Zenith Carb Question

W

Will Kimble

Senior Member
I put my Dad's nice old Zenith on my jalopy, and gas poured out of the bowl while it was running. I figured the float wasn't closing for some reason, so I popped it open and sure enough - there was a grose-jet style float valve in there and the ball was stuck. I zapped it with brake cleaner and dug out a loose shard of brass, and it still wouldn't move correctly so I pitched it in the trash.

I installed a new original-style float valve and it lifted the float quite a bit - made it close earlier. My Les Andrews book recommends modifying the gasket to get the float level, so I sanded the gasket as thin as I could stand and put it back together. It is almost level but not quite.

Can I install the float valve with no gasket? Or should I cut a new gasket out of thin gasket material?

Thanks,
Will Kimble
 
I have installed float valves without gaskets before, but you should be sure to turn off your fuel at the tank when stopping rather than rely on the float only, as fuel can seep around the threads making it drip even if the float is closed. When driving you'd likely not notice as the fuel flows too quickly to make any difference of a little seepage around the valve into the bowl. I have heard of some folks bending the float arm a bit, but I really could not vouch for how well that would work.

- Dave
 
You could probably make a really thin gasket out of sheet copper. Probably better than nothing.

Steve
 
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