Three Quick Questions...

[nikothenomad]

1)  The Power Piston... Should the little 'gasket' be able to move up and down?

2)  The Power Piston... If I can set the little circular gasket that I am referring to into place solidly by pushing lightly with a small screwdriver... is that all that I need to do?  I was under the impression that I should be able to get the power piston to 'lock' down in some other way as when I removed it I needed to get it to 'pop up'.

3)  The Bar that the Float hangs on... Is that all it does is set in the carb or does it fasten in place somehow?

Thanks!

[Ethan1]

1)  The Power Piston... Should the little 'gasket' be able to move up and down?

2)  The Power Piston... If I can set the little circular gasket that I am referring to into place solidly by pushing lightly with a small screwdriver... is that all that I need to do?  I was under the impression that I should be able to get the power piston to 'lock' down in some other way as when I removed it I needed to get it to 'pop up'.

3)  The Bar that the Float hangs on... Is that all it does is set in the carb or does it fasten in place somehow?

Thanks!

 Welcome to CHP!

 Can you explain the gasket moving up and down? The bushing should stay in place, if that is what you mean.

 As for your second question, yes, usually you push the power piston and bushing down and stay in place. Some people stake in a couple of places around the edge.

 Bar? Are you referring to the c-shape pin that goes through the float? If so, no, it does not fasten anywhere. It just sits in its bore.

 HTH,
 Ethan

[Cliff Ruggles]

Our kits come with a new plastic retainer for the power piston.  Pretty much required as the stock ones ALWAYS shrink and woln't hold the PP down effectively.  I sell a LOT of metering rods due to this issue, as the PP jumps up and the rods get bent when the top is put on the carb.....Cliff

[nikothenomad]

Thanks, ya'll.

When I said that the plastic retainer went up and down I mean that it moved on the piston (when the piston was out).  I could slide it up and down.  Once I put it in I was able to carefully push the retainer down into place such that it stayed very well.  I assume this is what it was intended to do and is the way that the piston is held into place while still springing up and down easily? 

Thanks for the info on the float too.  I thought it might just sit down in there but something seemed off about that idea until I remembered that the black plastic piece went over that area and kept things from 'popping up'. 

Carb is all back together and working beautifully.

This time around the goal was to check the accelerator pump and to get an eye on how the inner workings really looked so I only removed and cleaned the air horn and all areas I could reach by taking it off.  In the future I will venture into a full clean up but for now that is all I had time for as she is not just our only vehicle but our home, as well.

Thanks, again!

Niko

[Cliff Ruggles]

The black plastic splash guard doesn't retain anything, it just sits over the float area.

It's nearly impossible to just pull the top and do much for the carb.  It really needs to be removed from the engine for a thorough cleaning, and parts upgraded for this new fuel.

More times than not, prying the top gasket out from under the metering rods, then back over them will bend the hanger arms, and throw the carb WAY out of calibration.  It really needs to go on the bench, so it can be taken completely apart, cleaned, and re-assembled with new parts and correct settings......Cliff

[nikothenomad]

Thanks, Cliff.

It is on my list as something to do but time with the van not running is at a premium since we both live in it and need to get around in it.  So, I do what I can when I can.  The reason for taking the air horn off in the first place was to check out the accelerator pump as we were seeing no fuel pumping.  Wound up the float bowl was empty but the pump worked just fine when it was full.  Cleaned up what I could because some is better than none and we'll move on down the road for now.

At some point in the future we may be able to do a full carb cleaning but it isn't possible at this time.

Thanks for all of the help!