I am noticing fuel weeping from the accelerator pump dust cover. I rebuilt the carb 2 or so years ago, and I am assuming I did not get the float level correct...

It other than installing it, and running the engine, it has no mileage to speak of.

Two questions:

First is the carb, or the fuel will drain back out of the carb by the next day, so it takes a bunch of cranking to get the engine to fire. Is this part of the float level issue?

Second question, can I remove the air horn-top of the carb and adjust the float level with the carb on the engine?

1. No. There isn't much fuel in the bowl, and the venting is pretty open. The fuel is evaporating out. Hot engine doesn't help.

2. Yes you can remove the top and leave the bottom and middle sections on the manifold. Remove one of the long screws, then a short one. Put the short one where the long one was to keep the middle section bolted to the carb base. Repeat with other long screw. Remove remaining screws.

If you're careful, the gasket shouldn't rip.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

So the fuel is not draining back to the tank via gravity...?

I had my mind made up that was the case, so I am struggling a bit to catch up with reality...
( the engine has not been in "use"... other than driving out of the barn, and being reversed back in. I am fully expecting to pour some gas down the carb tomorrow to get the truck running after sitting since last weekend.)

Is the fuel evaporation issue a result of the new gas formulations? & is there anything I can do to reduce the dependency of giving the engine a sniff of gas in the likely event that it sits for more than 24 hours?

Thanks for this suggestion. I hope that I can get away with reusing the air horn gasket.

Maybe some other members can comment as I looked into this years ago, but can’t remember what I learnt, but for small adjustments you can achieve by changing washer on needle and seat.
I can’t remember if I measured how much fuel that came out when the needle and seat was removed, or whether the fuel level is at the same height as the needle and seat hole. A thicker washer will raise the float level, a thinner washer will lower.
Rather than pulling the top off and risk damaging your gasket, I’d look into the method I’ve outlined. With an old carbie with float and needle & Seat, you could very quickly work out the formula.
It could be just some dirt in the needle and seat too.

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1967 VC Valiant

A very creative and effective idea for methodical adjustments. I will look into finding different needle and seat gaskets.

I've put several kits in my 1974 BBS and I could never get the accel pump to work right. All the economy kits I used had 2ea 5/32 check balls. I finally got a Daytona kit P/N 421. It came with a 5/32 ball and a 3/16 check ball. The larger check ball in the pump cavity did the trick.

Which issue was solved by the larger accelerator pump check ball? a stumble, or something else?

Definite cold engine stumble. Once it warmed up good it wasn’t too much of a problem. Slightly too much throttle from a stop sign would stall the engine. I noticed that the smaller check ball was slightly sticking or getting caught up in the port. I slightly tapped the float body and the ball would come loose out of the port. The larger check ball seems to be working so far.