Just a couple quick questions from a noob...

[Bent213]

Ok... So I bought my first bike little while ago off a friend of an uncle... My uncle said it was a good bike just needed a little tlc... WOW!!! Talk about putting that mildly... I bough my 79xs1100 special without looking at it and just taking my uncles advice for $600 bucks... Sooooo now I have a bike that ran for a few weeks and now it just seems to be one thing after the other... I want to put pics up but also don't want to be laughed off the site... Lol... Jk.. I'm not sure exactly what the guy before was trying but ill try to explain what I have... It seems the intake boots were cut off so the carbs can't go into them and they put pvc pipe into the boots and attached them to the carbs... So I'm waiting for my new boots... Since the carbs are pushed back the petcocks hit the top of the carbs so they raised the tank and but a rubber space to keep it up... Then they took a hammer to the front of the seat pan to get it to fit around the tank... Lol... Also took out the airbox and put on foam filters... I took the carbs apart 3 times and cleaned em along with the petcocks and tank and I'm sure now the carbs are from a 80-81... So my question is... Are intake boots and the airbox interchangeable on the 79 special? And if so or even if not will 80-81 carbs fit in the boots and airbox? Thanks for all the help guys... I love this forum... And if need be ill take some pics and put em up tomorrow...

[crazy steve]

Complete carb racks and airboxes will interchange on all XS11s, so no worries there. You do have to jet to the carb, not the bike, so you'll probably want to put in 110 or 112.5 jets in those '80 carbs if they don't already have them. The only difference in the airbox is the '78-79 are drilled for the carb vents, the later ones aren't. So late carbs/early box, plug those vent holes...

And just when you think you've seen it all.... your PO came up with a new one...

[DGXSER]

In general, all of the XS11 airboxes are completely interchangable. The only exception is that on the 78-79 model air boxes, they have the plastic nipples for the air vents (ones on top, spaced about between the 1-2 and 3-4 carbs) with brass nipples in them, for the vents off the carbs. On the 80-81 model air boxes, those nipples were never opened up and have no brass nipples inside them, since the 80-81 carbs did not use the upper vent lines.

For your bike, you could use either airbox, just on the 78-79 one you would need to plug those nipples.

[Bent213]

Thanks a lot guys for the quick and great advice... Like I said before... She ran for a bit and I loved her even though she is beat to hell... Lol... But what about the carb boots/intake manifold boots? Are they only for a 79 special? I was wondering for two reasons... One being price... I can get em ordered at the local shop for $114 or I can get em online a little cheaper and two... Is that why the previous owner cut the part off the boot that the carbs butt up to? Someone had told me that he probably pushed the carbs back and put foam filters on to get more horsepower at the dragstrip but I have no clue...

[crazy steve]

The intake manifolds/boots are all the same too....

[natemoen]

My in laws live in Ottawa OK. I will have to pm you next time I am there.

[latexeses]

Mikes XS sells the boot for 43 bucks a pair. Don't say anything about wanting them for an XS1100, they used to get a bit testy.

If the boots aren't in pieces you might try aerosol Plasti-Dip on them. I have sealed up a bunch of things over the years with that stuff and many of the riders here have used it for the boots and carb diaphragms.

[bikerphil]

Rodger, those Mikes 650 carb intake boots won't fit the 1100's.

[fredintoon]

Hi Ben,
although XS650 carb intake boots won't work on an XS11,
MikesXS tapered oval pleated individual air filters work OK. Mikes pods even have XS embossed on their chrome backplates, that's gotta be good for a few more HP, eh?