Because you have the older style tank with the aluminum button, it would be possible to pull the button up to reposition it for the next prime, but what a pain that would be. If the tank was the newer style with the bakelite button, there is no knob to grab onto, so pulling the primer upward would be nearly impossible by hand.
Regarding the o-ring fit problem, there should be no issue here. I have rebuilt many of these connectors with both OMC o-rings, as well as replacement o-rings bought in bulk. There are a ton of vendors selling replacement o-rings on Ebay, and the vendor may have sold you the wrong size. Bags of 50 to 100 can be bought from Grainger, McMaster Carr, etc. Send me a personal message, and I would be happy to send you a half dozen replacement o-rings if you send me a SASE.
It sounds like the cork float is degraded to the point of no longer floating, so recoating it will probably not work. The solution is to obtain either a new cork float, or find another float/arm from another tank that is in better condition. I have always done the latter, but have many times thought about replacement with a new homemade cork float. The bend in the wire float arm is definitely an obstacle to overcome. Do you heat it up, bend it straight, then install the float and bend it back hoping the wire doesn’t break? It really wasn’t designed to be replaced easily, but someone may have a “trick” for replacement. My only other idea is drill the cork to accommodate the wire, cut it in two halves lengthwise, then super glue the two halves together around the wire.
Improvise-Adapt-Overcome
