Hi,
Update on the carb. It's still leaking, but not as much. It's definately at the bottom of the bowl (not the fuel line, not the brass plug, etc). A tech at Holley told me it was pretty common, and suggested to use 2 gaskets, and go through a few heat cycles and then retighten the screws... and live with it (!).
I've got a leak in the driveshaft (front and rear) also, but thought I should start a new post for that.
Thanks all for the help and suggestions. Wish I could have come up with a better solution - as I know I'm not the only one who has a 'weaping' carburetor! The tech at Holley (Larry) was real nice - guess he works with the 'vintage' carbs.

 

LOL.....well, at least you got it down to a slow weep. I like vintage stuff, but I don't like carburetors. One of the things I plan to do to my truck is to make it fuel injected.

That could be a fun project

Good luck with it
Bobby

 

Hello Again,

Just an update on the carb. I think I've finally got the leak stopped. I wound-up using a rubber o-ring (a friend found it in his yard! and thought it was out of a transmission). I cut the ring and removed about 1/8" to make it the right size, and used some "Seal All" to "tack" it in place. I put the 'seam' at the top and reassembled everything and let it sit for two days before putting gas back into it and it's been good for over a week now.
So just FYI, it's very difficult to find a sealant that withstands gasoline for very long. Many of them that I tried worked for a day or two, and a couple for a few days... I think the 'trick' is to find something large/thick enough to 'fill in' the irregularities and seat between the different materials (glass bowl and metal main body) that probably heat and expand/cool at different rates.
Anyway, so far so good... Thanks again for the help!

 

just wondering if you installed the gasket between the outside of the bowl and the metal retaining ring? without that gasket the little clamps won't put enough pressure on the bowl to seal..they bottom out before complete pressure is achived, its a close tolorence with the glass bowl carbs

 

Yep, but it's a pretty flimsy gasket (it came with the cheap rebuild kit). I hadn't thought about using something thicker out there - that's a great thought. The one that came with the kit is very thin - not much thicker than a sheet of paper, and not very wide, either. During the assembly/reassembly, and mounting, etc it has often just pulled right through/off of the metal clamps/retaining ring - like I said - it's real flimsy.
The rebuild kit I got (from Autozone) was $14.xx, as opposed to some I have seen listed for around $40-45... so it might not be the best quality one, and in fact, it's possible that they don't even include the gasket you are talking about...
There is just a diagram, showing assembly, but nothing is identified, and there were only 2 gaskets in the kit that are about the size of the fuel bowl. I obviously put the larger/thicker one on the carb face, and as shown in the diagram, the one on the outside of the bowl is thinner, so I used that one there, but again, there is barely anything there at all.
The carb didn't have any gasket on the outside when I got it, so I didn't have anything to go on other than the parts and diagram in the kit.
That's a great thought(!) - I'll see if I can find what that gasket is supposed to look like anywhere. It's hard to find any individual replacement parts for that carb, other than just buying a kit... and I guess you get what you pay for.

 

it sounds like you got it right, that outer gasket is thin, I would bet that more than likely your carb body is tweaked, I've seen lots of them that way from people over tightening the bowl screws...may be time for another carb if all else fails...just keep your glass bowl to put on another, they're getting hard to find..I love minbut actualy had on break from something on the road that flew up and hit it, now a carry a metal one with me just incase

 

Yeah. The original 1904 carb was really tweaked badly, so I got this one off of EBay - it was pretty dirty, but pretty straight (looking). The original didn't have the glass bowl, but the new (EBay) current one does - I like it, but haven't seen a replacement bowl for them anywhere. I hadn't thought about carrying a spare metal one - good idea. I'll throw one in my toolbag! Thanks for the tip!

 

keep your eye on the Ebay stuff, I bought a nice rebuild for $25 that I keep for a spare..glad to hear your up and running