Intake boots

[Robyle3]

Looking for ANYWHERE I might find intake boots for 1983 550L. The bsw30ss carbs seem to be fairly unique and as such I can’t seem to find anything like OEM boots anywhere. I have an air leak somewhere and I’m thinking the 40 year old intakes are a good place to start looking. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Suzukian]

I would star with some starter fluid with the red straw installed and try and pinpoint the leak. Finding the area where the leak is coming from is the first step. IMHO.
There are tons of the carb to engine ones on EBAY. You will have to determine the exact ones. Also, do you mean from carb to engine, or from air box to carb?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw= Suzulo+191983+550L+carb+intake+manifolds&_sacat=0

 

[Grimly]

Are these the oddball twin-choked carbs?
If so, the question has been asked before and, as far as I recall, carb boots for that model are hard to find.
Fwiw, if it were mine, I'd look seriously at getting a set of carbs from the model immediately preceding or following, as carb boots for those are easily available from cruzinimage.
For example...
https://www.cruzinimage.net/category/item/itemgenre/motorcycle/suzuki/carb-insulators-suzuki/page/5/

 

[bitzz]

Carb boots are typically made by Mikuni and have a Mikuni part number printed on them. They are available at Winner's Circle in Markham.
or http://www.jbmindustries.com/index.html

 

[Robyle3]

Thanks for the links and help everyone! This is for the engine side of the carbs. This fall I plan on doing a full carb clean and dressing the boots on both sides but just want to build a catalogue in case I need everything haha.

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

Are these the oddball twin-choked carbs?
If so, the question has been asked before and, as far as I recall, carb boots for that model are hard to find.
Fwiw, if it were mine, I'd look seriously at getting a set of carbs from the model immediately preceding or following, as carb boots for those are easily available from cruzinimage.
For example...
https://www.cruzinimage.net/category/item/itemgenre/motorcycle/suzuki/carb-insulators-suzuki/page/5/

Might be easier said than done... The mounting bolt pattern looks pretty unique too

 

[Grimly]

Might be easier said than done... The mounting bolt patter looks pretty unique too

Ah well, that scuppers that idea.
Nothing's impossible though.
I'd make up adapter plates.

 

[93Bandit]

I would star with some starter fluid with the red straw installed and try and pinpoint the leak. Finding the area where the leak is coming from is the first step. IMHO.
There are tons of the carb to engine ones on EBAY. You will have to determine the exact ones. Also, do you mean from carb to engine, or from air box to carb?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw= Suzulo+191983+550L+carb+intake+manifolds&_sacat=0

The ebay boots are 100% junk. I was given a free set so I installed them to see how long they'd last. They didn't. OEM is the way to go.

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

Ah well, that scuppers that idea.
Nothing's impossible though.
I'd make up adapter plates.

I probably would too.

 

[Big T]

I'd try renewing the old ones with peppermint oil

 

[Suzukian]

These are O.E.M. boots, with the weird 3 bolt mount pattern, left and right side. The link I previously posted suffered from my fat fingers and not proof reading, sorry. You could make a mounting plate go across the intakes, and make individual mounts and use conventional boots, or just about anything, depending on how you do it, and if you have the machinery (milling machine) or access to one.



Right side:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958651659...ker&brand=Suzuki&_trksid=p2047675.c101224.m-1

Left Side:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958651658...To25Ma4mgw/v+PtqhxWU2XlA==|tkp:Bk9SR7Lcs7q3Yg

 

[1978GS750E]

I'd try renewing the old ones with peppermint oil

Don't you mean "wintergreen" oil? I've used a 30/70 mix of wintergreen oil and xylene on soft rubber parts before, but never peppermint oil??? Although, peppermint would be better smelling!

 

[Suzukian]

Robyle3​ did you check out the boots link I posted? They look like they are in really good condition, and they are O.E.M. boots.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958651658...To25Ma4mgw/v+PtqhxWU2XlA==|tkp:Bk9SR7Lcs7q3Yg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958651659...ker&brand=Suzuki&_trksid=p2047675.c101224.m-1

 

[bwringer]

FWIW, the o-rings always go before the boots. If the OP's boots are still relatively intact (not cracked, peeling off, shrunken, or missing chunks) perhaps replacing the o-rings would kick this can down the road a little longer.

