My Amazon starting running very poorly around midweek. Being really busy and it being generally cold outside, I parked the car until today. Considering that the trouble appeared when the temp dropped, I figured that it was probably a mixture issue (although HIFs are supposed to self-compensate for temperature - half the reason that I wanted to use them)

Anyway, I began by attempting to re-tune the mixture idle. I figured out very quickly that the forward carb could not be adjusted and seemed to have no effect on the car's running. I was inspecting things when I noticed that the needle was jammed into the jet, completely free of the piston. After removing the dashpots, I discovered that the spring load mechanism was intact, but the needle had pulled out of it's little brass spring fitting. It does not appear that this ought to happen and the fitting looks like it split open.

I was initially very concerned. I had re-used the old BBB needle when I rebuilt the carbs because I only had a single rebuild kit and needed to keep the carbs mix-balanced with the same needles. However, after checking over the rear carb, I realized that it already had a BAL needle, which is the same type that my rebuild kit came with. Serendipity, I suppose...

Replacing the damaged needle and re-setting the mixture has solved the problem.
However, I'm a bit concerned about how often this happens and if such a needle can be restored. These needles are troublesome to get and I want to be sure that I'm not doing anything that will hasten needle damage.

Any thoughts?
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1967 P220 (My every-other-daily driver...), 1971 P1800 (The Parts Car), 1972 145S (1993-1997), 1977 245 DL (1993-1999), 1983 245 (1998-2001), 1986 745 GLE (1997-2005), 1990 740 GL (2003-4), 1995 945 (2005-Present)....