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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Fuel Leak Times Two

Hello Gang it has been a few years since my last inquiry.

I am working on a 1275 with a pair of HS2'S from a 1974 midget.

I have two leaks after a carburetor rebuild....

#1 is the front float chamber over filling.....I will re clean the needle and seat and try again, I am guessing it is sticking open and not closing.

#2 Is at the bottom of the front float chamber where the Jet attaches....fuel seems to be leaking from that nut that connects the tube.

This was my second or third carburetor rebuild.....I am taking a beverage/dinner break and decided to connect with you guys.

Getting anxious to hear the Midget fire again, minus the fuel bath.

Thank you.




Steven Conant

1st leak ....is Probably some crud not letting the needle shut off, or if its a rubber tipped needle and has sat along time esp in ethanol fuel the rubber portion of the needle gets hard and deformed and wont seat as well and allows leaking ,

2nd leak....thats a tricky little fart, and I havent found a good way to deal with.

Im assuming you tried to tighten that little nut and it didnt work ?

Its NOT what you would think from
1st appearance and deceptive to look at... the tube slips into the float chamber once inside there is a 2 piece collet (if I remember correctly, or it maybe a 1 piece insert) that fits onto the tube then pulled tight and some how that little fitting holds the tube tight against its self.... so its a fiddly little freak of nature, the tubes them selve are just plastic with a stainless sheath covering... so if its old that plastic gets aged and hardened so it could be that just hardened over time and cracked at that joint or if you have tugged alot on it, it can crack or has deformed at that fitting as well

If its old... id probably buy some new jets before trying to remove and reset that little fitting inside the float... id say plan on a 1/2 saterday messing with it

Also id pull the float off the carb body to do this... its just that bolt that fits into the side of the carb... but agian, becarful with that rubber block that the bolt slides thur, they age and dont like to be messed with and can crumble and that rubber block is extremely important as it sets the angle of the float to be perfect horizontial to the angle of the carb....

Good luck

Prop


Prop and the Blackhole Midget

On leak #2 ... I should have added...to fix the leak ither replace the jet or pull apart and trim back the plastic so that its not deformed or cracked, but on a jet thats aged, thats easier said then done

A side note... I havent actually done this on the HS2 carbs... but I did on a pair of HS4 carbs so there maybe some variation

Also.... if your looking for an easy trick that (might ?) work if you can clean everything to perfection... try a lop of fuel tank putty in and around that fitting

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

first leak could also be incorrect float height setting
David Smith

First leak could also be a float with a pinhole allowing petrol in.

Rob
Rob aka MG Moneypit

David... I thought about that,

but with the floats being complete plastic and no adjustment... can that actually occure, if it did, how would you adjust for it... I doulbt a washer alone under the float seat would do much

But if he had HS4 floats, then that would be a diffeart ball game

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Prop, David and Rob:

Thanks for your comments and wisdom.

Cleaned the Needle and seat in the lid of the float bowl. (Socket I used to install it had goo in it) Noticed that when I removed it to clean everything.

Removed jet and re assembled.....plastic tube was not seated in the rubber grommet... Duh!

After a few other adjustments it ran....briefly.

TIme to set up the Carburetors!

Now on with the restoration!

-Steve
Steven Conant

Congrats... thats great news

But... id wait on the restoration, and enjoy the shabby nature of the car driving it around for the next few months... retros can get involved quickly and expensively, and take forever to complete ... in many cases never are so having these last few months of good memories can be a big psycho boost during those cold evenings in the shop doing some meaningless, fiddly, super expensive task, like rebuilding the master cly

Its been in bad shape this long, whats another 3 months to wait till the snow starts flying... drive it now and enjoy, heck who knows, maybe you will win lifes lottry and crock out early from a cheeseburger.

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Prop:

Carbs are all set and she is running nice, no overheating and good oil pressure (BONUS!)

Car already half torn down with the exception of drive-line. I wanted to get it running so I know what I need to do before pulling the driveline. I had it running and on the road several years ago. It is a fun one!

-Steve
Steven Conant

This thread was discussed between 28/08/2014 and 30/08/2014

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