[Bigtruckdrivah]

All that drama over some sight plugs. I've ran 110 all over the intake and headers and not caught fire. Only time I caught anything on fire was when floats were high, spilled fuel on the intake, then had a backfire through the carb. All of which was MY fault. You might think of inspecting for fuel leaks before lighting it up again. I make a habit of kicking the pump on and looking for leaks before I ever light the ignition.

 

[oldvintageiron]

I bought some and couldn't see the fuel through them. For where the fuel needs to be in the fuel bowl ( just up to the threads on the front bowl and small dribbles out the rear bowl) they are useless. I don't think I throw them in the trash bust I don't use them.

 

[Eman85]

Just rebuilt a carb for a friend. it had been sitting for a couple of years and had the plastic plugs. They snapped off flush when I tried to unscrew them. Drilled out the pieces and put regular plugs back in.

It's a good tip not to waste your time and money with these plugs.

 

[Law & Order]

If your thinking about buying them.....don't do it period
If you have them in a carb that runs even 110 race fuel.....get them out and do it now.

3 years ago dad and I started to build me a 1972 Rally Nova at the time Dad built me a 650 dbl pumper from parts he had. It has the HP main body but all the rest except metering plates is standard Holley, Quick Fuel parts. Well instead of spending the extra coin for a new set of bowls with the sight glass already in them we ordered a pair of the plastic sight plugs to screw in the bowls so you could see your fuel level instead

Long story short let it warm up and all of a sudden there was a ka-whoomp noise and flames coming out from under the car....under the hood .....the only thing we found was both the little plastic sight plugs had turned soft and were falling out of both fuel bowls allowing raw 110 race fuel to squirt all over the engine

I called Jegs where Dad bought them.good luck to you.....but if your thinking about using them instead of the brass screw or just buying a set of pro form even fuel bowls with the sight glass in them......don't do it or you might wind up way worse than me.

A few comments

1. I've been using these sight plugs since the 70s without issueand continue to use them with race fuel
2. Jegs and Summit house brands are chinese garbage.
3. nothing wrong, no danger using these site plugs providing you purchase genuine Holley parts or Moroso and don't over tighten them
4. the best way to set your fuel level/float level is to remove the bowls and either set them with a caliper referencing the parting line in the float or by invertering the bowl and using a 7/16" bolt of drill bit as your gauge.

 

[ED501]

Dont any of you guys use the float height as for tuning? AND SEEN TOO MANY brass floats twisted and throw off the measuring method.

 

[Srt8line Performance]

Never heard of this, thanks for posting OP. I have the glass sights now but if I ever have a customer come in with them they will be removed. If it happened once, that's too many times in my book.

 

[Adobedude]

Base plate screws can fall out too.

 

[Kane]

This is the best way per Bob Book.

Throttle Shaft and Bushings taking a beating...

 

[TR Chassis]

They are just a temporary tuning aid to view/adjust the fuel level while the engine is running and then replace with the original brass plugs after done tuning. I don't even like the current trend to the glass sites. Still potential for leaks/fire.

This.

Rick

 

[68Bird]

I used the Holley brand sight plugs for 3-4 years with a blow-thru carb and 25psi of boost even.

 

[bsj]

Thanks for the reminder about the site plugs. I found out about the. K&n filter tops the same way, wish someone would have givin me a heads up about them.. Best of luck with the nova and don't let some idiots spoil it for you and your son.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Glad no one was hurt and you didn't loose anything major.

Here is my experience with the clear sight plugs. I have run the Moroso and the Holley clear plastic screw in sight plugs I think since they were invented back in the 80's. I had a BG 950HP that came with them I used for 15 years. I have put them in at least 30 other people carbs that I have worked on. They have stood up to every fuel you can imagine from alcohol to Q16. Not one ever melted or fogged up unless....... they were sprayed with the green can CRC Brakleen. That stuff has ruined more screw driver handles and plastic things around my house than I can remember. Never use it to clean overspray off tail light lenses. I now only buy the red can CRC Brakleen. I did see a few clear sight plugs broken from people over tightening them with pliers.

Has anyone ever sprayed your carb with green can CRC Brakleen?

 

[Nelly Nova]

I'm glad that nobody was injured in the incident. I bought a carb from a builder and those same clear plugs were installed in it. I had to rape an old carb for the propper plugs.

 

[carby]

Sorry to hear this OP, but I think you learned a couple of lessons here that you won't repeat.
First those plastic plugs are gimmick junk, there are different levels of quality to clear plastics, some will tolerate fuel, most will not, you can be sure whatever you buy today will be made from the cheapest material available.

Those plugs are useless because if you can actually see the fuel level the floats are too high.

If you have an electric pump turn it on and inspect everything for leaks before starting the engine. Remove the brass plugs and the fuel level should be at the bottom of the threads if so put the brass plugs back in, if not figure out what's wrong before you start it. Now start the engine and re-inspect for leaks except leave the brass plugs in. If all checks out you should be good to go. If you can't get the hood off quickly by yourself take it off before doing any of this.

Your dad said he set the floats before starting the car, he didn't mention how long it sat before fuel was sent through it, if it sat for too long dry something in the float or needle & seat could have been stuck. What ever the situation if the float level were correct there wouldn't have been enough fuel coming out to start a fire. A couple of minutes of inspection would have saved you from this issue.

