Predator motor fuel shut off

[d2freak82]

I bought a used predator motor as HF was out of stock on these.... it had a few things done to it for a drift trike - I don't know what all those were, I do know it came with a clutch (bonus! lol) and an exhaust header. I was able to get it to idle but it backfires and surges at higher rpm - I would assume it needs a bigger jet, which I ordered.

Anywho - the fuel shut off attached to the carb for some reason does not work, seems odd to me as it looks untouched as far as modification, not sure there is much you can do to that carb anyways! I do plan to order a mikuni carb for at some point but for now I just want to get this thing going. I shut the fuel off though and the next came out to a puddle of gasoline. Any ideas why the fuel shut off wouldn't work?
Typical mower engines I've never seen one where with gravity flow it keeps going and going? That's also odd - anyways, any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[madprofessor]

Couple of things will make fuel keep flowing like that, but first, puddle of gasoline? Was that with the carb and the tubing still in place? If so, where was it leaking from exactly? Now....................
(1): Did previous owner do away with the sticker on the airbox that shows with arrows which way to slide the shutoff lever to on/off? You could be going the wrong way, thinking backwards. Correct is to the left/fuel on, to the right/fuel off. No sticker may also mean you're backwards on which way to choke on/off. That one's easy, choke on closes the round butterfly valve into the carb, choke off turns it 90 degrees sideways.
(2): The float could be stuck down, needle valve could be stuck open, trash could be in the needle valve seat.
...................So.................
Slowly remove the float bowl without draining it first, and with the shutoff lever turned off, and watch to see if float drops down with the gas in the bowl as it should as you lower it.
If gas keeps running out of carb, best answer is of course to replace the carb. Saving that money, take the carb apart, clean it thoroughly, and leave it completely submerged in carb cleaner overnight. Rinse with something that evaporates completely, and without leaving any residue like WD-40 does.
BTW: You sure that surging isn't caused by the governor?

 

[d2freak82]

Thanks for the response, and I now realize I posted this in the wrong area (my apologies)
The sticker is there for on/off and run/start. Yesterday I ran the engine in both positions for a couple minutes. I disconnected the fuel line last night and stuck a bolt in it, I thought at first it was a fuel line on incorrectly, so I'm fairly sure that fuel is running into the carb. I didn't really think about the float keeping fuel from flowing in - while it's running it seems fine. There was so much fuel in it - I'm guessing it pushed it into the cylinder because I could hardly pull the rope and then it was coming out the exhaust.
Anyways the surging - no I'm not certain that isn't caused by the governor - If I hold the governor rod steady it runs great if anything over an idle it surges from the gov rod and backfires - I would assume it's running lean, but that could be tied to float/needle valve too - I will take the carb apart tonight.

 

[madprofessor]

If any revs over idle speed get the governor moving back and forth, then likely someone messed with the grip of the governor arm on the governor shaft sticking up out of the top of the case, or it slipped on its own. That's a trick recently discussed here to reduce the top speed a little kid can drive, while leaving the full power of the engine unaffected until it gets up to that speed.
Type "Predator 212 governor" in the search bar at top of this page. Read post #16 (top right corner of each post) on 6/26/21 to see how it gets done. You can see from that what you can do to adjust your governor in the opposite direction by adjusting for more tension on the spring instead of less tension.

 

[d2freak82]

I did go ahead and clean out the bottom of the carb, made sure the float spring was riding as it should, pulled out the jet/needle whatever it is from the bottom and blew it out with the compressor. Someone had fun with the bolt on the bottom using pliers or vice grips on it - seems odd to me to not use a wrench or a socket but then again I always keep them handy - even have them in my truck.
As far as the governor I found the post you were mentioning - I toyed with it a bit this morning although I couldn't start the engine as it was 5am in the garage and didn't want to wake up the wife revving the motor lol I choose not to die this day! =) I need to buy some extra fuel line so I can support the tank above the unit to play with the different positions to see what works best or doesn't work. Plus - add a fuel shut off.
I did order the new carb this morning - I couldn't resist lol (mikuni - not a knock off)
Only thing I think I need now is a rim, as 1 of the rims is wallered out where the bearings go in - not really sure if there's a way to bend that back, thought maybe a strap wrench or something but not sure that would apply enough pressure to do it. I keep thinking of an exhaust expander but I need the inverse lol

