lighter than
solder, and you might just come out not needing to adjust.

Try this at your on risk, but I felt like telling you, because it was
useful for me once. It started out as an emergency repair for me, but it
lasted really well. I replaced the float because I bought a new one at a
autojumble, but the glued one was still working.

Best Regards,


>                _\\///_      
>               (' O-O ')        EMAIL:  Harald.Sakshaug@DataPower.NO
>          -ooO-(_)-Ooo-------  Harald Sakshaug  -- 74160652  -----
>                                        URL:
> http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/3011/
> 
> 

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