New carb socket fits loose

Just my opinion:

Cant see the benefit in the drip tray. 

During normal operation, the combination of engine heat and air blast, will render them ineffective as a drip tray (catch fuel).

They likly have some benefit in deflecting heat, from the exhaust manifold, impacting on the carburettor body, especially the float chamber but this is a costly solution to that problem.

If there is a concern that fuel may leak from the float bowl breather pipe, onto the hot exhaust manifold below - extend the breather pipe so that any fuel emanating from this source will not hit the exhaust. Note: Care should be taken to ensure that the breather exits into an area with the same air pressure as the carburettor air inlet.

This airplane is SLSA, so I cannot modify it in a manner such as removing the drip trays.

Drip trays were heat shield originally then many Mfg’s made them into drip trays. When they are a good design they work well keeping fuel off the hot exhaust pipe. I’ve seen tons of carb leaks and these shields have worked well. They also help in shielding heat from the exhaust pipe from adding too much heat to the carb bowl.

Everything on the engine is there for a reason even though some can’t see it. Use physics to see into many items.

Many 912ULS engines come without any drip trays/shields. All the ULS engines supplied thru Kitfox come without the drip trays. I have been running mine for 11 years without any drip trays with no problems. As heat shields they must not be very effective if they can commonly be eliminated.

There’s a lot of things in life you can do until you can’t and or it goes very wrong. Just like the US IRS. You can claim anything you want until you get caught. Why pay Russian Roulette if you don’t have to. There is a reason most 912 engines have them. Just because some engines don’t have them doesn’t make it a good idea. Why wear seatbelts. For decades cars didn’t have them.  Always better the error on the side of safety.