Let's talk about float bowls

[Incubus]

It was supposed to be so easy. I needed float bowl gaskets. I found some on Ebay. They were'nt specific to my model, and I coundn't find any others, so decided to make my own. My attempts so far using rubberized gasket material have proven, at best, hilarious. I can cut them OK, is seems, but the material just kind of floats. Others may have can considerably more success, but I've decided I'm a storebought kinda guy.

The Ebay gaskets are made for the later XS11s and the XJ11. They have a different part number than the gaskets for my 1979 XS1100F. Can anyone tell me the difference between the carb bowls on these models? If is just a matter of less than overall dimension, I could work with that, like changed location on a hole, perhaps.

Enlightment sought.

Patrick

[Ken Talbot]

Here's a couple of pictures to help. Old carb to the left, newer carb to the right in both:





The main difference is the location of the brass tube that goes down into the bowl to pick up fuel for the enrichener circuit. A gasket for one model of carb will not fit directly onto the other model of carb, but it is easy to make a second small hole.

To the right of the brass tube, between it and one of the bowl mounting screws, there is another hole in the carb body which supplies venting down to the bottom of the brass tube. I believe some people have got messed up by mixing up gaskets and inadvertently blocking this hole.

[Incubus]

Wow, talk about hitting the mark.

Thanks, Ken. Perfect.

Patrick

[prometheus578]

"A post about a post."

Hey Ken...
Umm... one carb has a broken float post. That must have been in the pre-"float pin tool" days.

[Ken Talbot]

That's right, Prom. It was that way when I was given 'most' of an XS bike for spare parts. Having a full set of each type of carb on hand, has been handy for inquiries like Patrick's, or for developing a tool like the extractor, etc.

[prometheus578]

"Thanks for the thread, Succubus."

and the pics, Ken. I never paid enough attention to realize that there was a difference.
Oh, I'm sure sometime in the future I would have figured it out... like after spending many hours polishing up the wrong float bowls for the carbs I'm working on.

[LoHo]

I've been drinking early, but IIRC, the gaskets come with the holes punched and another hole almost punched. I you need the hole, knock it out; if you don't need it, leave the chad in there and it is bound between the mating surfaces. This was from a year ago, and I'm not taking them apart to check, but I'm pretty sure they'll work.
Those vent holes are attractive to some wood bees we have around here that stuff any 3/16" hole with leaf cuttings. This allows one to get up to about 40 mph on a busy street before the stuffed vent cuts off the gas and one putters to a stop. Don't ask how I know. They also play hell with outboard gas connections, although that usually means drifting aimlessly around a lake.

[prometheus578]

"As an aimless drifter, myself..."

that usually means drifting aimlessly around a lake.

From what I understand... Isn't that what some people call "fishing"?

[TopCatGr58]

Putting holes in your gasket theory!

Here's a couple of photos of the same gasket, just in different carb kits, the first one shows NO HOLES, the second one shows the holes already punched out!





Ones I got from MikesXS didn't line up Xactly with the enrichener tube, I had to widen a hole a little to let it fit!
T.C.

[TADracer]

I got some K&L rebuild kits a year or so ago and their gaskets fit just fine on my 79 Special. No leaks and all the holes seemed to be in the right places. BUT, if you get K&L rebuild kits that have new main and pilot jets in them, better check to make sure they are the right ones for your application. The K&L kits listed for me had the wrong pilot jets in them.