Carburetor fuel inlet

[Clackety Clack]

What have you folks done, if anything to prevent the fuel inlet from coming off of the carb top? I don't run a filter in the engine bay, but still wonder what others may be doing.... Thanks

[Piledriver]

Screw in fittings exist for the purpose, 1/16" NPT, hose barb IIRC.
You can also peen around the original, but threads are better.

[Clackety Clack]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have a solex 30 Pict-3. I've never taken the carb off or apart myself. Can I remove the top, without taking the whole carb out? Do I need to take any linkages etc off to get the top off?

[Piledriver]

There are few carbs easier to take the top off of, no need to remove it.
Disconnect the fuel line and plug.
Take the air cleaner off, there will be 5 screws on top (or six, has been awhile...)
Carefully lift off top, try not to lose the little pivot pin the float rides on.
Might want to pick up a carb kit for the gaskets in case it tears.

[Clackety Clack]

Thanks.

[Marc]

For 1/8NPT the recommended tap drill size without a pipe-taper reamer is "Q" (.332")....21/64 is .328".

For 1/16NPT it's a "D" (.246")....15/64" (.234") and 1/4" (.250") are the closest fractional drill sizes.

[sideshow]

I don't mess with fuel inlet barb modification on a single.
I like to make sure the rigid fuel line is run in a way that in its self prevents "surprises"
Proper metric hose is harder to find, and hose dies from what I presume is the e10 way faster than last century.

This has been working for two centuries now.
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[Marc]

On the original-equipment carbs, anyway, there was no "bulge" at the outer end of the inlet pipe. I've had good results on those from simply wriggling out the pipe and reversing it (after a light polish to remove any burrs). A little red Loctite (or epoxy if the fit's still not tight) and it should never be a problem.

sideshow's strain-relief suggestion looks good, although I've never tried that personally.

Another tactic to consider is to simply put a hoseclamp on the hose, then add a lockwire from there to the closest carb top screw...that was all I used to do on off-road engines using stock carbs, just to make sure nobody could bitch about the carb being illegally "modified"...I figured that way, even if the pipe somehow worked loose it couldn't escape and any leakage would be minimal.

[Clackety Clack]

What is the pivot pin? Pic?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

In the picture just before the clamp and after the formed ring built into the fuel line is for sealing the fuel line to the soft line. The fuel line and clamp for the fuel line should be just after it not before it.

The clamp at the bend is a good idea.

Copper line should not be used as it will work harden over time.

As was said, old fuel lines will not hold up for long with the new fuels we use one days.

Lee

[Piledriver]

What is the pivot pin? Pic?

The pivot pin I referred to is what holds the float in the top of the carb.
Its a little brass pin about 2mm x 25mm.
Sometimes it has an ends mangled a little to help keep it in place, when the top of the carb is in place its actually captured and can't go anywhere.

I don't have any carbs to take a pic of anymore, hopefully the description will do.

[aussiebug]

I have a 1970 bug which I bought brand new (yes, 46 years ago). About 20 years ago when I was changing the soft fuel lines, the brass carby inlet line fell out of the carb when I pulled the rubber line off. Lucky for me it did not pop out with the engine running - that's a common source of bug engine fires.

My solution was to place the brass pipe on a wood board (plastic will do, just not metal), and use a large single cut file edge on and roll the pipe under it to knurl the pipe (tiny raised "teeth" around the pipe). The wooden board stops the ridges getting flattened again. Pushed it back in and it's never moved since. Just make sure you don't knurl the inner end where it seals to the carb metal. This fix took all of 5 minutes, and the original carb is still in use.