fitting airbox onto carb bank

[LAB3]

I'm not a carb guy. Sure, I can remove them, clean them and reinstall but other than setting the idle circuits and balancing that's it. I've never taken on the task of installing pods and rejetting because it seems to be easier to work with stock parts and use the stock air box than entertaining the idea of having to fiddle with the carbs several more times to get the bike running right.

There may be a time when I jump in and give it a try but the looks and performance of the stock setup is just fine for me. Don't get me wrong, I love to fiddle with my bike but when I decide "I'll tackle those carbs on Saturday" I'd prefer to be riding on Sunday, not some other future Sunday.

[oldyam80sg]

My rejetting was done by a shop and have help from people that deal with carbs and do jetting changes. I can take off and install my carbs in maybe 10 minutes. Pods are not for everyone, but they work for me. When the bike was 1st done, the airnbox was removed and I never saw it again.

[gtem]

I'm lucky enough to have pliable boots on my airbox, but in the past when I've run into this, I've had good luck doing a fairly brief soak of the rubber boots in a 3:1 mixture of denatured alcohol and wintergreen oil. The latter can be found for relatively cheap in bulk at farm supply stores (Tractor Supply for example). The important part is to not overdo it, 24hrs at a time, for no more than say 72hrs otherwise it's possible for the rubber to get too soft and expanded.

[OldGreyBeast]

Heating up the boots with a hair drier did the trick for me! That and I put a ratchet strap around the bike/airbox and used that to wrench it on there.

[DaleE]

SO! I took more than a few days off from this project. I took a half year off, such was my frustration back in March. Thank you all for your helpful, thoughtful replies. Special thanks to thumperjsa, whose comment about the little triangle shaped tick marks was the bit of information I needed to hear most. I got the carbs mounted yesterday. Really not that difficult at all, if the boots are properly aligned!

I'll hope to button it up completely in the next few days and try to start it for the first time (first time in twenty years or so, anyway). Thank you all, again, for helping. Genuinely couldn't have done it without you.

Keep in mind there are some tick marks on the boots for the airbox. Make sure they are in the upward position. They look like a little triangle.

[thumperjsa]

SO! I took more than a few days off from this project. I took a half year off, such was my frustration back in March. Thank you all for your helpful, thoughtful replies. Special thanks to thumperjsa, whose comment about the little triangle shaped tick marks was the bit of information I needed to hear most. I got the carbs mounted yesterday. Really not that difficult at all, if the boots are properly aligned!

I'll hope to button it up completely in the next few days and try to start it for the first time (first time in twenty years or so, anyway). Thank you all, again, for helping. Genuinely couldn't have done it without you.

A tip I learned from BikerPhil. Glad the tip helped you as well.