Float Bowl Gaskets

[Rickytic]

The carbs on my CL77 were rebuilt and everything works great with the exception of the float bowl gaskets. Don't know what kit was used, but the float bowl gaskets are made of rubber and when the fuel gets to the gasket, they begin to deform and creates leaks. Additionally, the gaskets are somewhat wide and interfere with the float movement. Any suggestions of what float bowl gasket kit is the best, or do I get some cork and make some. Not sure if cork will work with gas or not.

Will accept any help I can get.

Thanks.

Rickytic

[48lesco]

I had the same problem with those gaskets. I got some new ones from retro bikes (http://www.olypen.com/retro/) and they were higher quality, kind of a fiber-reinforced sandwich construction that I think won't swell as much. Some of the nicest people to deal with too! You can also pinch the floats in a little to give them more clearance on the outside.

[Rickytic]

Thanks for the info, that's good to know. Is there a parts house that I can just get the float bowl gaskets? Don't need to buy the whole new kit.

Thinking about going to Napa or O'Reilys today to get some gasket material and build my own, just got the bike and want to play with it a little.

[brewsky]

Take your old gasket to your Honda dealer and see if they can match it up.
CB750K thru '76 will work as well as some others I can't remember.

[48lesco]

I would just call retrobikes. The gaskets will be in your mailbox in a couple days. There are two types of bowls, square (late) and rounded (early) make sure you tell them which type you have. If your not sure, post a pic and we can let you know.
-48

[Rickytic]

Thanks again, I have the square bowls. I will order the gaskets just to have them on hand for future use. I went to the local auto parts store this morning and got some gasket material, made the gaskets, put them on and all is well.

Only problem now is, I think I have inadvertantly changed the float level when I tried to put the left bowl on the carb. Initially when I put the bowl on the left carb(the difficult one to get on), gas would not flow into the bowl. It appears that the float was stuck and would not let fuel into the bowl. I messed around with the float and finally got gas to flow into the bowl. Almost didn't get the bike started. Now, the bike is hard to start and after it starts and runs for a few minutes, it starves for gas. Guess I might have to take the carbs off, tweek the floats, and reset the float levels. Upon trying to start the bike, I checked the spark plugs, the left spark plug was dry while the right plug was wet. Starting to get a little frustrated, so I called it a day and jumped on my Harley and went for a ride. Will attack it again tomorrow.