[Farmall] Carburetor Floats

[Bob Currie]

My 29 Farmall Regular uses a brass, Ensign carb which has a cork float. 
When I rebuilt the carburetor 4 or 5 years ago I put in a new cork float, 
needle & seat, plus gaskets. All supplied by Rice Equipment there in 
PA.  Worked great!! Within the past year or so, the carb started flooding 
and it steadily got worse and worse, to the point where the gasoline just 
poured out as soon as you turned on the fuel at the tank, and the tractor 
wouldn't run anymore. I pulled the carb and took it apart, figuring it was 
the float or the needle. It looks like the cork float was coated with a 
shiny covering when it was new. A few people said it was shellac. So now 
I'm looking at the cork float and it looks to be in good shape, no cracks, 
no holes, no fluid inside. Some of the shellac, shiny stuff is worn off. So 
I have two questions:  Is that stuff shellac?? and is there any other 
product out there that won't get eaten up by unleaded gasoline? And,,has 
anybody reproduced the floats for those Ensign carburetors that is made out 
of some material other than cork??  One guy suggested using model airplane 
dope..I checked that out and the can says "up to 15 percent resistant to 
various fuels". I'm thinking that's not good enough. Anybody have 
experience with this problem?

bobcurrie