Rock-hard Air Box Boots

[Hoggystyle]

After rebuilding and bench syncing the carbs on my 79 Gs550E, i noticed that the boots between the rear of the carb and the air cleaner are rock hard. i tried to clamp them down but they just slide right off with a small nudge. ive been looking all over for replacements but i cant find any vendor with these boots in their fiche or available. has anybody had luck finding these?

[Octain]

If you can find a part number you may be able to do a reverse lookup to see if these items are used on other models.

[Hoggystyle]

i know quite a few of the 550s use the same airbox, and same general engine geometry, besides the early 80s that went from 8 valve to 16, but the thing is there is no part number. ive looked at 4 different sites and none have numbers for the boots, just on the engine side

[koolaid_kid]

I agree, it does not look like it is available. The 550 with the VM carbs was sold from 1977 to 1979, IIRC. Seems like you could find a used airbox somewhere, or fashion your own tubes. I think there was a thread where they discussed making them out of radiator hose.

[Octain]

Yup, I cant find em either. I'd keep an eye on Ebay and see if ya can find what ya need.

[verde]

My 750 bell mouths were similar, but they had really broken into the carbs. Are you sure you're getting them on far enough before clamping? That lip around the mouth of the carb should have a matching groove in the rubber... unless a PO never installed the airbox properly way back when the rubber was still soft.

Short of giving up on finding some replacements and just switching to pods, the radiator hose trick sounds like a good idea. Hadn't heard that one before but already thinking of how I'd approach it.

[bccap]

Anybody ever try a heat gun, to soften them ?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Have you tried new Clamps

[sedelen]

The same problem of getting new air box boots applies to the '78-'79 GS1000C/E/N/EN also. I heard boiling them softens them up pretty good,
good enough to get them on and tightened that is.

[Hoggystyle]

i've sourced ebay for airboxes but i'm not sure i trust them to be in better condition. i looked that up, seems simple enough. theres a Pipe supply store in town ill see what they can do. i just went to NAPA and they wanted $35 for a foot of 1 1/2 Id radiator hose! the outer hoses are going on all the way, i also have new hose clamps for some extra compression, but they just pop right out of place when fully tightened. mind you, they are almost solid

[Hoggystyle]

i just got a heat gun at a garage sale the other day, i might try it...off the bike of course. fashioning new pipes seems easy enough though. it looks like the tricky part would be getting the smaller end into the airbox without folding the pipe

[sedelen]

How's about some Fernco Flexible couplings.
Scroll down until you see the 1056 series, that would come in small enough sizes I think might fit. They're basically soft rubber with hose clamps at each end.

http://www.fernco.com/plumbing/flexible-couplings/stock-couplings

[Katarat]

Have you tired partshark.com for OEM ones ?

[DanTheMan]

You could buy silicone hoses made for turbo systems, get the size that fits in the airbox, it'll stretch over the carb throat. I was considering that myself before I discovered they cost the same as the OEM airbox boots for my 850.

[verde]

I'd be careful playing with heat unless you have a reliable success story. It could shrink the rubber and harden it even more, and in fact I think this is why one of my intake bell mouths was different than the others from the PO.

Your new clamps, are they regular hose clamps? You need to use narrow ones that don't go past the mouth of the carb. With clamps that are too wide the rubber actually flexes around the mouth of the carb and wedges itself off. This is why you only snug down the wide clamps that often come with pods, or reuse the skinny stock clamps.