More Carb Boot questions w/pics

[greatnw]

I took the carb boots off tonight and something just can't be right. I took out the O ring and took off the gasket and I could shine light out where they should be mated to the head!
I measured the diameter of the boot mating surface and the inside and outside diameters of the surface on the head. Only about .25mm of contact! That just can't be right.
I'd been trying to post pics from my own hosting site (www.crossofdiscovery.com for any Lewis and Clark fans) but just couldn't get them to post. So I opened a photobucket account and got these up tonight. I have a bunch more for later now that I figured it out.
Don't I simply need new boots at this point?




These aren't very sharp but you can see the light coming out.

[Guest]

light

hey GNW wow do all the boots do that? and what would cause them to warp like that do you have any old boots laying around just to put on and see if the light shines through ? lol

[randy]

If it's the boot surface that's warped (not flat) you can lap it flat on sandpaper, clean it off good. Install gaskets and sealer. Good to go. Unless they're cracked all the way through, or they look like $*%#, I wouldn't replace them.

[greatnw]

They are not warped. I thought the same thing when I first saw the space. I immediately wet sanded the surface and it really was flat to begin with and a minor amount of work cleaned it up really well.
The problem appears to be that the inside diameter of the boot is about the same size as the outside diameter of the intake manifold and the only place they can really seal is around the bolt holes.
Never seen anything quite like it before.
I was messing around with different size O rings I had last night and broke one boot so I'll be ordering new ones anyway!

[Ivan]

Woah...

My boots are completely covered in rubber. The only place the aluminum shows is where the bolt head seats. The sealing surface of the boots has a molded in ridge that seals the head.

I think something is up there. I am guessing the extra rubber is what seals the hole.

Maybe I just havent seen this type of boot?

[randy]

Methinks you maybe got the wrong boots there.

[Ivan]

Me or GreatNW?

[randy]

No, Ivan, not you. It's greatnw that has the odd-sized boots.