rebuilding carbs - what to replace

[Andy in NY]

motor: 1966 merc 500
symptoms: sluggish, loss of power under load
diagnosis: rebuild carbs as suggested by iboats members

my question is this: should I just do the basic carb clean and rebuild with new seals, or should i replace the needles/seats and floats too?

 

[Laddies]

Re: rebuilding carbs - what to replace

As long as you have them off replace the inlet needles and the carb gaskets don't buy a kit just inlets and gaskets. Set the float levels and blow ever thing out with spray carb cleaner, pay carefuf attention that the idle pickup tubes are clean. Before removing the idle adjustment screws seat them and keep track of the number of turns to the seat so you can get them back in the ballpark to start with.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: rebuilding carbs - what to replace

As long as you have them off replace the inlet needles and the carb gaskets don't buy a kit just inlets and gaskets. Set the float levels and blow ever thing out with spray carb cleaner, pay carefuf attention that the idle pickup tubes are clean. Before removing the idle adjustment screws seat them and keep track of the number of turns to the seat so you can get them back in the ballpark to start with.

Im not actually the one doing the rebuilding, a friend of mine (who is pretty well versed in mechanics) is doing it for me, but I will pass this info along to him.