V8 Fuel Leak!

Hi all!

Any help with this one would be most appreciated!!!

I have recently been experiencing an intermitent fuel leak on my 1973 Range Rover with a carburettered 3.5. It has twin stromberg carbs and most of the time runs beautifully. However, once in a while, I get a heavy fuel leak from the rear of the left hand carb (as you look at the car from the front)
Up until now I have been able to rectify this by undoing the dash-pots and pumping up and down the damper a few times, although I cant be sure if this is just coincidence or actually any help???
It now seems to have progressed and I cannot run the car without this leak!!!
Any ideas what could be causing this? It has been suggested to me the diaphragm???
Thanks!
Chris

Hi Chris, the Stromberg carbs can be problematic, so much so, that most people swap them out for SU's as these are far more reliable. If this doesnt appeal to you, then try and get the carbs overhauled properly as this will pay dividends in the end in terms of better fuel economy (Ok maybe a little) and reliability

Thanks very much for the info! All appreciated!!! I didnt realise that the SU carbs were more highly regarded than the strombergs, so this is good to know! Thanks for the advice, perhaps ebay might have to be searched shortly???
So much for a cheap and easy fix???

from my experience with my brothers y reg classic and my fathers b reg classic the leaking is due to the needle valve getting a little bit of gunge in the float chamber stopping it from seating properly, they do wear out as well.
new needle valves are cheapish and should be available from any car parts shop

Thanks for the advice, al-one-arm!
Perhaps I should try dismantling the carb and replacing the needle valve in that case - prob would be better than changing the carbs altogether?
Shame its always so dark and cold in the evenings after work!!!
Cheers

whilst you have the float chamber off, check the floats for any fuel inside,
and if you are having to fill the dashpots up quite often and your mixture is altered using an allen key down the middle of the dashpot, fit new "o" rings