What the flip?

[Guest]

Ok so at the risk of sounding like an idiot I have a question about float Heights on a cv carb. The other day when i cleaned my carbs the correct way I decided to check my float Heights while I was in there. The spec is 0.88 inches measured from the gasket surface to the stepped portion of the float. All mine were less than a half inch. I didn't have the clear plastic tube to actually measure the float Heights so I just went ahead and set them to 0.88 and put them back on. When I tried to run the engine it was so rich it wouldn't hardly idle at all. Ok so my question is why if I set the floats to a higher measurement wouldn't that make the actual fuel levels in the bowls lower instead of higher? I don't understand how the level could be so high as to be so rich that the engine will not run hardly at all. I have the tool on order so I can check for sure. I didn't have this problem before it was actually running too lean because of leaking intake orings.

[hikermikem]

Well, can't really say what the issue may be, but you did clean the carbs as well as set the floats, so there's a least 2 variables...

Is this how you set the float height?

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/carbspec_float_height.html#A02

How were the carbs cleaned? Completely disassembled & dipped?

How was it running before cleaning the carbs?

What model bike are we talking about?

More info please...

[jbthomp]

Yes that's how I set them. Its a gs550e 1980 model year. Yes the carbs were stripped and dipped. It ran pretty good before. It was turning the headers blue and had a vacuum leak at the carb holders so I replaced those and figured since I never dipped the carbs that I probably should. I will have the float height tool tomorrow so I will know for sure what the levels are. It just doesn't make much sense to me. I would figure that bending the tab down to bring the floats up would make the fuel level in the bowls lower not higher. Idk I guess I should have left it alone lol

[Steve]

Why is it leaner with a higher number on the measurement?

Because you are measuring upside down.

You are measuring the distance from the bottom of the body (which is the top, while you are measuring) to the bottom of the float (which is the top, while you are measuring). When you turn the carb over, the floats will hang down farther, letting in fuel. When the fuel level rises to that "larger number", it will be farther away from the bottom of the carb body, which is ... a leaner mixture, overall.

.