Epoxy repair inside a carb

[Steve D]

I’m usually a little leery of epoxy repairs on carbs. But I was wondering what your opinions were on this. The carb had a lot of corrosion inside similar to picture #1. To the point that it weakened the top part of the post for the hinge pin, and it crumbled away leaving no hole for the pin itself. So I assembled the pin in the float arm and laid it in where it’s supposed to go and epoxied the top, picture #2.

I used 5/1 Marine-Tex, not the 50/50 quick-set version. Has anyone one else used Marine-Tex for a repair submerged in gas? I put a little piece of cured epoxy in a container of gas to see what happens but not sure of the long term results. I think we talked about this before concerning gas tanks and the results/opinions varied.

I’d hate to have to scrap the carb since this is all that’s wrong with it, but I don’t want to get stuck either.

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[ken-w]

What’s the casting part number, I have a couple of 25 hp carbs laying around.

[Steve D]

Thanks for that offer Ken, I appreciate it. It’s from a ’60 Evinrude 18 horse and I do have a back-up for it but I’m hoping to be able to keep this one in service if I can.

[aquasonic]

I had the same thing happen on a saltwater used 1955 Fleetwin carb. I took the easy way out, scrapped the upper carb section and retrofit one from a parts carb that I had on hand.

That carb looks great and so does the repair. Nice job.

Improvise-Adapt-Overcome

[david-bartlett]

Steve,

I think it would be interesting to run it and use it as a "test" case to see how this type or repair holds up over time.

[chris-p]

Keep the chunk of epoxy in the fuel in a jar on your work bench. If it ever breaks down, time to swap the carb out!

[jcrigan]

If i didn’t have another choice, i would use a strip of brass as a replacement post. Fastening it with a #4×40 screw and pin.

[Steve D]

Thanks for the comments guys. I think I may just use it as a "test" case and keep my eye on the chunk I have in the gas. If the canary drops from its perch, I know it’s time to get out of the mine. 😮

[johnny-infl]

Steve, do you have any way to make an aluminum replica that can
be soldered on with the aluminum welding rod and MAPP torch ?
might be a worth while project if you have an old carb that you can sacrifice
for the practicing.

[Steve D]

Yeah, if this doesn’t work I’ll have to try something else…or just scrap it. Thanks Johnny.

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