Topic: tin floats vs. "foam" floats

[nunnik6]

Hello all!

I pulled my '70 750K out a week ago and she purred like I hadnt put her away for a few months.

A question that ive had on my mind for awhile, and I dont know if anyone has run across this.... My '70 750K has "gold" colored tin floats, while my '74 750K has the hard foam floats. When did they change this to foam or is this just a rarity that Ive come across? My dad bought this bike brand new and put extensions on it and all, but I didnt know if the tin floats came with the old 750's or if this was an "add on".

Also, when the '70 is sitting idling and when I give it a lot of gas, the engine kills and I have to throttle back immediately so I dont have to kick it over twenty times to start it again. Is this a clogged jet or is this a float adjustment problem? Thanks!

[Bob Wessner]

The early floats were brass, with soldered seams, rather than tin. Not sure when they changed to the plastic ones, maybe after the K1? Take care of them, they are hard to come by.

[Magpie]

My K1 has the brass floats, a K3 parts bike has the plastic ones.
Cliff.

[nunnik6]

Brass? I havent had to take the floats/carbs off of this bike (through Im going to have to this year to fix a few oil leaks), so I wasn't sure if they were tin or if they were brass. Did they change over to plastic because of cost or was it a mechanical problem?

[Bob Wessner]

I just asked this question of Ted N. recently myself. It seems that at the time the K0/K1's were being built, brass was the standard technology for floats. Shortly thereafter, suitable plastics became available and were cheaper besides.

[eldar]

nice thing about the plastic floats is that I have never seen one get a hole! and not work.

[KB02]

nice thing about the plastic floats is that I have never seen one get a hole! and not work.

Exactly! Actualy, the plastic ones are cheaper and easier to produce as well. On rare (very rare) occations I have heard of some that absorbed some of the gas like a sponge and failed in the same manner as a whole in the brass floats. Most likely this was caused by a production problem when they were made ("How much resin should I put in? Ah, never mind. I've got a quota to meet.")