fitting carbs

[angus]

Re fitting the carbs on my 80 550L should I remove airbox and fit it to carbs before fitting the carbs to manifold boots

[LAB3]

On my GS450 the manual suggests setting the intake boots in place before the cylinder head side, sure enough that works pretty well for me. If I unbolt the air box from the frame but leave it in place it can slide back a bit giving me some more room. The carbs then go in at about a 45° angle and I can wiggle them up and down to get them level with the cylinder head side just barely going into the boots. Then I can slip those inner liners from the air box over the throat of the carbs and push them forward into the intake boots. This seems to make sealing everything up pretty easy the first time. Granted, I'm only working with two carbs and all the rubber in question is in very good condition, it can be a PITA to get things back together on a four cylinder with dried out old rubber.

[cowboyup3371]

No, you don't remove the airbox but you do pull it back as far as you can, slide the carbs in and into the air box side boots making sure all four are evenly on the carbs and tightened. Then slide the entire system into the engine side. If they are too stiff, I highly recommend spending the extra money and get new boots

[scratch]

Disconnect but, do not remove the plastic & metal parts of the airbox as well as disconnecting the inner rear fender (any extra wiggle room you can create on the CV carbed 550 helps). Get familliar with how the airbox side boots are meant to be aligned in the plastc box as if they shift about or rotate you will end up with a poor fit and possibly an airleak, this will make you a bad person. Doing the airbox side boots first is preffered as they are dang near impossible to get in place correctly once the carbs are seated in the engine side. (It can be done but yer hands will look like they were inside a bag of angry cats on meth). Doing the Engine side boots first is prefered because it's easier to jam the carbs back in the engine side boot if you use a 16 ft 2x4 as a lever against the intake side of the carbs. (Please see above contradicting info & pick your poison well.)

Be sure all your clamps are in place and facing the right direction where you can reach them to tighten before carbs go on (getting one of the inner airbox-side clamps back on the boot after the carbs are in place is like solving a rubiks cube blindfolded with your finggers taped together in that same above mentioned bag of angry cats on meth)

Warm and lube the engine side boots first with hear gun on low or, hairdryer... 5 minutse doing this peacefully will save you 20 minutes of cursing and misery later.
I use MMO or dishsoap to get the boots slippery, I'm sure someone will chime in and tell me I'm wrong and a bad person for doing this. Whatever, take any advantage you can gain on these imo.

Last 2 steps:
1. Congradulate yourself on not giving up and ordering pods, you are now among the elite. Bravo my good man, bravo!
2. Go out and get an 1100G then laugh heartily at how easy those carbs are to install in comparison.