TOPIC: Fuel tank float

I have a 60s vintage Johnson gas tank that I use sometimes on the Aqua Ray. Unfortunately, the cork float on the fuel gauge arm is saturated and just sinks to the bottom, so it always reads empty. What should I use for a replacement float?

Maybe buy a cheap replacement tank and carve the float to fit your's. You can always use the donor tank as a back up.

Originally there was a shellac on the float to keep it from absorbing gas. If you take it out it may eventually get light enough to use again. I have and old Johnson that had that problem. After sitting in a tray with the rest of the carb parts for 5 years it worked perfectly. Anyone know of a gas proof sealer to put on them?

When I rebuilt mine I went to ace hardware and bought some cork in the hardware section. Not sure what it was for but they had some round cork pieces. I then bought some 5 min epoxy and thinned it with some acetone and coated the cork with several coats of it. Been over two years and they still work like a charm.

Lots of people report coating cork floats with model airplane" dope" to protect them against gasohol attack. As I recall, the "dope" smells a lot like nitrocellulose lacquer , which is also available as clear fingernail polish, and as instant bandaides for sealing skin cuts. Model and hobby shops usually sell the airplane dope, which is used to coat fabric covered airplane parts. I haven't had good luck at all with using 5 minute epoxy in contact with gasohol. In my experiments, it takes about 12 hours for the epoxy to soften and start falling off. There may be certain types of epoxy that I haven't tried that are more fuel resistant. In any case, do some experiments with coatings before you install the float.

30 years ago I had a 50 hp merc and was having some idling problems. I took it to a mechanic and he said the carbs still had cork floats and that was back when they were just starting to add ethanol to the gas. He said the floats were absorbing the ethanol and sinking. That was the first I had heard of ethanol in gas. He changed the floats and took care of the problem. I don't know what could be used in the tanks, except maybe a float from a newer tank?
Bill