Seal Cork Float?

In the process of getting the old '29 ready for the Muckenthaler car show in just a few weeks time, some long delayed work has been getting done. One of the issues is the Marvel Air Valve carby. (BTW, does anyone have a quick plain English explanation of how these devils work? What does the air valve do?)



Picking up the thread from two years ago, the carb would flood after sitting some time and drip gas all over the ground. I had taken to turning off the gas feed from the vacuum tank every time the motor was stopped to prevent this.



The advise was to lap in the seat and if there was still flooding, lower the float level. To pursue this I removed the carby to have a good look-see. Lapping in that seat is going to be a challenge as the needle has nothing to hold on to with a ball socket on the top preventing rotation. I was able to roll it around some and possibly this will make some difference.



Something unexpected was teeny-tiny bits of the cork float all over the float chamber. A Look at the float itself showed that it was largely intact but showing some signs of delamination. A reseal of some sort is in order! The new fuel we are getting is full of toxic stuff that make many older paints & varnishes fail. All I can think of that might work is gas tank sealer sold in quart cans to line the inside of rusted tanks. I have used this stuff in the past to seal vacuum tanks with good results.



The cork float ought to benefit from a dip or two in the gas tank sealer as well. If I use this stuff, will it add weight to the float resulting in a higher float lever? Or, will it make to old porous float more buoyant and reduce the float level?



What have you used successfully to reseal these cork floats?




Paul O'Neil

SoCal

1923 Ford Model T Runabout

1926 Hudson Anderson Coup
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