Tubs makes a good point regarding the importance of a well centered float. A dirty float needle and seat can also cause the float to stick in the down position. When you take the carburetor apart for cleaning and rebuild, the needle can be polished up to a shine with Never-Dull or other metal polish. The seat can be cleaned with Q-tips after a good soak in your choice of carb cleaner.
After working on a number of these carburetors, instead of trying to refinish and reuse the old floats, I wish that I had just used the modified Mercury floats. The hole for the needle is already made and centered. It just needs to be slightly enlarged. The float is made of ethanol resistant nitrophyl, and should last a long time.
Improvise-Adapt-Overcome
