carb/airbox/manifold replacement

[alke46]

I just finished the job of r&ring my carbs with new o rings and was trying to reinstall them on my stock '79 GS1000.
I put the airbox in place, loosely and tried to get the carbs fitted to the manifolds and was having a bunch of trouble with the intake boots not wanting to go on the carbs good enough to form a tight seal.
I took the carbs and airbox out and installed the boots onto the carbs then had to remove the manifolds and was able to reposition them correctly but I am sure that I was doing something wrong.
There just did not seem to be enough room to fit the carbs onto the manifolds and then connect the airbox boots. Also the boots did not seem to be pliable enough to connect to the intake side without doing it the way I did.
I guess this could be one reason so many zukes have individual filters rather that the old airbox. I could not get the carbs to slide into place easily with airbox and manifolds in place.
Was I doing something wrong???? At least I do have it all together now but I would like to know the proper way to do this when the next time comes.

Thanks,
Larry

[Larry D]

New boots

It's almost impossilbe to reinstall the carb/airbox combo without new rubber boots or at least somewhat new ones. Here's a pic of the old ones I had with the new ones alongside. Can you guess which is which ?

[Suzuki mad]

The VM carbs are a pig to fit. You can not replace the airbox rubbers as they are part of the airbox. The later CV models were replaceable.

There are several tricks in fitting the airbox to the carbs, using washing up liquid, silcone spray, soaking them in hot water, hair drier to mane a few.

The trick is to get the carbs and airbox lined up and checked for fit before attempting to fit them to the bike. Then put the airbox in place and slide it as far back in the frame as possible to give total clearnace. With new inlet rubber in place then slide the carbs in from the points side of the bike.

I then fit the carbs to the airboxby pulling the carbs onto the airbox rubbers. It can also be done by fitting the carbs to the inlet manifold rubbers then pushing the airbox to fit.

Watch out for the clamps as you can get them caught. Its normally No2 and 3 that are the tricky ones.

Now you know why most owners ditch the airbox and go for individual filters.

Hope that helps.

Suzuki mad.

[Suzuki mad]

It's almost impossilbe to reinstall the carb/airbox combo without new rubber boots or at least somewhat new ones. Here's a pic of the old ones I had with the new ones alongside. Can you guess which is which ?

I'd guess that the top rubbers are from a VM and the bottom are from a CV GS.

Suzuki mad.

[Larry D]

I'd guess that the top rubbers are from a VM and the bottom are from a CV GS.

Suzuki mad.

Both sets are from the same bike. '81 GS750L. Only took pics of two old ones and two new ones.
The smaller ones are the original old, stiff and brittle ones.
The larger are the new ones, straight out of the box.
Made putting in the carbs a breeze.
Gives an idea how much these deteriorate over the years.

Good Luck with the install. Keep at it. You'll get them in.

[alke46]

yeah, i have them installed but what a struggle it was.

it does look like the air boots are indeed a part of the airbox. i guess someday i will have to look for a better way to do this job.

thanks for your advice just the same.

Larry

[Sandy]

As mentioned the manifolds and airbox tubes have to be pliable or the job will be all but impossible. I still have the original manifolds and tubes and they were stiff and hard to work with when I got the bike. After using some various types of plastic and rubber conditioners on them they are now nice and pliable and I'm also lucky they have no cracks. It took literally months for them to soften up but they did. The easiest way I found to get them back in is to first make sure you remove the cable mounting bracket, it'll give you extra frame clearance and can be put back on after the carbs are installed. I actually remove it before I take the carbs out. Leave the airbox loose and remove the clamps as they just get in the way and will end up mangled anyway. From the ignition side rotate the carbs from their normal position about 45 degrees clockwise and push them into the opening so they are lined up with the manifolds, butt the manifold end of the carbs into the top of the manifold tubes and rotate the carbs into the manifolds as you sort of guide the airbox end of the carbs into airbox tubes. You will be sort of be squishing the top of the airbox tubes as you do this so they will have to be somewhat pliable and have the clamps removed of you'll spend the next hour straightening them. I've had mine off a number of times and now it only takes about 20 minutes to remove or install them and that's starting with the tank still on the bike.

[tas850g]

The problem i had when i replaced the manifold boots was getting the original clamps on the new boots. Again, the new boots were bigger in diameter and the original clamps were too tight, did not allow enough clearance, to allow the carbs to slide into the new bigger manifold boots. At this time i have some junk but usable clamps on them now. I was hoping someone had some bigger clamps or ideas which clamps i could use?