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Trouble Installing Air Filter Box on a 1980 GS850

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Hi gang - This is probably a fairly common issue, but I didn't find anything with the search to help. I'm at the point of my 1980 GS850 resto where I'm installing the air filter box. I can't for the life of me get those air intake boots to seat right on the carbs. I installed the carbs first. Do any of you mate the carbs and airbox together first, then install the whole assembly as one unit? Would something like vasoline petroleum jelly help?

TIA...
 
Yes, try a light lube. The 850 is the easiest airbox I have seen to put on / off... that is if the boots are not all dried up and stiff
 
They are fairly easy with good boots. I have put the airbox on the carbs first, then mate the whole assembly to the intake boots. It actually is easier that way.
 
Thanks. I'll take the carbs off and mate them to the airbox first.
 
You need new boots.

When you get the new ones, you'll be amazed. They'll be so squishily wonderfully soft, and much bigger (the old boots shrink over the decades). You'll be convinced that you've somehow received the wrong part. And the carbs will slip into place like buttuh. Seriously, the CV carb shafties are just about the easiest bikes ever to remove and replace the carbs. But only if the carb boots haven't turned into hard, shriveled little bits of plastic.
 
Anyone know of some reasonably priced boots? (the old one's aren't going on).

Is it true that the pods don't work too well? (It seems that I frequently see Craigslist postings of old GS bikes with pods.)
 
knotscott said:
Anyone know of some reasonably priced boots? (the old one's aren't going on).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. The going price for these was about $25 each last I looked and there are no aftermarket options that I know of. This is one of the few necessary OEM parts that's not at all reasonably priced. Which sucks because when you need 'em, you need em.

Also, I very lightly spray the inside of my boots (even new) with silicone. Makes them slip right on.

Is it true that the pods don't work too well? (It seems that I frequently see Craigslist postings of old GS bikes with pods.)
Click to expand...

It is true. Many try because they think they're smarter than a whole team of Suzuki engineers who obviously put a big bulky airbox, filter, and finicky carb boots on the bike so it would perform worse and cost more.

I jest somewhat. Pods can work but it's not as easy as throwing them on and stepping up the jets. Tuning the carbs properly for a drastic change in how the bike breathes is equal parts art and science. It can be done right through a lot of trial and error and/or experience. But it rarely is.
 
There is a difference between right and left, so make sure in right, also should be small dot on outside edge of each one which you match to the dot that is on the airbox body.
 
Update - Within a day of posting about this issue, someone on CL posted a used air box from a similar era GS1000. Went and checked it out today...the boots are nice flexible, and it slid easily onto the 850 carbs.

$16! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then! :cool:
 
Last edited:
knotscott said:
Update - Within a day of posting about this issue, someone on CL posted a used air box from a similar era GS1000. Went and checked it out today...the boots are nice flexible, and it slid easily onto the carbs.

$16! Sometimes even a blind squirrel gets a nut! :cool:
Click to expand...
Nice, except that the 1000 carbs are larger than the 850 carbs, so the boots are probably also too large. :-k

HOWEVER, since they might have shrunk over the years, too, they might have shrunk down to what fits easily on an 850.

.
 
Steve said:
Nice, except that the 1000 carbs are larger than the 850 carbs, so the boots are probably also too large. :-k

HOWEVER, since they might have shrunk over the years, too, they might have shrunk down to what fits easily on an 850.

.
Click to expand...

I thought the GS1000 carbs were a little bigger (34 vs 32?). The fit is good and snug though....there shouldn't be any significant air leaks once the clamps are tightened up.
 
This seems to be a thread on airbox to carb boot fitment. Are new boots available anywhere? I could sure use some on my vm carbs. Sorry for hijacking.
 
Steve said:
Nice, except that the 1000 carbs are larger than the 850 carbs, so the boots are probably also too large. :-k

HOWEVER, since they might have shrunk over the years, too, they might have shrunk down to what fits easily on an 850.

.
Click to expand...

I few years ago when I rode my 850 to the Brown County rally instead of the 1000, that's exactly what I did. Over the winter the boots on my 1000 (only about 3 years old) decided to shrivel up to uselessness. So I broke out the 850, and it was in the same state. So I swapped the 1000 parts into the 850 airbox and rode the wheels off it until replacements arrived. The parts were still flixible (though not like new), but so shrunken they fell out of the 1000 airbox. They were even a little loose in the 850 box, but a fair fit on the carbs.

That must have been three years ago, the last year BC was held early enough in the season for a thing like that to take me by surprise. I no longer had luggage for the 850, so it made me nervous traveling with no tools.
 
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