hello all - I haven't been able to start my 914 for several months and last night as I turned the power on and fuel pump kicked in both carburetors started dripping gas - I read something about float valves? in that they can sometimes can get stuck and that it may be possible to "knock" them free .. anyone have any insight or experience with this? thanks in advance for any input you can give
-Colin

Sounds like stuck floats. Sometimes tapping the carb body with the plastic handle of a screwdriver will jar them loose.

But...it also sounds like your fuel may have evaporated and left a lot of gunky deposits. Which means your jets may be plugged too.

What carbs? Sounds like dual Webers or Dells. Pulling opff the carb tops and checking/cleaning it out isn't hard or even that time consuming.

cool - thanks - I'll give that a shot - I believe they are dual webers - greatly appreciated

The float bowls may have deposits left behind from the fuel. The carbs will more than likely need refurbishing.

The carbs on my motorcycle will sometimes
leak when I turn the gas on for the first time in months..
After the gaskets are wet for a few minutes, it stops.
Not an issue again till I shut off the gas for a length of time..

Hashed out a hundred time on many threads. If you are using E10+ fuel, can't let it sit in carbs as they are vented.

Time is relative, on car start of tear down to the finish tune is a good full days labour, okay for DYI, but not cheap if you let a pro do it.

Sure, but I didn't say "tear down". I said "pull off the top of the carb and check it out." Easy DIY'r job. A little carb cleaner might just do the trick (depending on how they've been sitting.)

If I was doing full tear down and rebuilds I'd pull them off the car first and work on the bench.

I always shut off the fuel pump and run the Dells as dry as possible before I put the race car away for the winter.

Are they dripping gas into the intake or just leaking gas out of the sides etc?

thank you

thanks

just the sides - thanks

thanks

That matters.... Stuck floats normally dump it into the intake.

Once fixed, I suggest two things.
1) always use fuel stabilizer
2) when parking for more than a week, while car is running turn off fuel, let car die after it empties the carb bowls.

My empi (Weber clones) do this every so often.
4 screws that hold the ?throttle pump? cover plate on the outside of each carb get loose and need to be tightened.
Just did this on the bug last night.

Click to view attachment

,same thing happens when fuel pressure is too high.

Weber IDA for the /6 will leak inside and out with a stuck float. OT but still relevant.
I just did a set of IDS, sitting 10 years, the gas was like molasses, bottom of the floats had green sweaters on them.

Your call, but removing the carbs to work on them is the safer route.

Accidentally dropping some nut or other part in a carb throat can destroy your motor. Removing the carb takes less than 5 minutes. Disconnect the throttle cable and 4 nuts each (reusable rubber gaskets are a good investment to consider).

IDS carbs for a -6 ?
those are a rare bird
not seen very often

they are awesome carbs though!

Yes on an nice original '67S, I got to drive it around north Toronto tuning them. They're just IDA's, but they have an extra jet circuit with the high curved brass fuel tubes.
Took 22 hours to rebuild, new shafts, but no re-plating. Another 4 hours to install and tune. Ten year sleeping engine, started up 2nd try.

If your carbs are leaking from the side, you should be able to see EXACTLY where they're leaking from.
I have 2 sets, one one the 914 and one on the bug.
Both leak from those cover plates every year or so.
Probably need to loctite them but just never felt like it.

that high speed extra injection works very well at High RPM
I can see the AFR on my gauge go lean the first few times I hit high RPM when I first start the motor. then the circuit primes... after which.. .you can watch the AFR start to go lean and then fatten up when the circuit kicks in.

works very well and a motor with higher than stock redline.

there are even 3 different size jettings for those circuits... although it would be nearly impossible to find those jets.

The 67S I think is bone stock, gutless till it got onto the cam at about 6K, I could see the AFR fatten up shortly after that.
My 3.0 AFR with IDA's is almost linear in comparison.