carb boot gaskets . . . do I need them?

[mfarrington]

pulled the carb boots to clean and repaint. Do I need to use a specific gasket, or will silicone work? Give me details please.

[bikerphil]

I use Ford 2.3 liter thermostat housing gaskets. They line up almost perfect with a little trimming on the outer edges. I also coat them with RTV black prior to installing. Some use RTV alone, I never have.

[jmnjrpa]

I use black RTV and finger tighten then go back an hour later and snug up good.

[TADracer]

Over the years I have tried dry gaskets, gaskets with RTV, gaskets with Permatex Gasket Sealer, boots with RTV alone and installing new boots without anything. I have landed on gaskets with #2 Permatex on each side.
Never any leaks and when removed, clean up fairly easily. And believe me, even a small leak on only one boot can make for tuning nightmares.

The Ford gaskets work well but if you cannot get them easily, make them from some gasket material. This is one of the easier gaskets to make.

[DGXSER]

If you want to make your own gaskets for the bike, the UK XS11 site has a library of printable gasket drawings to use as templates for cutting about any gasket on the bike.

[cywelchjr]

I've currently got almost 6k and 9 months on boots installed with just yamabond between them and the head. No idling or running troubles so far. When I put the black painted motor in, I'll probably use gaskets and sealer with new boots just because. I figure yamaha didn't put anything in there, and it's worked on two engines in brutus and baby has stayed sealed up for at least 24 years that I know of (that's how long I have owned her), so I figure the yamaha guys knew what they were doing. Seems like you can pretty much seal everything on the engine that's not a rotating part with yamabond, it's pretty good stuff, and it comes in black now too.