Belco Generator Flooded

So I went to start the Belco generator a couple days ago. I opened the gas petcock, set the choke, wrapped the pull cord around the engine pulley and gave it a tug. No fire. I pulled again. Still nothing, but the carburetor was gushing fuel out its vent. Well that's not supposed to happen. I figured the needle valve was stuck in the carburetor so I pulled the carburetor fuel bowl cap off after shutting off the gas petcock. Gasoline was full to the top of the bowl. I pulled the float and needle out to clean the needle and noticed there was a-sloshin' a-goin' on inside the float. I turned the float over and found a small divot in the middle of the float:

Belco Generator Brochure and Manual

I happened to look on eBay for the word Belco to see if anything popped up, and to my surprise two items were there. They were a sales brochure showing the range of generators Belco sold and a general instruction manual. Of course I had to buy them. This first scan is the brochure front cover.

Belco Generator Updates and a Repair

I spent the day today making stuff for the generator. The first project was a muffler. I used a small section of exhaust pipe for the main body of the muffler that I'd previously cut from the '96 F250 tailpipe when I installed a turn-down tip. I had a very large washer that I used for the backside of the muffler and I used a piece of sheet metal for the front cover that would eventually get holes drilled into it.

The Belco Generator Lives!!

Knowing nothing about the condition of this engine and generator head, I decided to just dive in and start fixing things, with the magneto being first on the list, as usually the magneto is the most trouble-prone component on these old engines. This Wico Type C magneto has a unique cap that is missing its metal cover and I can't find a replacement online. I may have to resort to making one.