Cheapest source for Intake Manifolds

[Hepcat]

I'm looking for intake manifolds for my XJ. I find them all the time on Ebay, but they're $100/set. Does anyone know of a cheaper source?

[andnew]

Are yours just cracked, or are they broken into pieces?

[Hepcat]

I ripped one almost in half...it has a tear 3/4 of the way around it. I don't think any repair I could do would hold past the next time I take the carbs off. It's an XJ, so it requires a lot of monkeying around just to get the carbs out.

[John]

Hey Jon

I have some used ones from one of my old XJ's. $25 plus S&H. For all four. They all look pretty good.
Man, you haven't come up with a name for those bikes yet? How long has it been? Almost two years?

[andnew]

Find an industrial electrical shop in town and get some wrappable heat shrink tubing.

After cleaning thoroughly, super glue the piece together as best you can.

Wrap about three layers around the outside and shrink it down with torch heat with no flame touching or use a heat gun or hair dryer. Try to keep moving to cover it all evenly with heat.

Do another 3 wraps and heat it again.

If you really want to get fancy, you can then silicone up the inside to make it smooth. Only if you clean it as stated above with harsh solvents. If you do, make sure you let it dry for a full 24 hours before use and use a fuel proof silicone.

[andnew]

I should add that I've tried to fiberglass these in the past. Don't bother, the power pulses from the motor will shred them in minutes.

[Shawn27530]

Wintergreen oil treatment

Go to your local pharmacy and buy some Wintergreen oil. Boil the intake boots in this for about 20 minutes and it will make them soft and pliable again. Then you can coat them with some sort of rubber cement on the outside to seal the cracks up.

I'm with you I think 100.00 bucks a set for intake boots is HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!!!!!!

[xschop]

boots

does anybody have a boot that the rubber coating is almost or totally removed? it seems to me there is a metal inner lining to these boots?...chop

[gaffer77]

Well i was told there is a metal lineing too??
just wondered if that is the case ,,why do they leak??

i will chop an old one sometime got to dig one out my pile first!!

[Hepcat]

I may play with the wintergreen oil thing, but I think I'll take you up on the offer John. I've PM'd you about it.

I'll let you all know if I find metal in mine once I get John's set here. I don't know if I trust repaired intakes as much as used replacements.

Thanks all!

[Hepcat]

It's so difficult to find a good name.

Especially for the XJ when the bike spends weeks at a time in the garage due to torrential downpours all day long. My other X, the XS in Nebraska only gets attention 3 months out of the year, and she has only been running for 4 of the 6 summer months I've owned her. I bought her in May of 2004 and rode her a lot over my summer breaks after I got her running. I still don't have a name for her, but the bike's definitely a "she" in my mind.

I've decided finally on a name for my XJ. I hope you don't mind, but since all the parts to get it back on the road have come from your bike, I named it "John"