1981 Suzuki gs650E airbox doesn't want to mate with carbs

[Guest]

I just finished soaking and cleaning my carbs and am currently stuck on what I thought would be a small step in the process, reinstallation.

I have the carb outlets back into engine intake books (which are in great shape), but whenever I try to "gingerly" guide the carb inlets into the airbox boots, the middle two boots push back and catch the carb body.

A friend as well as a few youtube videos say to use plenty of heat here, so I did, but these middle two boots on airbox seem to want to do their own thing and are the hardest to get to.

My question is are there any steps i'm missing or easier approaches? I know honda airboxes seem to have a recess for the frame to allow the airboxes to push back and move around more. Mine seems pretty tight and can only move forward AFTER they are slid onto carb inlets.

[Gorminrider]

It is hard alright, the airbox tends to take a curve in the middle....you might try pushing the middle in from INSIDE the airbox......heating pvc plastic tends to shrink and curl it when it cools so you do want to make sure the curve doesn't get worse.

Here's a post I saved as a text file awhile back sorry I can't recall which post it's from

There should be some dots imprinted on the airbox as well as on the boots. Make sure that they are pointing at each other. I wanted to set it on fire myself because I was having a hard time as well.

Another problem is that the center boots seem to push the plastic back and after years of heating, the plastic boxes tend to get dished in instead of being flat across. I heat the boxes up and take a hammer handle and push the walls flat again and hold till they cool and hold the set. This makes them slide furhter over the carb throats and you get a better seal from the clamps also.

[SuzukiNoob88]

Thank you for reply! FINALLY got the damn things on with a little heat (no heatgun, just gave the hairdryer a go this time...) Just the quotation about setting the bike on fire was inspiring enough, glad i'm not the only one that found this difficult at first. (10 hours of trying the same things over and over...)

What I did was put the heat to it, and stuck the back of a screwdriver handle into the 2nd and 3rd boots, pushing down while pulling up on carb assembly to angle it into boot. To think I was trying to put these on cold at one point...

[Big T]

If you ever take those boots off again, soak them in mint oil for a few hours to soften them up

[Nessism]

I prefer to attach the airbox boots to the backside of the carbs before sticking the carbs into the boots attached to the head. Snug down the airbox boot clamps and then push the airbox w/carbs assembly forward and into the carb boots in the front.

[Buffalo Bill]

I prefer to attach the airbox boots to the backside of the carbs before sticking the carbs into the boots attached to the head. Snug down the airbox boot clamps and then push the airbox w/carbs assembly forward and into the carb boots in the front.

Nice thinking, I'll have to remember this next time for me.

[jdvorchak]

A couple of times I've had bikes where the air box boots wouldn't fit. A combination of soaking in xylene and winter green oil over night and letting them dry overnight to soften them up like new. Then I installed them in the air box and while carbs were off the bike attached the assembled air box to the carb rack while still on the bench. Let them sit overnight like that. That seems to get the boots to take a set and will easily slip onto the carb rack once you install the carbs back onto the bike. I'd rather make sure that everything aligns and goes together on the bench rather than fight it on the bike.