You learned a valuable lesson with minimal damage so consider yourself lucky.

Never take anything for granted on a race car, check everything you can think of before starting the engine. I've been nearly killed in the pits a few times aver the years, some my own fault some the fault of others and I was in the wrong lace at the wrong time.

When something goes wrong learn from it, things will go wrong. Why do you think your old man made you have a fire system? He's probably seen something similar happen would be my guess.

And screw the haters, it's the nature of this website, unfortunately, there's a section in here for that but some get confused. I'm sure the first car they ever built ran 8's off the trailer, first time out and they've never had anything go wrong.

Good luck in the future.

 

[yeti]

In the 45+years these have been around I've personally seen probably five or six fires from them failing and maybe a dozen more times one leaked or fell out and didn't catch fire. Some get brittle, some get soft, different fuels, different plastics. I forget when they first came out, in the late 60's by Eelco or Mr. Gasket I think.

 

[427Capri]

Ok, I'm going to chime in on this one as well. Randy and his son are personal friends of mine. I know everything that happened that day and what led up to it. Accidents happened and unfortunately it happened to them this time. All that he was trying to do was make sure that no one else had the same issue. They are good people and if they see something wrong, they are the first ones to say something, not because they want credit for it, to bash anybody, or anything else, but because they don't want to see anybody hurt or otherwise from it, nothing more, nothing less.

To johnpolesmokerjr and 427capri, before you open your mouth about somebody you better make sure you know who you're talking about. Randy and his family are obviously WAY better people than you are even capable of being. How about instead of slamming someone from your mom's basement computer while you're sitting there pulling one off in her panties, just say thank you that they were willing to try and help to keep it from happening again.

As to the sight plugs they are talking about, I ran the Moroso brand for about a week. They did the same thing, got foggy, degraded, and fell apart. Had to take the float bowls off to get them cleaned out, and NO WHERE did it say they were meant for checking levels only and needed to be replaced after doing so. Not saying that wasn't the case before, but it wasn't for me....fortunately I didn't have the spillage issue they did, but things happen.

It's seem so funny that people are so willing to slam someone when they are only offering their experience and help. Part of what's wrong with this country....If more people opened their ears and eyes and shut their mouths, we'd be a lot better off....

Interesting comments. My first reply I agreed they were a "shit product" and said I must be a dipshit too because the first reply (not mine by the way) called the op a dipshit. I used Moroso sight plugs and they fell apart in a week. Nowhere on the packaging did they say for temporary use either. IIRR they didn't have any kind of instruction at all. My second reply was just commenting on the writing technique that seems to be very similar between father and son. So you think I bashed someone because I made an off the cuff remark about it, is that it?

Maybe what you should do is read what you wrote, I mean, "mom's basement" "pulling off in here panties" are you serious with this crap? Maybe you should mature a little before your next post and get your facts straight beforehand too.

Thank You, 427Capri

 

[carby]

Throttle Shaft and Bushings taking a beating...

????

 

[KwikSS]

Glad no one was hurt and you didn't loose anything major.

Here is my experience with the clear sight plugs. I have run the Moroso and the Holley clear plastic screw in sight plugs I think since they were invented back in the 80's. I had a BG 950HP that came with them I used for 15 years. I have put them in at least 30 other people carbs that I have worked on. They have stood up to every fuel you can imagine from alcohol to Q16. Not one ever melted or fogged up unless....... they were sprayed with the green can CRC Brakleen. That stuff has ruined more screw driver handles and plastic things around my house than I can remember. Never use it to clean overspray off tail light lenses. I now only buy the red can CRC Brakleen. I did see a few clear sight plugs broken from people over tightening them with pliers.

Has anyone ever sprayed your carb with green can CRC Brakleen?

Good point on the brake cleaner. It tears the hell out of plastic screwdriver handles in short order. Done that more than once.

 

[crazees]

I've used these before.....think maybe they were Moroso. Never had any melt but have seen them cloud up to where they weren't any worth. Don't think I've got any In use presently, if there is some they're probably on the secondary side as the acc. pump arm kind of enter fears when installing the brass ones. I've had to drill them out before when the thread siezes and the head breaks off. Trying to switch to the quick fuel replacement bowls as they have the widows. Going to have to check my junk out...THANKS for the heads up.

 

[MichaelP]

So your on here to warn others about your mistake for buying some cheap plastic sight plugs that jegs and other vendors sell. That's fine and if it saves others problems than the post you've taken out is well worth it.

Nothing governs this industry and shopping for cheap quick fixes via mail order rags does not help racers either. Take the time to learn how to properly set float levels and no one will have any issues. The proper way is to set them off the carb and upside down. No window or glass should ever be incorporated into a float bowl, nor should a fuel pressure gauge be on a race vehicle during operation. If you feel you have a fuel pressure issue, than install it to check your issue. If you feel you have a float level issue, take them off and set them correctly and re-install.

Why shouldn't there be a fuel pressure gauge during operation? You could end up chasing another issue when it turns out to be fuel pressure. And even with a gauge you don't necessarily get a chance to see it on the top end, especially if bracket or index racing (where you are focused on driving the finish line). I learned of a fuel pressure problem after the end of the season, reading datalogs, yet nothing showed up in the car's performance.

????

I think he was referring to the initial angle the throttle linkage is pulling from, placing excessive force on the throttle shaft bushings.