Having a Bear of a time getting the airbox on! Wrong Tubes?

[StoneAgeVulture]

Like the title states, having a hell of a time getting the airbox on, the tubes don't really seem to fit, are they different sizes for different years by chance? When I received the bike it had some crummy pod filters on it, so I'm just trying to set it back to stock. I even tried to put the the tubes on the carbs outside of the bike and they didn't seem to fit. I'm almost ready to abandon this airbox all together and go with some pods, but I already bought the K&N filter. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[crazy steve]

There is a trick to it...... Here's a video for carb removal/install, but goes into getting the airbox on....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...166#post356166

[bikerphil]

If the rubber boots have shrunk some due to the box sitting without being mounted to the carbs, it may help to take a heat gun to them and/or use some motor oil/silicone to help them slide on easier. The boots can be rotated in their slots for proper orientation, there are some arrows molded on them but I forget which way they should point.

[DGXSER]

Also note that the tubes are rotation dependent. Meaning as they turn they change how they line up to the carb throats.

[Tat2demon]

Just wanted to add that a little smear of silicone grease makes the carbs slide right in.

[StoneAgeVulture]

I've tried lube, I currently have all the arrows pointing to 12 o'clock, hopefully that's correct, my next attempt will be with heating it up and then pop it on for a while to widen

[jetmechmarty]

Pay attention to the post by DGXSER. Tube rotation is the trick.

[DGXSER]

It may be a combination of things. I had to get the rotation right, but also heat the tubes up, use liquid wrench, and ALOT of force to get the boots over the carbs the first time. The airbox had obviously sat for quite a while, and those boots will shrink up.

[mmatches1]

I believe there are three different code numbers for the boots - two inside and a different code for each of the outside. Perhaps someone mixed and matched? The other trick it to rotate them until the line up. Raputan told me that the seams should be horizontal in the box but I can't remember if that is at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock. I used a little bit of brake lube to work the boots on the carb and softened them up with armor all. The biggest problem I had was assembling the air boxes - nasty.

[StoneAgeVulture]

Well the box is on, kind of, I can get the tubes on the carbs all the way, but when I clamp them down, they like to slip off, so the clamps aren't super tight, but I don't think they will fall off, I just think these tubes are maybe too far gone to salvage, and maybe I should go the cone filter route.

[StoneAgeVulture]

Any idea on filters I should get? I see some on MikesXS but don't quite know the size I need

[jetmechmarty]

K&N YA-1400


Mike's XS Part #43-1503


Parts-n-More #15-0123


OEM 2H7-14451-00-00 ELEMENT,AIR CLNR

Mike's XS has the cheapest one. Partzilla offers OEM, K&N, UNI, and HiFlo direct fit for the XS1100. All have their merits. My airbox has K&N installed.

[jetmechmarty]

UNI for XS1100.

[mmatches1]

If you are talking pods it may be worth buying k&n. I purchased cheap ones for another bike and the rubber crumbled in short order. Also, I have been told that it is hard to tune pods on an xs.

[bikerphil]

There are tons of air boxes on Ebay, could always just get another one, JAT

The pod diameter is 54MM.