Yes probably better to put the mowers into scrap these days ,I asked at mower shops here if they wanted undamaged catchers for free and none of the shops here wanted them.They just want to sell new equipment.
As we know with the needles you just have to know what the cause is of the problems then fix it ,one thing that stops a needle sealing is if the angles are wrong on the seat or needle ,too wide a seat can cause a sticking needle, a loose needle in it's hole can cause the needle to not sit straight on the seat also if the tang on the float is on an angle it pushes the needle sideways and could also cause a leak.
I've also heard some of the Viton tipped needles from China can be rejects.
Yesterday I spent 30 minutes modifying a Victa cap ,I took a rubber seat and alloy needle out of a Tecumseh carby, then just drilled the brass seat out on the Victa cap then pushed in the rubber seat (had to modify a bike spoke to get a seat out of the Tecumseh carby)then just shortened the alloy needle and drilled a small hole at the float end of the needle, then tied the needle with fuse wire to the float.
Probably only take you 10 minutes to modify one when you have all the tools and parts.
After putting the modified Victa cap onto a mower it ran fine and didn't flood.
Another way I've thought to fix these Victa caps is to use a small ball bearing on the brass seat as a round ball always lines up correctly with the seat, even if the needle is on a slight angle.
