Cleaning a Thundertiger DV-II carb.

A while back, my tt50 in my plane started having some fuel delivery issue. The rpm was just not peaking, no amount of tuning help. At first I thought the engine was just simply worn out, but after another few flights, the engine started quitting inverted. Adding the baffle back to the muffler helped for another two or so flights, after which, it because impossible to tune. I tried flushing the carb, taking out the carb inlet nipple, a new plug, different fuel, took the engine apart, changed the main needle and idle needle, pretty much everything that can be done, except taking the whole carb apart...at one point, I was running 8turns out on the main needle..

The engine idle with good rpm and could go full throttle upright with absolutely no sign of tuning problem, but once the plane was inverted or verticle, the engine would quit.

Out of desperation, I took the carb apart BY FORCE. I had taken the carb apart a few times, but I always couldn't get out the assembly that holds the main needle. After some thorough study, I realise that the assembly had to be pushed out, not unscrewed or pulled.

How to tear that darn Carb apart??

1. Unscrew the screw that holds the carb rotor in. Basically its the screw in the photo with a big washer.
2. The carb rotor should fall off, take note of the little spring.

Unscrew the Main needle and take out the spring retainer that holds it.
4. Undo this little nut.

5. Push as in the direction as shown in the photo. Don't pull or turn, it doesn't work. Took quite a while to figure out that...BTW, it requires quite a bit of force because there are two rubber o-rings inside holding it, so PUSH.
6. DONE! Removal of the inlet nipple is kinda optional, I feel.

The design of the DV-II carb makes it extremely prone to being choked with dust and dirt, which is both good and bad. Good because less dirt enters the engine, bad because it is really troublesome to clean. Because of the design of the two holes as shown in the picture(the other one is on the other side....), no amount of cleaning or flushing of the carb will help if the carb is not completely disassembled. I found two whole balls of dust and fur trapped there. I took my tt36 carb apart and found two lump of similar fur-like dirt, just thinner and smaller. That would explain why my tt36 seemed to be suffering from lack of pressure with the hatori tuned muffler, to think that I thought my pipe was worn out...