leaking carburator

[RobCL77]

Hi,
I have a 1967 CL77 that I recently restored. The problem I'm having is a leak on the overflow tube on my right carb. I've taken it apart and cleaned all the parts thouroughly and adjusted the floats to 22.5mm (my carb has a 26mm stamped on the side of the carb flange and according to what I've read my float setting should be 22.5mm). Question #1: Should the spring on the float valve be pushed in or left alone when making the measurement? Yesterday I emptied my gas tank and took apart the petcock and cleaned all the parts thouroughly and put everything back together and put the gas back in the tank. I DID NOT turn the petcock lever on. I wanted to see if the gas was getting to bowl and causing the leak at the overflow tube. Late last night I checked the bowl and it was full of gas. Question #2: If I have a leak in my petcock, shouldn't the float valve still seal off the flow of gas to the bowl? Do you think I need to replace the float valve (Keyster carb rebuilt kit) as well as a petcock rebuild kit? Hope someone can help with this as my bike is stored in my basement and my wife is complaining about the gas smell.
Thanks, Rob

[joeweir1]

The little spring should not be pressed in when adjusting the float level.You would think the float needle would shut off the fuel flow if the petcock was leaking.If you have the original float valve and seat I would suspect them.They do get worn and either can stick or leak.Make sure there is no cracks in the overflow tube.On my CA77 the Keyster kit came with different jets, so you may want to get the correct ones from Honda or another source if the Keyster is different.I would think if you take the bowl off and hold the float up to seat the valve you could watch for fuel flow that way.Hope that helps alittle.I think petcock rebuild is a good idea on a restoration.Make sure fuel is not leaking thru the mounting screws.this can be seen easily when the bowl is off the petcock.