Had an occasional flooding issue and noticed front float bowl was way high. Took off the air horn and pulled the floats and noticed the needles didnt have springs....parts diagram shows them and my spare rebuild kit has them.

Is this normal or should they be in there? Very surprised it ran as good as it did with them missing.

Thanks!

 

There should be spring on you needle and seat assembly.
Do you know the previous history of the car? Carb rebuilt sometime in the past or something?

 

Yes, they should be there.

 

Mine ran fine without them and I've heard others say to get rid of them but the original engineers seemed to think them necessary. I did have a tough time getting the carb tuned at first, but once it ran, it ran decently.

 

Adding the springs will drastically change the float adjustment. However, right now the car keeps flooding at idle after pulling this mess apart. Very sensitive floats. Carb has been rebuilt by po mechanic. Car has 9600 original miles...yes..9600. I really want to keep the car original but carb issues are making me want to go aftermarket. Car is an 83 S model.

 

Some really old rebuild kits had solid needles, but everything I've seen in the last 20 years had the three-piece needle with the spring and pin in an internal bore. I've never seen those successfully used without the springs in them - - cant see any point to doing so myself, either.

 

Thanks for all the replies...this certainly helps.

On a related note, should you be able to blow air into the fuel return line going towards the tank? Just looking at other potential flooding related issues

 

I went Weber and have NEVER looked back. I know that's a pretty hot button topic, but after driving my car with 3 separate configurations (stock, striped-ish Niki with emissions gone and Weber 40 DCOE) The Weber has been the best for all around performance AND drivability.