MOPED ARMY

Thank you, Roffman. I've been giving your response a good deal of thought. I think while I'm waiting for other alternatives I'll take your advice and, after letting the old float bake out at a moderately-elevated temperature for a day or so, I'll coat it with some Red-Kote gas tank sealer that I have left over from my adventures with the Beloved 1964 Econoline van. After a day or so of letting it dry I'll re-install the float and try once more. Myron's Mopeds offers a float that might work for $25.00, and I've written to them for advice along those lines as well. It's a shame that parts are so difficult to get for these bikes, for they're built like a Korean tank and are unlikely to fall apart like my ancient motorized bicycle.

I should add that a motorized bicycle is absolutely not the same as a moped. The geometry for riding and steering is incorrect, the brakes are a joke, there's no electrical system or suspension, and the whole arrangement is precarious. The idea is fun--the kit including the engine cost eighty bucks--but 25 mph on a bicycle that was never meant to be powered is a terrifying speed.

So, the old float languished beneath the heat lamp I use for drying out clock parts for about an hour, and then sat overnight under cooler conditions. It looked like most of the 'outgassing' occurred through the holes that the needle goes through, but I'm not sure. I'm now going to dip the float into Red-Kote gas tank sealer and let it dry for a day or two, then try it. I shall report on my progress.

I also managed to lose my idle control screw, which turns out to have a M5-0.8 mm thread. So a bolt fits in there nicely, but I forget: is the tip of the screw ground to a perhaps about a 60 degree point, like a center-punch would be?

Thanks for your continuing help and patience.

The latest episode: I dipped the float into my half-can of Red-Kote gas tank sealer.

If anyone here is as old as I am you might remember from your youth a sort of drug-store toy known as "Plastic Bubbles." Cost about ten cents and consisted of a tiny tin tube of a gooey evil-smelling plastic gel and a thin plastic tube. Apply a bit of gel to the end of the tube and you can blow long-lasting bubbles that sort of floated. If you inhaled while producing your bubble you'd experience the crystal mysteries of solvent poisoning.

Anyway, that's essentially what Red-Kote is. I recognized the distinctive odor 65 years after I'd last experienced it.

Before submerging it I removed the needle from the float so that the needle hole would fill with Red-Kote. Then I blew the stuff out of the hole and let the float dry overnight. The needle fit in fine, and I adjusted it to what I think are factory specs: 14.5mm from needle tip to float surface.

I haven't installed the sealed float yet because I wanted to see how it floated. So in a jar of gasoline I found that the float, including the needle, floats with a freeboard of about 1/4 the height of the float--that is, it floats with about a quarter of the float height above the surface of the gasoline. This is a good deal higher than the level I'd had before, which was that the top of the float was level with the gas in the float chamber.

I'm leaving the float in its jar of gasoline overnight to see if it wants to float lower, which would indicate that the float is once again absorbing gas and getting heavier. Its level had not changed over twelve hours or so, so I'm optimistic.

Mark Kinsler

That's precisely what happened. I'd laid the Red-Kote on a bit too thick--it doesn't really level out--and the float got stuck. The carburetor spouted gasoline like the Trevi Fountain.

So, back to the drawing board: turns out that Red-Kote dissolves somewhat in carburetor cleaner, and can be removed completely from the float with a fine rotary brass wire brush I use for some clock-repair operations. So I got it all off and now I'm trying another gasoline-proof sealant called, without apologies to anyone, as Indian Head Gasket Shellac. He's right there on the bottle.

This stuff is thinner and goes on quite smoothly. It seems dry this morning so I'll throw the coated float into the test jar of gasoline to see if it'll float for a day or so.

I should have bought a new float long ago but since one of the pleasures of an old moped consists of fixing the fool thing I really wanted to see if any of this works.

Mark Kinsler