The Hodaka Club Forum

Good evening,
I am new to the forum and was hoping I could get some advise. I have a 69 Ace 100 and the carburetor on it is bad. Any suggestions what I can use to replace it with? looks like a 20 MM inlet and a 32 mm outlet. Thank you for any help you can offer. Don

I would say anything up to a 24 Mikuni would work if you can match mountings. I started with the 20mm, then went to a 24mm way back in the dark ages and had no problems other than having to fudge the mount flange holes.

Oh, and why is it bad?

The inside of the bowl is pitted badly and one side of the float is heavy and full of fuel. Bike won't stay running and floods over

For what it is worth, here is a photo of the mount side of a VM2400, 24mm Mikuni. The throat is 24.4mm, the o-ring is approx 31mm center (34.25od) and the bolt holes are 42.36mm minimum clearance, roughly 50mm center to center on the bolts but can extend due to cut outs.

Paul here at strictly Hodaka has manifols and carbs just for that purpose , I suggest buying the up graded setup from him

Rich

Badly pitted wouldn't deter me if it is cosmetic, not causing leakage or failure of a jet or passage. The wet float is another issue. As I recall the floats are brass. If so find out where on the seam line it is leaking. Drill a very tiny hole and drain it completely. Leave it open to atmosphere in a warm place, like a 200 degree oven, for an hour and cool slowly. Solder the seam carefully using a good liquid flux, not the paste. Once done all that is left is your tiny hole. This can be soldered with a hobby iron using the absolute minimum of time and heat to close the hole. Hold it in your hand while doing this. If it gets too hot to hold, it is too hot to seal. If you seal it hot, it will shrink as it cools and collapse the float. It may take practice to get it right but I have done this on everything from lawn mowers to Ford trucks. Entirely doable.

If you like to tinker, this could put you back in the game for free. Otherwise, convert as Rich suggests and you will have a brand new carb.

Thank you for help and advise!

I think I have a brass float and float bowl in my spare parts... I'll take a look.

As far as rebuilding, while I was searching for parts for mine, it seemed like the individual components were still available, just not in a "kit", (I ended up finding a complete carb that was in good shape). You just have to know what you're looking for if purchasing individual components. The Workshop manual can help you there. The only thing I couldn't find was the bowl gasket, and the local shop couldn't make me one... I just grabbed some oil/gas gasket material and an exacto knife and made one myself.

Roger

Quick easy fix I used years ago on a leaky float. It comes in a yellow tube and is called sealall. It will work on gas tanks or brass floats I used it back in 1957 and it is still around. It goes on thin and gas will not touch it.===========Clarence This can get you by until you get a chance on a new one.

The floats are available. I don't know if we're allowed to give links.

Thank you all for the information! What a great group!

Photo by request. Note, I consider this float level a bit high. You can see the fuel stain line and that it sits at what looks like an angle. Actually, the fuel stain sits level, it is the carb that is tilted when installed. You can see that the fuel line points at the engine side of the float bowl at a point slightly lower than the gasket joint line. No need for fuel to stand as high as the gasket when bike is sitting upright and level. Any higher than this and you start to get spillage when you lean the bike.

AJF yes you can gladly give the link to your source here. If they are floats for a modern VM20 Mikuni carb I do not think they will fit.
If it is a vintage source that will be great to help everyone out.
Thanks
Paul

Do the new style look like this?

http://hodaka-parts.com/item.asp?PID=269 part number vm2024 for float. It's for the old style 20mm mikuni.