79 GS850 Intake Manifolds

[dcollins]

One of the floats stuck on my 850 (50k miles) the other night. (Funny what a puddle of gas in front of the rear wheel does for you when you take off from a light)

Figured that this is as good a time as any to clean out the carbs, it's been really hard to start. While I have the tank off I'll repaint it and take care of a couple other things.

Here's the problem... A couple of the intake manifolds are cracked, the little metal flange that extends into the intake port is rusted and they're likely leaking some air.

Any ideas where I could find a new set? I'd like to replace all 4 of them, but a couple would be better than nothing.

Thanks.

[bwringer]

Replace all four -- you can order them from any Suzuki parts outlet, including your local dealer. Don't forget the o-rings.

Bikebandit - prolly the most expensive by a few bucks, but they are consistently the fastest, and give excellent service. They use their own fake-o part numbers, though, so don't let that throw you:

http://www.bikebandit.com

Flat Out Motorcycles:

http://flatoutmotorcycles.com/fiche_select.asp

Great prices, and you get to see real Suzuki part numbers, but I haven't tried them yet. They are a local dealer here in Indy, so I could go yell at them if needed.

Here's the project in pics:

http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html

PLEASE NOTE that your part numbers will be different -- the 1979 model uses different boots and o-rings than the 1983 pictured. However, everything will look about the same.

[dcollins]

79 GS850 Intake Manifolds

Awesome. Thanks for the links.

I'm suprised that my local dealer would have them. They never seem to have anything else for my old bike. It's almost like they want me to buy a new one or something...

[mark]

Bikebandit.com has them for $25 or so plus shipping and you might be able to find them even cheaper somewhere else. Sometimes the dealer is WAY high.

[bwringer]

Awesome. Thanks for the links.

I'm suprised that my local dealer would have them. They never seem to have anything else for my old bike. It's almost like they want me to buy a new one or something...

The dealer won't have them in stock, but they'll be able to order them from Suzuki and get them in about 3 to 5 days.

Your experience may vary greatly -- some local Suzuki dealers are happy to look up and order parts for old bikes at reasonable markups, and some act like they're doing you a favor by charging double the standard retail.

[dcollins]

79 GS850 Carbs Leaking at the Fuel Line T-fitting

The good news is that I got my new inlet pipes and o-rings installed. I pulled the carbs apart and got them all cleaned up. Reassembled everything and she fired right up. After a little tweaking of the airscrews she was idling great. Still need to sync the carbs, but I've run into another issue.

Bad news. I've got to pull it all back apart. The t-fitting where the fuel line comes down between #2 and #3 carbs is leaking like a sieve now. Seems like 27 years of varnish was holding it together. I can't seem to find the part available from any of the sources I've seen recommended (bikebandit, Indy, etc.)

Is there a special o-ring or bushing that can be replaced on that t-fitting?

Thanks for your help.

[bwringer]

The standard fix for the t-fitting blues is to take an X-acto knife and carefully remove stripes of the rubber covering where the sealing surfaces are. Then install o-rings in the grooves.

In other words, the molded rubber covering the t-fitting has bumps to mimic the function of o-rings. You're simply removing these bumps and replacing them with actual o-rings.

I don't know the o-ring size, but some experimentation with a set of metric o-rings should get you going.

I believe this fix was invented or at least popularized by Hoomgar.

[dcollins]

Awesome! I'll give that a try. I repainted the tank and side covers while it was apart and they came out pretty good. I'll post some pics when I get it all back together (again!)

[mark]

Here's a couple of things too.

First of all, mine always leak when I put them back together, but after a couple of days the leak stops. Some sort of swelling goes on and the problem disappears in a day or two. Its sound like your leak might be worse though.

Secondly, thread tape used for plumbing fittings has also been used effectively. You wouldn't want to use much though.

Bwringers (Hoomgars) idea might be the best fix. But these are a couple of other ways I have heard that address your problem.

Good luck!