Warnings
Below is a warning I received.
After running and letting set overnight, the next morning the garage had a strong gasoline odor and found the Strongland 2072 with Briggs Vanguard engine completely flooded with gasoline. After venting the garage, pulled the air cleaner & gas was to the brim of the carb, intake, heads, muffler & crankcase – all filled up with gasoline. The float needle valve had to stick open and with the tank, about full & setting higher than the carb gravity took over.
The model #351447 type 0046-01 according to Briggs manual 272144 uses a Mikuni carb. This carb is not equipped with an anti backfire valve (fuel shut off solenoid) so depends only on the needle to shut off fuel flow.
The original steel fuel tank on the last Speedex prototype that Strongland based new production on was replaced with a poly blow mold tank to provide larger fuel capacity. The new tank sets higher than the carb float and when fuel level higher creates a possibility of fuel drain down if the float needle sticks open (also if both float sticks open & fuel solenoid fails on other carb models).
The same problem happens on 1930 model “A” s. The gas tank sets behind the dash relying on gravity flow to the carb and also depended on the float needle. (They even put a fuel shut off valve under the dash which in time still leaked down).
Putting the gas higher than the carb was a safety hazard years ago and still is today.
If you have any warnings that would benefit other Speedex enthusiasts please email us at info@speedextractors.com.