Fitting carbs - I'm bracing myself..

In my cold cold shed, I offered my cold cold carbs, up to the cold cold intake rubbers and decided to head back inside..

OK so I have the silicone grease (expensive isn't it !) and the airbox rubbers too that are bigger to suit the 32mm carb for my 550/600 seca hybrid. I have also read that people push air box rubbers back to create more room. Does this mean that they 'disengage' the rubber securing lips from the airbox ? The interesting thing about the 600 airbox rubbers is that they have a significant velocity stack that the 550 rubbers don't have - much of this will have to be cut away for them to fit the 550 airbox with unpredicatable effects of course.

At the moment though I'm just looking for a sequence of works. eg. Warm up intake rubbers, lubricate carb throats (externally) with silicone, pry onto rubbers, try and re-engage airbox rubbers of an unknown quantity onto big carbs.. I'm also thinking that 38 F isn't the ideal temperature to attempt this..

Thoughts ? Cheers James

 

I just fitted rebuilt carbs to new intake boots to the wife's xj550 the other day. I lubed the intake rubbers with liquid dish soap and they accepted the carbs fairly easily. the air box boots had a soak in sub boiling temp water and were soft enough to squeeze between the air box and carbs. I started with the two inner carbs then the outers. easy peasy!

CN

 

I just went through this the other day. It's no fun.

I used a heat gun, but sub-boiling water would probably be easier. I forget who told me to do this (one of the gurus) but I took on old long-necked screwdriver and ground off the head so that it was rounded (to avoid any punctures) and I used that tool to assist me in getting the rubber securing lips hooked back on to the airbox.

This was my first time doing so, and it took about 20 minutes of frustration.

I could probably do it more quickly now.

 

On my bike, there is a screw on top and in the front center of the air box that you can loosen and slide the airbox back. It always has helped when installing the carbs and it made it easier to put on the #2 and #3 carb boot as you can move it forward enough not to have to fight the boot. My method has been to slide the boot on #3 carb, tighten the clamp, the squeeze the boot into the air box as designed, then do the #2 carb in the same manner. At this point, I push the airbox as far forward as I can and then tighten the screw that holds it. #1 and #4 carb boot usually slips on fairly easy. Hope this helps...

 

As with previous posts, warm the rubbers first. Mine were installed with 2 & 3 first and then 1 and 4 removing them from the water just as they were about to be fitted.
1& 4 were pushed into air box first and then manipulated into position, tightening all clamps as work proceeded to ensure good seals.

Run a fan heater in your shed before you start as temperature forcast looks iffy for next few days, I work out side in it atm and its not good !!

 

Thanks guys- I have plans to borrow a propane heater.., paint strip blower etc..

Cheers

J

 

I WAS going to start another thread, same thing but XJ700-X. the rear boots have quite a bit of length inside the airbox, and the top seems to be rubber i can push in while the bottom seems to be PLASTIC, stiff and unbendable. i don't know how in the hell anybody gets these outta there, i tryed prying them out with a screw-stick but to no avail after like half an hour i am pissed off again!! for the price of boots i can get pods, but the pods seem to suck because they block off some port that the CV carbs need... so, like WTF should i do? anybody know a good brand of pod? or can explain why the inner side of these stock boots is so dicked up? i would like to cut them off after the groove that holds them in place. what would that do? and as for pods, although this site says guaranteed to need to rejet (NO), my bike shop said doubtful i would have to for just adding pods.. any thoughts appreciated.

 

I would strongly recommend against using pods on the X engines.....the difficulties of properly tuning an engine for pod filters gets exponentially more difficult when trying it on the 5-valve engines......Yamaha actually did a great job tuning them for street use, and you'd be much better off (time and money-wise) working with the stock set-up rather than trying to re-tune the engine to accommodate high-flow filters.

