A long time ago someone very knowledgeable about these things told me that the very easy way to check for a correct float level on DCOE carbs was to simply pull one of the emulsion tubes (which hold the air and gas jets) and see where the fuel level hit on the emulsion tube(s).
Really easy to do and great advice. Fantastic. But two small problems, I don't remember where on the tube he said was the "correct" level and 2) it's really, really hard to see exactly how high the fuel comes up on tube, even after wiping it off first and reinserting.
So, regarding problem #2, it's an easy fix -- just use a black tiewrap as a dipstick into an empty emulsion tube hole. You can easily read the fuel level on that and then translate that to the tube.
Regarding problem #1, clever me decided to RTFM (Read The F___ Manual). Guess what, none of the manuals tell you where the fuel level in the bowl should be. Sure they give you the correct float settings. (You know, remove the top, hold the top assembly vertical and measure from the base of the top to the bottom of the brass float, etc. etc.) Well guess what; there ain't no brass floats around these days, only plastic which ain't round but rather oddly trapezoidal or some such shape.
Not to be discouraged, somewhere I read that for the plastic floats should be 12mm or until the bottom of the float is parallel to the top (instead of the 8.5mm specified for the round brass floats). Guess what, to get the plastic float parallel to the base plate requires a 15 mm gap.
So damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. After setting the floats at 12mm gap (and not parallel), much popping and farting at idle -- Fuel level clearly too high. So I reset 'em to be level which turned out to be a 15 mm gap (see pics). Now idles fine. Gaining on it.
(To see a much higher res image of above, CLICK HERE)
The standard Weber DCOE schematic for the fuel during the normal power stage (see pic) would imply the fuel should come to point "A" on the attached picture of a tube. As noted, even at 15 mm gap (i.e the float bottom is parallel with top's base) the fuel level is way higher than the schematic would suggest. And, at idle it runs great.
But it still seem to me the gap setting on the floats is only "correct" if it results in the appropriate level in the bowl to run well at speed. Thus question remains. What is that "correct" level for fuel (not float gap) when using the emulsion tube observation which would seem to me to be the very best way to gauge it? Then set floats to get that level.
Any thoughts or suggestions? As usual, thanks to ApexSpeed for all the residnet expertise.