Sluggish starter issue - with full charged battery

[montmil]

The "paperclips" -and that's a fine description- aren't there to keep the float needle from falling out. They are designed to be a positive mechanical opening and closing link.

The clips are listed from Bing and shown in their parts diagrams. They are a separate part number and never have been included with the floats.

[Barry]

It's not the end of the world if you don't have those wire clips. The float needle will probably work just fine without them. The clips only come into play if the float needle sticks on the seat. If that should happen the clip will drag it down as the fuel level falls. Once you've grasped their purpose you can figure out how to fit them. They should be loosely looped over the float tab in a way that does not impede closing of the float valve. They have no function in closing the valve only in opening it if it should stick. I copied a previous owner and got them wrong the first time I fitted them. I have a picture in the link below of how not to do it. We didn't know that at the time of the thread but later someone sent the picture to Snowbum and he said something like No! No! No! that's not how to fit the clip it should be loose around the float tab

http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1280925209/4#0

If you are waiting on new clips being delivered you could run without them for a while no problem. I think some run permanently without them.

[tvrla]

Float needles have sharp edges where they contact the float tang, and can wear a gouge into the softer metal, which can cause the float to hang up or bind. So anymore when I've got a needle out, I chamfer the edge to prevent that happening.