 

[Bansil]

My wife must be related to yours

 

[madprofessor]

I think any one of my ex-wives could be his wife.
Saw your "Help with wheel flare" post about that wallowed out opening, gave you my idea of a fix there.
Just read again where you said you ran the engine "a couple minutes" in both directions of shutoff. With the fuel shut off, that fuel bowl still holds enough gas to idle an engine for maybe as much as 4-5 minutes before it finally starves out.

 

[d2freak82]

Wow, no idea the carb bowl holds that much. Pending weather I may get back to it before the weekend, also depends on wake time but I got whole bunch of toys in the mail for it today and more coming tomorrow!
This is my 5th wife, she's pretty great though! We've stayed together longer than any of the rest so I think we're gonna make it.
Or maybe I just learned from the rest lol

 

[Bansil]

" Pending weather I may get back to it before the weekend, also depends on wake time"
Or maybe I just learned from the rest lol

First off you ....just...can't learn from them, so onto next thing!!!!

Wake time, baby.... I miss our boat time
....been too busy

 

[madprofessor]

You STUD! I wore out after only 4 wives. Keep on rockin' 'em!

 

[Millwright]

4th and 5th wives!!!

Hows does that saying go?
Fool me once.......


Lol you guys are hard-core.

 

[madprofessor]

Wives are hard-core. I'm just hard-headed.

 

[d2freak82]

So I took the carb apart again for forget investigation on the fuel shutting off. I cleaned the needle valve and filled a pan with gas to check if the float would float... Which the swivel end does not but the other end did.
Reassembled and if you push the float all the way up it sticks closed.
Anything below that it seems to move fine, not sure if it seals the fuel without being stuck all the way up, at a guess that may be the issue with this.
I received my mikuni carb today but I'm really nervous about it not working for me without a lot of adjustment... Tempted to buy another stock carb but not sure what to do here -any thoughts?
And then - not sure Amazon jets for the carb are the best, where to buy?

 

[d2freak82]

Omg I was so worried about trying to run the motor on the mikuni, the jet will be wrong this won't work, I bet the fuel tank won't gravity feed right so on....
Hooked up the fuel and a shut off valve, tried to see if the valve worked, got fuel into the carb, screw it let's give it a couple pulls. 2nd one she fired and ran beautifully.
Only thing I'm worried about there's a little tiny barbed outlet on the bottom of the carb - everyone once in a while it drips - what is that for? Can I plug it?

 

[madprofessor]

Search Results for 1/4" barb fitting at The Home Depot
By barb do you mean like the fittings in the above link for "1/4" barb fittings" ??? Or do you mean funky-looking sharp piece like the barb on a fishhook? Can you post a pic?

 

[d2freak82]

It's much smaller than 1/4, likely more than half that size.

 

[madprofessor]

That is definitely a bowl drain. Somewhere there should be a bolt or screw that makes it open up, and apparently it's not closed tight.
Failing that fix, cut a short piece of fuel line that fits over it. Visegrip one end of tubing closed, and melt it together solid. Slip it onto fitting.

 

[d2freak82]

Attached pic the carb drain bolt, the small valve on the inside goes to the small copper rod - or whatever you want to call it

 

[Bansil]

Overflow, clear hose about 12 inches long most motorcycles/4wheelers have them

 

[d2freak82]

Can't say for certain that's where it's dripping from but it's a brand new carb, shouldn't the float stop it from getting too high? It's metal maybe it needs adjusted I dunno