Thanks Al, I had something weird just happen when I went out to try starting it again. The spark plug blew out of the cylinder head. The engine was running roughly then bang. I thought it was some kind of backfire but when I looked down the plug must have hit the tank to make that sound. Cylinder he...

I flattened the bowl sealing surface with a file because the ears were bent upward for years of tightening. With my handmade gasket and sealant there is no leakage from the bowl at all. The first gasket I bought for the princely sum of $25 leaked like a sieve. It was made out of very hard material t...

To all: I have just about finished re-building this vm-20 for the third time. 1) I dunked it in new carb cleaner, washed it, dried it in the Sun after air blowing the passages. 2) Cut out another new bowl gasket out of 1/32" gasket material from Pep Boys. It's a lot easier the 2nd time. 3) Coat...

Thanks again for the help. To Bullfrog: I'm going to do as you said. I've disassembled the carb and will dunk it in fresh carb cleaner and will set the float to specs since the new float valve is working and no puddles were forming after my second re-build. all the washers etc. are accounted for. Ho...

After rebuilding my engine/trans I opted for Yamalube Trans-Oil Plus "For use in two-stroke motorcycle gear box transmissions". It says on the back that it's for wet clutch gear box transmissions and says the viscosity is 20W-40API. I noticed that it is hard to wipe off the remaining oil f...

Thank you all for the ideas. I guess more info on my part would have helped. The carb was thoroughly cleaned 10 years ago and left apart in a sealed container before I recently restored the rest of the machine. It has a new rubber tipped float valve. The floats are perfect, however I adjusted them t...

Hi, Does anyone out there have any experience with the 22mm Mikuni replacement carb and manifold for the Ace 100 available from Strictly Hodaka? I'm not having much luck with my original 20mm which can't take any increase in throttle and gets flooded then won't start for days. It just seems to be ti...