Valk carb float seats & hydrolock

[rhubarbray]

Just as a note to all, over the winter I had the carbs apart to check and clean them as last year was my first year owning it. I ended having to pull the carbs back out for another issue but when I had them apart I gave the float needles and seats a good look. The needles were near perfect but when I took a look at the seats with a magnifying glass I could see that the seat surface for the needle was slightly pitted. A while ago I had made a tool for lapping these seats smooth again which came in handy but what would cause the brass to pit and would this maybe cause some of the issues of hydrolock?

[Hook#3287]

but what would cause the brass to pit and would this maybe cause some of the issues of hydrolock?

There's two Million Dollar Questions, my guesses would be ethanol and yes.

Picture and design of the lapping tool would be something I'd like to see.

Nice find 

[Leathel]

the only problem I see with lapping is there is no adjustment on the float level so lapping will lift the fuel level, if its not even in every carb it will unbalance them.....and get them running to rich?

[98valk]

the question to ask first is the material of the seats, brass or bronze?  Honda built these bikes and carbs to be perfectly fine up to 10% ethanol.
Brass has zinc in various ratios which will leach out sacrificially if there is corrosion in the area/system. smaller % of zinc less leaching.
Bronze has almost no zinc.
Higher than 10% ethanol does start corroding aluminum.

answer new 360 stabil which also puts a coating on the top of the tank which is not submerged in gasoline to prevent rust/corrosion.

[rhubarbray]

Brass or bronze? No idea. but brass is quite a bit cheaper and easier to machine so I`m guessing brass purely from a manufacturing standpoint. Good to know about the 360 Stabil, will have to look that one up.
 I`m using 600 grit lapping compound so material removed is negligible. I also finished it off with 1000 grit to remove any scratches from the 600.

I can`t seem to attach a pic of the tool I used but I don`t have Photobucket or stash. Not on Facebook either. No desire to sign up for any of them either. I waste way too much time on the internet as it is.

[Grumpy]

Some thing I do is take a wood chop stick and grind the end to about a 30 degree taper, then chuck it in an electric drill and use it to burnish the seats. Does not remove any metal, just polishes them.

[Pete]

What I find in the float valves is often a residue that looks like pitting but is removed using a q-tip and cleaner.

[BonS]

Yup, break a Q-Tip in half, put it in a drill, and put some brass-o or other brass polish (or chrome polish) on it. It'll leave the seat shiny as new.