Carb surprise

[998automan]

Hi,  I had a bit of a surprise today on starting the mini after a month or so sat idle. It started ok but was running a little rough, there was a strong smell of fuel so I jumped out to find that fuel was being pumped out of the overflow pipe from the carb float chamber. Luckily this exits under the torque converter so was well away from anything hot but could have been catastrophic. Does anyone have any ideas? I suspect the float chamber and wondered if the curse of modern fuel might be a factor. Would like to strip the carb (HS4) down but don`t really know what I am looking for, so any ideas would be most welcome!

[notamini]

Since the car sat for a bit, your float needle is likely stuck. This happens with older petrol, esp with ethanol in it. The petrol breaks down quicker these days. Some say as quickly as 2 months. What you need to do is clean the whole carburetor ass'y. Then put "SEA FOAM" additive in your fuel tank according to directions. It is the best fuel and oil stabilizer on the market.

Mark