Solex carb on 1200 Herald

[G8HSV]

I have just brought home the Herald after its winter storage.

The carb fitting must be a little stiff as it runs very fast until the throttle is 'blipped' and then returns to normal speed.  Whilst looking the this I removed the air filter and notices a drip of fuel (about every 1½ seconds) from the centre of the carb...it was idling.  Is this normal?  I no little about the solex carb.  Car doens hardly any miles so not sure if the fuel consumption is high but it runs well.

Still need to sort out and original seatbelt for the car too...none fitted...yet  anyone any original mounts?

S

[Casper]

In short, No.  Carbs should not 'drip' in normal use.
I don't fully understand "from the centre of the carb".
As far as I recall your carb is a B30 ZIC.  Fuel goes in through the pipe, past a float valve and subsequently into the venturi through a jet.  If the float valve sticks open, then it may leak, either into the venturi or outside.  The only way it can get to the outside is through the gasket between the top and the float bowl/body, or from a breather on the top plate (little brass dome?), or from an ill-fitted jet/jet cover..  If it's dripping from the bottom, you need to check carefully to see where it comes from.

[G8HSV]

The  "from the centre of the carb".....is the venturi....but how it gets there I'm not sure...yet.    It stops when the engine is stopped ...no fuel pressure.  

I'll check it out later....

[Casper]

In the centre of the venturi is the aperture in the spraying bar through which the main jet vents into the venturi.  I would expect it to come from the spraying bar as a fine spray, not a drip.  Perhaps at low air flows it might drip, especially if the fuel bowl is very full, but much of the tick-over fuel is provided by the slow running jet.  It might be worthwhile checking that the float bowl needle valve is operating properly (and take it out to make sure there is no muck behind it).
C.

[Casper]

To check if the needle vale is working correctly, get a glamorous assistant to manually pump the fuel pump while you look down the venturi.  Engine off, of course.  If you see drips then the float needle valve is not working properly.  This would allow you to check without dismantling.
C.