Has anybody tried recoating their dried intake boots?

[Guest]

Just curious. Pulling a dead set off a bike and it got me wondering. $150+ for a set of NOS boots is crazy. Some sort of spray on RTV perhaps?

[spyug]

Haven't done it but I understand a coat of "Liquid Electrical Tape" works quite well. I image too that Plastidip paint may work as well.

They are no substitution for replacing the part but might get you going for a short time.

[Nessism]

Buy new boots. Anything else is a waste of time unless you are trying to resell the bike, in which case goop on the boots is analagous to sawdust in the transmission.

[G.S.Joe]

I planned on trashing these anyhow, but it just got the gears grinding. It's just rubber. Honestly I'm surprised no aftermarket has come up to reproduce these, maybe even make them better.

[tkent02]

I was thinking of making aluminum manifolds that just use an inch of hose to go from the carb to the manifold, like the 16 valve engines.

Never got around to it.

[Nessism]

I planned on trashing these anyhow, but it just got the gears grinding. It's just rubber. Honestly I'm surprised no aftermarket has come up to reproduce these, maybe even make them better.

Yea, 30 years from the boots just plain sucks eh?

PIPE,INTAKE (B,C&EC,N&EN; GS7508:WITH 09280-32006)
13110-49000 (replaces 13110-45010) 4 $29.58

http://www.gssuzuki.com/fiche_section_detail.asp

[eil]

The boots with the flanges are rather expensive, unfortunately. But as others have said, there's not really a good alternative right now.

I was thinking of making aluminum manifolds that just use an inch of hose to go from the carb to the manifold, like the 16 valve engines.

Never got around to it.

Had the same thought, but I assume the cost of manufacturing them is cost-prohibitive compared to just buying the OEM ones. (I.e., you don't get to recoup your costs until 20-30 years later!) The 16-valve solution is way better, wonder what kept Suzuki from doing that in the first place with the 8-valves.

[G.S.Joe]

Yea, 30 years from the boots just plain sucks eh?

Depends on how you look at it. 30+ years from a critical component at $100-$150/set isn't bad at all. But we're talking about $100-$150 for about $5 worth of flanges and rubber. As mentioned, I'm not the only one who thought maybe there's a better way. Replacing with mostly aluminum, or simply recoating with a better rubber. It's purpose is to provide a gap between the carbs and the motor. I understand 30 years is a long time, but it's a non-moving part. I expect the pipes in my house to last longer than 30 years. I fail to see why coating this in a more dry-rot resistant rubber wouldn't be an upgrade to the original design.


By the way despite what people seem to be implying, I'm not trying to cheap-out. I pulled these off the 1100 I'm parting out and thought to myself that we could improve these.

[Wizard]

Wintergreen Oil

http://forum.cog-online.org/index.php?topic=31003.0

[mrbill5491]

If the boots are that old and hard, chances are they are cracked out the a$$ as well. Nothing you really can do to help repair them. New boots is the only answer. I get about 15 years per set of boots and that is treating them now and then as well. Just install my 3rd set for the rebuild, the last new set were about useless. Cracks were already forming.

[Gorminrider]

you're not alone, G.S.Joe. I'm on the wintergreen-oil kick as both my bikes have what seem to be pretty good boots.Still experimenting but it definitely softens them. (Wizard's link above)

But this is interesting:
"for the carb boots, I welded 1 1/4" tubes to a single plate and mated to the carbs with vulcanized rubber hose, (free metal and 8 bucks worth of hose"
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1956388&postcount=1

If keeping the bike "stock" isn't important, I'd be considering making individual flanges if I was a decent fabricator, (instead of 1978GS550's per the above quote-he's apparently made a single 4 cylinder plate! )

[JTGS850GL]

"for the carb boots, I welded 1 1/4" tubes to a single plate and mated to the carbs with vulcanized rubber hose, (free metal and 8 bucks worth of hose"[/I]
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1956388&postcount=1

If keeping the bike "stock" isn't important, I'd be considering making individual flanges if I was a decent fabricator, (instead of 1978GS550's per the above quote-he's apparently made a single 4 cylinder plate! )

Don't forget you still need the ports to vacuum sync the carbs.

[spchips]

bikebandit has some generic mikuni boots that work.

your results may vary depending on model.

[daturat100r]

Glycerine or glycerol is the old time stuff for rejuvenating rubber.works well softening ,smoothing out crazing and works as an antifreeze

[Gorminrider]

http://www.ehow.com/how_7593605_restore-natural-rubber-products.html

...glycerine, eh? something to try, alright And from the link above, ammonia, or lye!

I notice the commonality in method is heating the rubber to boiling or below.