Banpei's new TA60 family cruiser

[banpei]

The past week literally was a two steps forward and one back.

First of all, the mechanic installed the fuel pump and the engine ran beautifully. However, on my way home (to the garage) I noticed sometimes it didn't run that smoothly. Especially when cruising (like 10% throttle) or when idling at a traffic light it rumbles a bit. I parked the Carina in the garage and was happy I could finally drive the Carina again:


So the next Wednesday I decided to wash the Carina once more as it became very dirty during the engine overhaul. I also decided to try to figure out what was up with the rough running and paid attention while driving. I washed the Carina and when I was done it refused to start. I tried starting it multiple times but to no avail.
So I had to leave behind my freshly washed Carina at a nearby parking lot. Now it was covered with a bunch of new dirty handprints because I had to ask some construction workers to help and push:


Later that day I received a call from the mechanic that he was able to start the Carina instantly and drove it back to his workshop. The next day I visited his workshop and he proudly tried to start the Carina, but to no avail. He traced back the issue to the float not closing off properly and therefore flooding the carb. Just pressing full throttle will alleviate this issue, but it's not a solution. So I have to find a replacement float-needle. So far I have only been able to find a complete rebuild set for the Aisin carburetor and this costs about 100 euros. At the same time, I could get a Chinese reproduction carburetor for about 150 euros, so I'm thinking about going for the latter.

I also had the tires removed from the Black Racing rims:

The plan is to paint them this week in gunmetal grey and get new tires next week.

Finally, I also made some progress on the JDM tail lights. I tried drilling a deep enough hole into the base of the bolts that snapped off. Apparently, I overdid it a bit and the first bolt I tried became too hot and melted the plastic slightly to sink into the frame. I then decided to change my plan and remove the base of the bolt (as it was now a bit loose) and replace the snapped-off bolts with bolts from an old EUDM tail light that I sacrificed for this purpose. I didn't try the heat trick on them, but immediately took my dremel and removed some material.

And then inserted the bolts into the JDM tail lights and filled up the gaps with glue:

Next thing on the list is to paint the frame black and red and then they should be ready to be installed again!

So all in all, one step back and two steps forward. Does anyone have experience with Chinese copies of Aisin carbs? Or should I just go for the rebuild?