 

XJ's have a way of testing ones patience. I know on my bike, I can remove the air filter and see the boots from the inside of the airbox. I would think concaving the top of the boot from the inside so it is free from the lip, then bending the boot down and forward should let it pop free. Maybe a little liquid lubricant, like dish soap, around the outside edge of the boot in the airbox side would help. I don't have your model of XJ, but if the are similar, it should work. But again, these bikes will test your patience and when frustration levels exceed patience cutoff, it generally ends up costing you more money and time with these bikes. Something learned personally

 

I feel you on the rising frustration, but don't give in to the cheap and easy path of installing pods. Despite what your local shop and the online retailer are telling you, if you want the bike to run correctly you would need to rejet.
Don't give up. When I get pissed at the bike, I walk a way for a few days, then when I come back to it my mind is clear and I can sort out a different way to approach the problem.
There is a smooth jaw pair of pliers called hose clamp pliers, as you squeeze them a ratcheting mechanism in the handle holds them in position and keeps them from opening, it may be possible to apply a pair of these to the boots with just enough pressure to distort the rubber until you can pry them from the air box.
Keep a calm head, and don't give up. We can help.

 

i have walked away from this pig so much now that i have been working on this one thing for three months or so!!! i had the tank all painted, decided to sand it one more time and dropped it on a socket putting a dent in it. so that had to be all done over and i am still working on it. and the petcock, apparently i didn't sand it's innerds smooth so i have to go take it apart too. Oh well. Shite. guess i will rule out the pods and might have to just spring for the new rubber. For the price of a visit to a psychiatrist, i could buy the whole set.

 

Would love to see a picture of your boots.
The XJ650 Maxim boots are easy breezy to remove and replace . . . or I am just a fortunate fool. . .

 

Ok I JUST FIGURED IT OUT. removed the top of the airbox, removed the air filter, PUSHED THEM IN towards the BACK and pulled them out thru the airbox, rather than trying to pull them out of the front. easier. still hard as a rock. note i did not say easy. but got the two outside ones out from the opposite side of the bike. they are normal looking. i thought they were sticking in farther than they actually were. i am glad i did it this way also because somebody stabbed several holes right thru my wire mesh filter element, nice pencil sized holes to let lots of DIRT in. kriste! i can imagine that pushing the new ones in this way will also be doable. thanks to all, got to re-disassemble my petcock now.

bruceB thanks for your post on being able to see them from inside the airbox for my inspiration. or clarity to understand what maybe other people were trying to tell me from the git-go. i guess i was stupid to even try to pull them out from between the carbs and the airbox.

 

You are very welcome. 30 year old bikes all have the particular issues. I know on my bike the carb to airbox boots are really pliable and soft and easy to install and remove. More importantly, since yours are so difficult, make sure the carb cleaning and rebuild are done completely and you have replaced all the shaft seals and fuel rail seals. That is a complete off the rack dismantle. A post on the "church of clean" will help immensely. Bench sync and the wet setting the floats are imperatively important to the exact spec. Don't shortcut any of these steps or you will have the enjoyment of removing the carbs from the bike. The first go around on my bike rebuild the carb removal and reinstallation count is 8 times. I have the scars on my hands to prove it and a hole in the bottom of my shed wall from a steel toed boot. Everything from not idling, (butterfly not fitted correctly) to fuel rail leak (didn't do the seals first time) to unexpected acceleration (failed to replace the springs under the carb hat) to #2 cylinder fouling (enrichment circuit seat dirty), you see my point? Perfection is rewarded to the owner. It will be worth it, but you will never be done tinkering with these bikes..

 

also in the other thread got linked to a new "airbox boot" from Lowes. unreal! can see the light at the end of the sewer!

 

btw. the plumbing union trick don't work on my 700xj because they are too small to fit over the carb and too big to get into the airbox hole. here is a pic i posted in the other post about post toastie roastie carb boot fake fixes. dont bother with trying this out unless you can magically make rubber shape-shift. the caliper is showing the outer diameter of the carb against the plumbing union. obviously way bigger. crap my shrunken old carb boots were way bigger than this and they wouldn't even begin to fit.

 

Within the last year I have made progress on my project 85 Maxim XJ700N(same bike I owned in 91). After considerable tank repair, replacing calipers/brake lines, and carb work I finally have her running good, road worthy, and inspected except one thing, carb to airbox boots. It appears they have shrunk. The mechanic that inspected my bike doesn't believe they are the correct boots. I really don't want to go the pod/jet route. For starters would someone let me know if these are the correct boots?

 

New carb boots are all nice and soft. Old boots will develop hard spots, then hard areas, then hard halves, eventually the whole things ..... If your boots have hardened, it's really time for new ones