I;m looking to replace the carburetor on my 1999 kodiak yfm400fwbl. The mikuni carb is damaged beyond repair (air/fuel screw housing snapped off) The carbs on that year are an oddity. I dont really want to spend 700$ plus on the oem carb , so what im hoping for is some insight on my options. can i use a different carburetor from a different model, seeing as how the carburetor now only connected by hose clamps and not bolted to the block. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

I'm sure that you can. I'm not a fan of things Chinese, but there might be one that comes close. Perhaps a Keihin CVK 34 could be made to work, I see those on eBay fairly often. Making the choke work will be a bit of a challenge. Trick to tuning, once you get the carb, is to start, get it to start and idle, then play with the jet needle shim it with washers, if needed to get the mid range, lastly, get a few main jets, I like to go fat on the main jet, drive it see if top end has a bog, then try 1 size smaller. If it gets better try 1 size smaller, etc. Eventually it will run great, give the best top speed. When you go 1 size too lean, it will still run good, but you might loose 1 mph off the top. Then, I'd go back to the best performing jet, or 1 size fatter. I'm not a big fan of "plug chops" as guys that are supposed experts tuned mine, then I put a wideband O2 sensor on, found that they were clueless. btw, I looked on eBay, there are some Keihins, supposedly new made in Japan, but coming from The Ukraine, so be careful. Could be a counterfeit.

 

Do some measuring to ensure fitment...that's priority if you plan to use stock air-box and intake. Always jet high initially, then work your way down. Plug chops are a tried/true method if done correctly...obviously, access to a pipe sniffer is always preferred, but not always practical.


Safety first!!! Ensure smooth operation of the carb slide before initial start-up...


Best of luck...