Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

[woodboathull]

I am rebuilding an RDE-19 carb and when I took the carb bowl off, the (new) cork float's varnish coat was soft and bubbling. Is there something that I can coat it with that will hold up to newer gas? Is there a different float that will work? If so what would a part number be? Thanks

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

I can't really offer anything except encouragement. But I think one of the long time members here was conducting a long term test on a float painted with "Butyrate dope (hot fuel proof dope used on r/c airplanes) from the hobby store. At last mention it was working pretty well. Someone else modified a plastic float from an 18 horse I believe to work in that very motor(I think). Can't remember the details just now and I don't even know what search terms to use to find the threads but they're here somewhere. I was going to try the hot fuel proof dope treatment on a spare cork float that I have but haven't gotten around to it yet. Good luck!

Cheers.................Todd

 

[F_R]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

I am rebuilding an RDE-19 carb and when I took the carb bowl off, the (new) cork float's varnish coat was soft and bubbling. Is there something that I can coat it with that will hold up to newer gas? Is there a different float that will work? If so what would a part number be? Thanks

Let me get this straight: Are you telling us that a new replacement float is bubbling? That is something we need to know.

The old original floats had a shellac coating, and ethanol would remove the shellac. The new ones are supposed to have something other than shellac (epoxy?). I hope we don't have a problem here.

 

[woodboathull]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

Must have the older shellac float. Got it from a dealer who gets old inventory. Yes I said bubbling, but now that I know that the shellac will be affected, I will try to remove and coat with something that is fuel proof. Sounds lie RC airplane dope is one of the best solutions. Thanks for your replies.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

I use the RC dope and it seems to work just fine, but as a disclaimer I also run the gas out of the carb after every use. I tested the float by floating it in an E10 mix for a week and it didn't appear to affect the dope coating. Hardly scientific, but there ya go!

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

Why not just buy a new float that is made of the new material that won't be affected by ethanol rather then screwing around with an old cork float? It seems to be a no brainer. They are not expensive at all.
I just rebuilt the carb on my 57 Rude 18 and installed a new float in place of the varnished cork one.

 

[woodboathull]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

This is a RDE - 19 35 hp. Do you have a part number for the "better" float?
Thanks

 

[jimdd810]

Re: Carb Rebuild - cork float varnish soft?

Cant even get the old style floats anymore. Use non ethynol fuel