I've been having flooding problems when I try to use the choke, so now my carbs are apart on my '95 F3.
I've looked through about 20 threads (and a few different pages) for things to look out for when inspecting needles etc, but they're all rather vague when it comes to float valves, and don't have pictures.

Some of the sites said to replace the float valves if they have a ring around the rubber part, which could cause them to leak.
All 4 of my float valves have such a ring, but it looks just cosmetic to me. Perhaps it's the "varnishing" I've heard of though.

Could someone tell me if these rings around the rubber could be the cause of my problems? And if so, how do I clean them, as I've heard they can be expensive to replace.

This is what it looks like. Click the pic for a high-res version.

 

Great question and excellent photo's, great job on those !! It does appear to be mostly a cosmetic, not really a indented ring around the rubber portion. I'm rebuilding a set of carbs myself. One of the things I've noticed is that the Float Valve Needles (shown in your picture) don't slide real easily in and out of the brass fitting where they sit. The inside of that brass opening becomes sort of a rough texture, in fact you'll see some wear marks where the 4 corners of the float needles rub against the inside of the opening. I'm thinking that there may be a small amount of binding going on when the float moves the float needle in and out. It's hard to tell if it may be enough to cause it to stick and flood the bowls.

Here's what I'm doing on mine. With the floats removed, I'm using a very small piece of Scotchbright Pad on a drill bit (small bit with pad covering the end) and scrubbing the inside of that brass fitting. Then I follow up with a small piece of cloth with a small amount of polishing compound doing the same thing. The inside of the opening polishes up to a high luster. When I then insert the float needles inside, they move extreemly easily with no binding or catching at all. I'm actually waiting on some new "O" rings for the fuel tubes (I've completely dissasembled the carbs from the rails, but you don't need to do that) before I can fully reassemble to test. I'm sure people will be thinking that this is a little extreme, but I couldn't get the needles to move entirely freely. Also in your high-res images, you can see that the needles have some wear marks on the sides as well. This may be causing some binding as well. The needles are delicate, so handle with caution, but try cleaning the sides of them as well.

There are alternative sources for the float valves other than honda that are significantly less expensive. Something to consider.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies IDoDirt.