Fuel spilling out of carb at idle

So after getting the 360 fired up and running I noticed (after driving around a few times) that fuel is pouring out of the top of the carb when idling (motorcraft 2100) through the 2 verticle shafts in front of the butterfly (see pic)



I think this will be from crap getting in under the float needle? Is my assumption right? is there much to getting at the neddle?

 

Sounds like the float is stuck. Mine did that earlier this year after sitting for a very long time. I can't remember if I took off the float bowl or unscrewed the mixture screws and blew compressed air in there to blow it out. Id check the float adjustment first, before I took things apart. If you take out the mixture screws and aren't very good at adjusting your carb, count how many turns it takes to screw it all the way in, then take it out. when reinstalling it screw it all the way in and back it out to where it was. Should only be about 1 1/2 turns on each screw.

 

Float needle is most likely not shutting off or seating correctly. It could be dirt and crud in the needle seat or a float that doesn't float and close the needle. The float could be copper with a hole, or plastic and saturated with fuel. If the carb was recently rebuilt it could just be the float setting was wrong. Much less likely is excessive fuel pressure. With the mechanical fuel pump that's highly unlikely but if an electric fuel pump was substituted then that's a possibility.

 

The arrows point to the bowl vents. When the float sticks open, the float bowl will fill and overflow through those holes. A stuck float is a common problem for these carburetors. Make sure the needle valve and float tang are perfectly aligned.

I suggest you rebuild the carburetor if you have not. That will give you a chance to clean everything and replace the gaskets and seals. Clean out the float bowl and fit a new fuel filter. Possible you have a problem with dirt/rust in the fuel, or that the float level was adjusted improperly.

You can take the top off the carburetor and inspect the float, needle valve and float bowl without removing the carburetor from the engine, but removing the carburetor entirely and looking at it on the bench is probably easier - unless you are practiced.

 

Looks like I have it sorted,
Took the top off the carb and looked in, very clean actually, looked like it had been serviced recently (P/O) as it was too clean to be a 70's standard issue, but I did notice that the float level seemed wrong, checked it against the factory settings, and adjusted to suit. I also noted that the pump lever rods and throttle position rod were at the extreme ends of the scale so I put both these back to factory positions, will have to drive it now properly to check but at no load conditions (in garage) it seems to run well.