I was giving another CFI a back seat checkout in my Rans S-7 with 914 when the engine failed at ~100 on final. I landed and tried twice to restart the engine, soon noticing the pool of gas under the engine cowl coming from the airbox drains. This had happened 3-4 flt hours previously, but on the ground and just before starting the engine, right after the 100 hr inspection. At that time I reseated the float bowls and the flooding into the airbox stopped. I then flew it for 3-4 hrs. With this recent failure inflight, I once again removed the float bowls and observed the float pins were indeed splayed outwards, something I was not previously concerned about. (My float weights are within limits at 5.9 and 6.0 grams as of 3-4 flt hrs ago.) So my float bowls do seem to be distorted due to excessive bolt torque and possibly the retainer clip/bale that I've used. Since I couldn't reshape the bowls to re-align the float pins, I manually forced the pins inward to near parallel with each other (basically about 1 mm each at the tops). They are still very secure. I reattached the bowls with 3 ft-lbs of torque, safety wired them, and re-attached the drip trays. I left the clips/bales off. I then did some ground engine runs and flew it overhead the runway for .7 hrs and all seems OK as of yesterday. My dilema is in the advice provided by two very reliable sources. One source stated that the bowl retainer clip is not used on the 914 and the parts diagrams confirm this. However it is used on the 912, which I don't understand. But also, the other source states that I should back the bowl bolt torque off to 2 ft-lbs, but then use the retainer clips to ensure a good seal. Which advice is best and why is the retainer clip not recommended nor in the 914 carb parts diagrams?
Thanks
