Floats on a ‘79

[loxley007]

Hi all, I’ve just rebuilt my carbs and I noticed that my 79 has brown plastic floats (and not adjustable) in the carbs. The manual and CSMNL etc suggest they should have black floats that are adjustable.

My problem is that carb 1 and 2 are leaking fuel so I’m looking to adjust the floats which I obviously can’t do given they are plastic.

So, my question is, which floats should I have - brown plastic or black with metal tab?

 

[loxley007]

Some info from elsewhere. Cody at MotorcycleMD suggests the black/metal tabs are OEM for a 79 so it looks like someone has replaced them at some point with plastic brown/non adjustable ones. I’ve bought 4 new ones from CSMNL.

 

[Loose Chain]

You will need the correct needles to go with the floats you plan to use. You may not have a float problem and it could be the needles on those 2 carbs not seating properly. The brown ones you are talking about didn't start off brown, they just went that color over time. The none adjustable floats take the guess work out of that part of a rebuild for people that don't know what they are doing. How did your float measurement go when you did the rebuild? Your bike probably had the none adjustable floats from new.

 

[lajos]

You will need the correct needles to go with the floats you plan to use. You may not have a float problem and it could be the needles on those 2 carbs not seating properly. The brown ones you are talking about didn't start off brown, they just went that color over time. The none adjustable floats take the guess work out of that part of a rebuild for people that don't know what they are doing. How did your float measurement go when you did the rebuild? Your bike probably had the none adjustable floats from new.

I second on that. In my case, carb 3 was leaking and the problem was the float valve seating, and not the float. So it is worth checking before go to a shopping spree

 

[loxley007]

Cheers all. I will look into that asap.

 

[Bo82CB]

When you overhaul your carbs use small Q-tip with some fine polish and polish float shut-off valve seat!