Float Level Question

All,
1980 XJ650 Maxim carbs
My question is has anyone ever took the approach when setting wet float levels on these Hitachi carbs of: measuring the amount of fuel in the bowl after it fills? I have carefully measured and set the float levels, and filled the level carbs sitting on my work bench. When I drain each bowl, I get 48 - 51 ML of fuel out of each. The first one I drained was 51ML, which I assume the 3" fuel line and manifold content was included, the other 3 were 48-50ML. It would be great to have a fuel content +/- amount for reference. Drain the bowl, measure, then you will know if the float setting is correct or not.
Anyone ever been here, done that?

Thanks all.

 

I reckon you got damn good eyes.
How did you measure the fluid?

 

so with your method you can only measure 3 of the four bowls then you have to refill so you can test the fourth bowl?

with the current wet set method I just have to hold a tube to the side of the carb to check the level

no tells you nothing unless you have properly set the fuel levels to begin with

you think the manifold and 3 inch fuel line only contains 1 to 3 CC out of it? 3 inches of fuel line is 2.153 cc

so you measured 4 bowls all with different fuel levels.

once you do a wet set to spec the fuel levels in carbs do not change due to wear.
also doing a level check with a tube will show if you have an internal fuel leak in the carbs and which carb is the problem.

 

I didn't really do that intentionally and didn't have a precise graduated measuring vessel.

However after my carb rebuild, had wet set proper levels . . . then had an issue with hanging idle (newbie never gets things right the first time ) drained fuel out of carb bowls into a small glass bottle, one at a time. Fiddled a bit, put carbs back on, still had a problem, had to take rack back off ( this went on several more times - the whole carb rebuild virgin thing).

Anyhow the 2nd time I drained the bowls I had a sharpie there, set the small glass bottle on a level surface and marked where the fuel was. More as a quirky, anal retentive thing that was a quick and easy verification that all 4 bowls held the same amount of fuel. Although I wouldn't consider it a replacement for the 'glass tube'. Although castings, hardware and what not should all be the same, so I would suppose there is a direct correlation between fuel level and fuel quantity.

 

By using the clar tube you are measuring the volume in each float bowl. If the fuel level is the same for each carb, then the volume in each float bowl is also the same.

Volume = L • W • H. The length and width of the float bowls are a constant (and measurable). The height of the fuel is the variable (and also measurable).

Of course the float bowls are not perfect cubes, so the computed volume will not exactly match the actual volume; but then we really don't need to know the actual volume in order to set the float heights.