All:
My recent ~325 mile road trip to Des Moines was cancelled (actually modified to drive my car) after discovering a disintegrating fuel line on my ET4 in the 11th hour.

I replace the line last night, and WOW--it make a huge difference in acceleration. HUGE. I was shocked to ride it afterward and have the throttle be so responsive. What I have been mistaking for a glazed clutch bell was most likely air being sucked into the fuel line. The little guy is like a teenager again . . .

Anyhow, changing the fuel line led to another discovery, which is a failed fuel tap/petcock. Although fuel did not pour out, it was a fairly steady drip. New petcock has been ordered and will replace it myself.

Having said that, I have a question regarding what appears to be fuel leaking from the rear area of the carb . . . after replacing the fuel line, I was being anal about fuel leakage--making sure the fuel line was on securely and sealed well. I would ride it hard around the block a couple of times, then bring it in and feel around to make sure the seal was good. Doing this, I noticed that there is a not so insignificant amount of fuel seeping from the carb on the area toward the rear (where the air intake pipe meets the carb).

Is this seepage a result of the faulty petcock, or is it possible that fuel is leaking from the carb? I had a carb clean done early this year, and fuel economy has been off by 8-10 mpg since then. Could this be a function of the removal/install process, or is it attributable to the faulty tap?

Here's a link to the Fuelly page for my ET4 so you don't think i'm crazy about the reduced economy since my service.

Anyhow, I don't want to bring it into my shop and accuse them of something that's not their fault (although they definitely should have noticed the fuel line). Should I wait until the petcock install and see if the fuel still seeps? Has anybody experienced this?