Triumph Repair: Carburetor leaking gas, plastic ears, copper cap

Question
I have a 1973 Triumph Spitfire, single carb. that is leaking gas out of the float chamber plug when the car is running.  Can I just unsrew the old plug without removing the whole carb. and replace the plug and o ring.

Answer
Hi Rick,

If you are talking about the large round flat cap on the bottom of the float chamber, It is not screwed in but just a push fit and can be pushed out from the inside by squeezing the several ears together and pushing it out. Most are made of plastic with a copper cap on the head of it so it looks like a flat copper cap. I seen mechanics just pry it out but they also at times break the ears off doing that and then need to replace the plug. I prefer to just remove the float chamber and use a combination of prying and pushing with the plastic ears held together because these plastic plugs get brittle as they get old. Then replace the "O" ring.

The only ones that were screwed in are the ones that had an adjustable jet. In those you could just unscrew the whole unit jet and all and replace the "O" ring without removing the float chamber. These can be recognized by the hex on the jet and the larger brass unit.

Howard