So I pulled the carb today and found that the lever on the float wasn't pushing the shut off pin closed all the way (probably not the correct terminology for the pieces), so I bent it a bit to close the pin all the way when the float is at the top of the float bowl. While taking it apart, there is a piece that I can't identifty, and I don't know where it came from.

Has anybody seen one of these in a Carter ABD carb for a MEL 430? Does anybody know where this piece goes?

Looks like maybe some kind of fuel screen that surrounds the float needle valve at the intake in the fuel bowl.

Just a wild guess.

gauss

This is the piece that secures the float in place. Those two small projections go down into the groves the float pin are in. When the carb is buttoned up the float is held down.

The float should be 5/16 from the top edge of the bowl at max height, by the way.