Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

iansoady wrote:I made an adaptor out of an old main jet holder to check fuel level (not on the bike as it's impossible (for me) to get to).....

That's a very good idea, looks like I need to make one up, thanks for the post.

Hi John,
I have had the bike running very erratically. Sometimes on the f/s cylinderand sometimes on the n/s. But petrol poured out of each exhaust. I have stripped down the carb and found the pilot jet was blocked, I was unable to clear it. I sent away for a new jet,The bike did run on both cylinders, but petrol continued to flow from the exhausts. I am now waiting for a new needle valve, as I need to solve the problem with flooding.
I have tried plug hole priming without success. Mainly due to other problems that required solving.
I agree with you about the seals. I have replaced the seals and consider my next task is to solve the flooding. If the bike still doesn’t run properly I am prepared to dismantle the engine again to check the seals. At the moment I seem to solve one problem and then there is another to take its place.
JOHN

hi john , i had similar thing with my leader this weekend gone , it ran the first time i started it but then i changed one of the exhaust downpipes and next time i tried starting it i couldnt get it going .
did have a bit of fuel down on the floor and although plugs were wet at tmes and still sparking it wouldnt go .

i left plugs out overnight then tried again the next day , this time with the choke on it would try to fire on one cylinder but not two , and i could kick it in succession and get it to fire but not run .
eventually it did go and then on both cylinders .
the downpipe wasnt sealing quite enough and through that i noted a fair amount of fuel mix running out of the exhaust port and down to the floor .
i had obviously flooded the engine to the extent of having the crankcase full of fuel on one side .

gong back to when i first got the bike out of storage i had a fair bit of fuel out of the carb and on to the floor , which was caused by the float needle staying open .

there is a little article i copied and attached which says a few things about the float etc on amal carbs .

i think you can raise the level using a shim washer kit from amal but if you need to lower it i am not sure if the new stayup float kit is and adjustable tang on the float to allow this , although the guy in the article machined a needle seat down a bit so he could lower his float level that way , and then if reqd adjust with shim kit .

not sure if the new amal needle seat face is shorter than the originals , so you can facilitate float level changes .

looks like if you have a brass float you can add a blob of solder to the tang and file it to suit and set float level , but would maybe need to be quick soldering as you dont want to unsolder any of the float joints .

i did have a brass and a nylon needle and it looked like one produced a different float height to the other when i was swapping about parts .
the original needle was the nylon one and the brass is a later viton tipped type , so perhaps theres a difference between parts .

i dont know the float level for the monobloc off my head .

i had a flooding issue on my cafe racer ariel but that uses a concentric carb and it was the float level that was the culprit , but i could adjust the float on that one and set the level as i wanted .

ian


http://www.whfolk.co.uk/REOCHUMBER/Arti ... nobloc.htm

Don't some of the AMAL carbs have their float levels changed by tapping the needle holder up or down in the carb body ?
Might just be concentric, can't remember offhand.

Yes, that is concentric.

Hi Ian,
Read the article you posted with interest. It would appear that these little engines although they are simple, they are also not so easy at forgiving if things are not quite right.
When I receive the new needle I will try some of your ideas to sort out the carb.I hope you find the solution to your problems. I would appreciate you keeping me posted on your progress, as I believe these engine can suffer from similar problems.
JOHN