Revision to anti-percolation holes in Webers

[1QuickS]

Long have we been drilling the top covers in our Webers to help lessen the chance of engine compartment fires due to boiling fuel in the float bowls of our Webers spilling out the vent tubes and down upon our hot exhaust headers. The remedy was created by Weber to drill some "venting holes" through internal webs in the top covers. This Weber remedy was popularized by PMO which has provided a jig for the convenient replication of this "venting" modification.

I have come to find that this solution was good to a point but is flawed in that the fuel vents through these drilled holes and then floods the air correction jet for the idle/progression circuit before being directed into the throttle bore.

This fuel path is expedient in that the fuel passes through the notch in the top cover which provides air for the air correction jet which is a required feature engineered into the carburetor.

The troubles with this expedient solution are twofold:

when an engine is started shortly after shut-down, the fuel (if it has boiled or percolated) will add fuel into the idle/progression circuit via the air bleed hole which results in an effective enriching of the idle circuit causing a rich starting mixture (flooding)
the second issue is for performance users to take note of; the sloshing fuel will flood the air correction jet so that during sustained high, lateral G-loading the idle/progression circuit is flooded which creates a "flat spot" during exiting of the cornering event...commonly assumed to be due to fuel starvation and not fuel enrichment


The photograph shows the PMO fixture and the location of typically located venting holes with the associated notch for supplying air to the idle air bleed jet. Also shown are the vent holes that are more centrally located and the additional notch in the top cover which spills percolating fuel down the throttle bore without flooding the idle circuit.

[nilknarf]

older thread, but hey- I just noticed it! Thanks Paul- is there a parallel to this situation for Zeniths? And for those of us with Webers, what are your thoughts on the remedy for this situation? Perhaps the installation of a drain tube to route excess fuel out of the carbs all together? Perhaps into a charcoal cannister?

As always, thanks for sharing your expertise with the clan!

Curt