80-G carb needle valve seat retainer

[Phil_G]

I've been battling with #3 carburetor leaking fuel out of the bowl vent--the little hole in the inlet side of the carbs...

I've done a few little things to try to isolate the issue... such as swapping seats, o-rings, floats (to see if one's bogged)... and it always stays with #3.

from what I can see, the threads where the needle valve seat retainer clip bolts on are stripped.

My question is: does the retainer clip provide any amount of seating force? or is it there to prevent the seat from ever popping out?--could the lack of thread integrity have an effect of the seal between seat and carb body?

The carb guts have been newly replaced... so all rings/seals are in good repair..


Thank you in advance!
Phil

[DGXSER]

My opinion isthat it COULD make a difference. Will it, that is tough to say. But, your stated efforts to date seem to indicate it does.

Perhaps you could try removing the screw from another carb and see if it develops the same issue.

[SFerinTEXAS]

I say NO. Not as far as the o-ring sealing. Unless the wrong o-ring is installed. I have never pulled those seats without considerable effort nor installed one that drops in without some "nudge". The o-ring fit is the seal and the keeper is in case the improbable chance a hard jarring would let it drop . Suggest the bench upside down seal test will tell you whats going on.
You did do that when last apart Right? I think not by your description of efforts in the 1st post. This should be resolved on the bench before install.
If that passes then
float hanging up
float set wrong
float gas-waterlogged(sinks) Can happen but rare
Also resolved on the bench with upright fuel test(sight hoses really helpful here)

I would still secure that screw cause I'm anal that way

[Phil_G]

Issue resolved!

Time, initiative, and priority all lined up today-- so I cracked out the ol' carbs again....
Turns out that I'm an utter idiot

The vents that keep atmospheric pressure above the fuel in the bowls were entirely plugged!

I thought that I had performed a decent cleaning of the carb bodies... but i was able to remove wads of sandy/ muddy crud from the vent holes.

I can only suppose that without proper venting, the air above the floats was not going to compress much... and therefore held my floats open.

I will say that it's quite the weight off of my mind!

[DGXSER]

Ahhh....the ole triple clean....clean them three times and by then you probably ACTUALLY have clean carbs. It is amazing how little it can take to cause a serious issue with carb performance. Or in this case ALOT can cause ALOT of problems.

Glad you found the problem, and hopefully your ready for miles of smiles!!