Topic: brass float woes

[tlbranth]

One of my floats was leaking. I found the crack, was coaxing the fuel out with a heat gun - too quickly as it turned out (it exploded) - so's I could maybe solder up the crack and be on my way. So I had to buy a new float. I found the float for $26 online at PowersEdge.com but they wanted close to $19 shipping. I've tried to explain flat-rate priority mail boxes to them but they're not having any of it. It was cheaper to buy it locally at $42 including tax. The float that came was plastic. The parts guy thought it might be because the new fuels are caustic to the old brass floats. Anyhow, I pulled the carbs to put the new float on and danged if 2 more floats ain't leaking. So I'm wondering: should I bag the brass floats & buy 3 more plastic ones, buy a used set of carbs on ebay or what? If the E10 fuel is eating the brass, seems like other parts are in for it too. Anyone have any chemical knowledge here?

[Johnie]

Been there and done that on my KO & K1. In fact, it was last week that I changed all 4 brass floats on my K1 to all plastic from a K4 carb I had here. Now only my KO has the brass and I plan to switch those over as well. Figure they are pretty old unless you buy new. I am staying with the plastic.

[BeSeeingYou]

I have soldered the hairline cracks on brass floats on my XS650's with good results but of course new is best but it does work in a pinch.

[tlbranth]

Well I put in the plastic float and found 2 others with leaks. "Swell" I said (or something like that). Anyway, this time I carefully heated them and got the fuel out, cleaned the cracks up and soldered them. They seem to be holding up OK after a day sitting in fuel. Adjusted all the floats, rebalanced the carbs. Seems to be OK now.

[Gordon]

It may not make enough of a difference to be noticeable, but I wonder if the added weight of the solder has any effect on the float level?