Making a float

[greg g]

Didn;t I link that catalog to you when you first posted about the car???

[austinsailor]

I think so, I know I've seen it. Guess when the supposed top old carburetor guy around tells me they aren't available anywhere I took him at his word. Never thought to look there. I need to put that site as my first bookmark!

[deathbound]

I think so, I know I've seen it. Guess when the supposed top old carburetor guy around tells me they aren't available anywhere I took him at his word. Never thought to look there. I need to put that site as my first bookmark!

 

At least give his post (#20) a "like".

[TodFitch]

At least give his post (#20) a "like".

Could also mark it as best answer.

[austinsailor]

Ok, I did all that. Didn't know this was getting as complicated as facebook.

[Jerry Roberts]

Your    " Thanks very much for the link "  covered it well enough . 

[harveyspoint]

This may help some....I bought a '47 Plymouth a little over a year ago....the previous owner told me that the gas guage had slowly, over some years, failed...I checked the guage float...weighed it on a postage scale and compared with a similar float off my '48....it weighed over twice as much...the old floats were cork, sealed with shellac...alcohol is the solvent for shellac and alcohol is in most modern gasolines....the float gets heavy and won't float...Snyders Antique Auto Parts In New Springfield, Ohio, www.snydersantiqueauto.com........has gas guage floats for a 1928-1931 A Ford for $4 each....they're almost the same size as a Plymouth float and guaranteed to never absorb gas...since I thought if one was good, two must be better, and since the replacements were a little short, I put two on my sender unit...To make the float arm a little longer, I bent a piece of 1/8 brazing rod to an 'L' shape , threaded the short end with a #4 die, added two nuts and soldered this to my old float arm...works like a charm....I'll bet there are a lot of people with sinking floats now days.....

[austinsailor]

I finished mine, covered it in model airplane dope, made a brass ring for the top where the arms to the needle lay on it, and put a brass tube through it where the needle goes through the middle. It's been in there a week and a half, works great and today I checked and it shows no sign of the dope softening.

 

I also received the aftermarket replacement out of brass. It looks good, so this afternoon I took my home made one out, out in the brass one and it hasn't started since!  I don't think it has anything to do with the float, I think all the messing around pushed a lot of gas out and flooded it. It takes a lot of cranking to clear flooding when one crank equals one piston going over top dead center. Frustrating when every time before it started with a quick flick of the crank, sometimes 2 flicks at most.  I'll try it again tonight when I get home. Sad part is, I'd planned to drive it to a gathering this evening.  I think this is another case of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Ulu]

I just hate when that happens!

[austinsailor]

Got home tonight, it still wouldn't start. I pulled the plugs to see just how wet they were, they were dry.

 

Turns out, messing with the float didn't flood it, it stirred up some sediment that had collected in the float chamber, stopping  up the jet. Cleard that, started on one crank. I was fighting flooding when the problem was just the opposite.

 

I guess it'll be a bit before all the trash in the system is cleaned out. I might see if I can fit a filter somewhere, I hate to cut up the gas lines, but maybe it makes sense to make a new one with a filter and save the original.

 

Aren't these things fun?

 

We plan to go to Branson, Mo. to the tourist trap for a couple days weekend after next. I plan to take the '24 as my driver, so I guess I better find these little gremlins in the meantime.

 

Gene

[Lloyd]

This may help some....I bought a '47 Plymouth a little over a year ago....the previous owner told me that the gas guage had slowly, over some years, failed...I checked the guage float...weighed it on a postage scale and compared with a similar float off my '48....it weighed over twice as much...the old floats were cork, sealed with shellac...alcohol is the solvent for shellac and alcohol is in most modern gasolines....the float gets heavy and won't float...Snyders Antique Auto Parts In New Springfield, Ohio, www.snydersantiqueauto.com........has gas guage floats for a 1928-1931 A Ford for $4 each....they're almost the same size as a Plymouth float and guaranteed to never absorb gas...since I thought if one was good, two must be better, and since the replacements were a little short, I put two on my sender unit...To make the float arm a little longer, I bent a piece of 1/8 brazing rod to an 'L' shape , threaded the short end with a #4 die, added two nuts and soldered this to my old float arm...works like a charm....I'll bet there are a lot of people with sinking floats now days.....

 

I put a new float assembly in my 39. Been in there about 1 month. Just the other day I took it out to check it and found the float had a bunch of hard dark brown little balls on it that looked like they had come from inside the float. Maybe thats shellac?