Air Box Madness!

[driverofLYN274]

I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death a million times, but I can't find a straight answer. I've been trying to mate the carb boots from the airbox to my carb throats on my '81 GS750L and I can't seem to get the inner two to seal. Is there any trick to getting them on? The seal keeps sliding off the bottom of the throat and makes the bike a pain to turn over. Any recommendations? I'm trying not to lean the mixture out too much. Help a noob out?

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Are they new boots? Old rubber is hard and difficult to work with. Sometimes you can heat the old rubber with a hair dryer or similar to make it more pliable. New clamps will help a lot too.

Even with all new rubber boots I had to use a 2x2 to leverage and hold the airbox in place while tightening up the clamps on the airbox boots. Don't tighten the bolts holding the airbox until you get a good seal on the boots/carbs.




Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[André]

I realized that my air box was bent in the middle causing the boots 2 & 3 to always back off there places. I remove the boots and used a heatgun to warm and unbent the box. It still a pain to install but all boot stay well in place now.

[waterman]

I had trouble with my outer boots not the inner boots coming off. I am not familiar with the 750 carbs, but on my 650 the boots can rotate which will alter the way they fit. I found that by securing one side I could then get the other side in position.

[spadefoot]

Man, I just did this very same dance today. Took me about 2 hours to get all four boots from the airbox to seat well enough for me to feel confident. I ended up using a little silicone spray and then basically shaking the airbox while pushing it in towards the carbs. This vibration seemed to get the boots to slip on in a way that the previous 1.75 hours of prying had been unable to achieve. Also, put your knee against the headers so you don't pull the bike off the stand. (ask me how I know)