MTFCA Forum

My Lizzie pulled up with a belly-ache the other day, woes with the Holley G I’m running. It’s a brass-body G I rebuilt about 7 years ago, using the available composite foam float available from Lang’s. As usual, it’s never just one thing wrong, found a little crud in the inlet port, and the float valve prospered by “lapping” with toothpaste. When I could not get the float level set properly, I finally accepted the fact that the float had become “waterlogged” in gasoline. Replaced the float with a new one of the same material, problem solved.

Just wondering if others have found this float material will eventually soak up and sink ?
Tiny bits of unidentified “crud” from the inlet passage

The float material I purcased from Langs was closed cell. I rebuild a few floats using this stuff some years ago and havent had an issue.
I dont know if this makes a difference but I puchased blocks of the material and made my own using originals as a guide. I never sealed them.

Both from the same source, perhaps we can assume it’s the same stuff ? It appears to be the same vis-a-vis the photo. Lang’s catalogue only specifies “modern material”. Just curious whether anyone else has found that it will absorb fuel “in time” ?

BTW, Nice work on that float, Richard !

Differences in mandated gasoline additives from one area to another might be a factor.

Pat, I wondered if that could be the case. I shouldn’t complain about failure after several years, but it caught me off guard.

Nitrophyl is the material now in Holley, Carter, Quadrajets, etc.

It's impervious to gas and alcohol.

Thank you, Jeffrey. That’s instructive. Now to research it and determine if it can be formed into Model T carb floats.
Identifying the material Lang’s provides is still a problem.

WWW.RestorationStuff.com

Page 20

I ordered a piece of nitrophyl from Kelch Restoration Services in Bethel, Ohio. The gent I spoke with said he’s been using nitrophyl for floats for 20 years, no failures. He did say there are foam products being used that eventually get “waterlogged”, some swell and bind in the bowl.

Caveat emptor !

Update for anyone interested in this thread. The block of nitrophyl from Kelch Restorations came in today’s post.
FWIW, its appearance is VERY different from the float blank I had obtained from Lang’s. Smooth, black, with a sheen even when cut, it does not resemble the grey, granular texture of the previous material.