But yeah, those fleaBay boots might be worth a try, although they're also 40 years old and expensive... they're certainly not spring fresh or anything.

The trick with wintergreen oil does work to re-invigorate dried and shrunken rubber boots, but ONLY if they are NOT cracked and still firmly attached to the metal bases. If they're cracked or peeling, then nothing besides replacing them will work.

Over on ADVrider.com, there are a few people experimenting with 3D printing various intake boots in flexible materials; these rubber bits are the last detail keeping a lot of nifty old bikes off the road or trail. It's a widespread problem, with few good solutions.

 

[Suzukian]

You're definitely right about checking the O-rings out first. If they are intact, and still pliable, soaking them in Brake Fluid will make them swell up a bit. I'm sure that's a standard size O-ring you could find somewhere, if not from Suzuki. I was surprised how much those EBAY ones were, but I have never seen those even listed before.

With tubing, a lathe and milling machine, and some radiator hose, you can make intakes for anything. It wouldn't take much milling either. Depending on the bike, like this 550 for instance, a flat plate of aluminum with the mounting homes drilled out, and aluminum, or steel tubes pressed in, hosing could be used to attach the carbs. I saw a guy use a Volkswagen Beetle carburetor on an old Honda GoldWing engine by doing such a set up. He made a box, welded spots to attach the tubes (made 4 holes and sleeves for each hole), and ran a hose to each intake, where he made male adapters to clamp the hoses onto. It worked really well. Where's there's a will there's a way.

 

[Robyle3]

Suzukian those are exactly the ones! Also did a search for possibly restoring the rubbers since I wasn’t having any luck. Found an awesome video about restoring old rubber parts using wintergreen oil as a few have suggested!

 

[Suzukian]

Cool, I have never seen them listed before. You know how EBAY is, you see one, then they are gone, then a week later, you see a bunch of them. Those were in really good shape, but expensive. I would check the o-rings on yours first. If you see cracks in yours, then get the EBAY ones, as yours will leak in a matter of time. If there aren't any cracks though, I don't think they would be the source of a leak (through the sides).

 

[Robyle3]

FWIW, the o-rings always go before the boots. If the OP's boots are still relatively intact (not cracked, peeling off, shrunken, or missing chunks) perhaps replacing the o-rings would kick this can down the road a little longer.

Photo is the condition of the boots as they are currently, couldn’t squeeze my phone under it. They are both the same. Was wondering if I could cheat the system by putting a thin layer of high-temp calliper grease esp at the carburetor joins?

 

[Suzukian]

If the bike is running, you could spray some starter fluid (use the little thin red straw on the spray can tip, to pin point where your spray, most automotive shops sell packs of 10 of them) get the bike idling, the spray at the intake boots at various spots. If there is a leak, the bike will immediately raise it's idle, if nothing happens, then they aren't leaking, and don't touch them, they could stay like that without leaking for another 20 years. My '83 GS750ES has the original intake boots on them. I had the carbs off just last week. The boots are the original ones that came on the bike when I purchased it new.

 

[Robyle3]

Debating on if I should start a new thread for this, but I thought it would be appropriate here, since I am suspect that the intake boot might be part of my issue.

But my bike just does not want to idle, especially in the mornings when it’s a little colder. on first start, I always have the choke in, and predictively the RPMs shoot up to about 4000. I fiddle with the choke lever to manage RPMs while I put on my gear, but when I reduce the choke to about half, RPMs take a dive in the bike dies. And aside from starter issues that I know are not related at all to fuel air mixture’s, I usually have to open the prime circuit on the petcock to have enough fuel to start.

Suspecting it may be a battery issue as well, but once the bike is warm it idles at 1500 with absolutely no problems, until I ride around for a good 15 minutes, when the idle creeps up to about 2000 to 3500. I’ve played around with the idle adjustment, and having it too low forces me to use much more choke before I hop on and ride. This happens regardless of whether the battery has a fresh charge or not, so I’m not entirely inclined to say battery issues. Wondering if an air leak somewhere is my main culprit, also asked a buddy about the idling issues, and he suggested float levels might be off.