One of the things I noticed when I first started lurking here was that it seemed there were a LOT of carb problems involving rich/flooding carbs; in fact this of one of the reasons I became a member.
Around '83, I bought a K7 with 5300 miles on the clock as a parts donor. When the seller fired it up, it ran like crap. A quick sizzle test on the exhaust pipes confirmed 2 dead cylinders, and then I noticed gas overflowing from the carbs feeding those cylinders. Cool, let me bargain the price down, and I had lots of experience with carbs, so I wasn't worried about it.
When I got the bike home, I yanked the bowls off, inspected and cleaned the needles and seats, and checked the float levels. Didn't find anything wrong, but then, it doesn't take a very big piece of anything to keep a float needle from sealing.
I buttoned it back up, turned on the gas, and after a minute or so, the gas came dribbling out. What heck!?? Took it apart, checked everything again, also making sure the floats weren't rubbing on the inside of the float bowls. Dribble dribble, toil and tribble. I pulled one of the bowls back off and turned on the gas, then lifted the float with my finger until the fuel stopped. Everything seemed fine. Put the bowl back on, yup, dribble dribble. Grrrrr! This was becoming a quest! I removed one of the floats and put it in a can of gas, and the pivot end of the float went straight down, and the other end poking up out of the gas, kind of like an iceberg. I then hooked a piece of wire into the pivot and raised it up until the float was horizontal. The top of the float was barely level with the gas. I decided then the plastic float didn't, at least not enough.
