New User & Question About Manifold Boots!

Hi All,

Dave here hailing you from Washington, DC, where it's a balmy 41 deg. outside as I type this at 3:20pm.

Well, a few weeks ago I picked up a 1984 KZ550 LTD Shaftie with 6500 on the clock. The bike hadn't been run in years. Yes, yes, picks are coming soon! It ain't pretty, I can tell you that!

First thing I noticed is all the plastic seems very aged-- much worse than on my 1976 Honda CB400F. Gratuitous Image of Honda Here:

Anyway, I pulled the carbs & did the cleaning thing, poked out all the orifi, and blew them out with compressed air. Put it all back together (a 3 hour job with those hardened airbox boots!), and it started & ran like junk. Needs starting fluid to get going, and even then only runs on 2 cylinders consistently, although does run well on the mains when revs above 4k & giving enough throttle to get it on the mains.

Long story short, it runs great when I spray starting fluid on the carb boots/manifolds.

QUESTION 1: What typically goes wrong with the manifold boots? The o-ring or the boot itself? How do you recommend I proceed with this problem? Can I get a can of that yellow expanding foam stuff and just hose down the manifolds between the carb & cylinder head? (j/k!)

QUESTION 2: How is the clutch cable on this bike routed? It ain't in the shaftie manual, and not shown in any pics I can scavenge up. Some harley dealer worked on this bike last and gorfed it to the MAX!

QUESTION 3: I stepped on the centerstand tang and cracked/bent the tang. Any suggestions?

Thanks, all. Hope to be around a while!

Dave
Founder
IncomeTrap.com

Post edited by: ONeill, at: 2005/12/11 15:32

On my bike the intake boots looked ok(on the outside) but it was doing the same as yours and I didn't want to pull them until I had new boots(just in case they came apart on me). When I pulled my carbs and cleaned them the intake boots appeared pliable enough so I left them. I went ahead and ordered new intake boots and when they arrived I pulled the old ones and when I compared them with the new ones it was night and day.
The old ones had obvious cracks in them and where hard where they made contact with the motor. So of course I replace them and no more probs.
The boot itself didn't have what I would call an o-ring but more like a thin rubber seal that was degraded badly.
Don't know if I would do the spray trick on the manifold. It might work, if you let it setup completly before you run it. And will probably be a bear to clean up when you do it properly.

Don't know how the cable is routed on your model.

The bent tang is another issue also. I have rebent this type of metal but you are probably looking at it breaking seeing what it does if you bend it back.

Post edited by: ejshotgun, at: 2005/12/11 17:07

The boots are very, very, VERY important on these bikes. Any little crack can cause you to pull you hair out. One trick you can try is to spray some WD40 around the boots as the bike is running. Since WD40 is flammable it will burn if it is sucked into the engine. This is a good thing. Do one at a time. If you spary and the RPM's go up then you found a leak. Since the Boots are off already I would clean them very well. They do not use a, o ring. The groove you see is for some gasket sealer. Clean all the old sealant out and add some nice high temp sealant. I know there is a marine product made by Yamaha (I think) that is supposed to bring rubber back to life. You let it soak for a few days and the rubber will feel like new. Not sure what it called but my friend worked at a boat shop and they used it all the time. He used it on his carb boots and said it worked great. Not sure about your cable. As far as the centerstand problem I would be worried about that one. If the side piece was weak enough to break you might not want to use the stand util you make sure it is not rusted through. Later

Email Z1 Enterprises and see if they can get you the airbox boots. I bought mine for $40 from Z1, and they were worth every penny.

And welcome to the site!

Post edited by: gargantuchet, at: 2005/12/11 20:41

New boots are worthwhile and easy. As for the cable, what about it makes you think it's not routed properly?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the responses! Unfortunately, Z1 enterprises doesn't carry the boots for my bike, a 1984 KZ550 LTD shaftie.

Ejshotgun, do you think I can just replace the thin rubber seal between the boot & the block, a la your "
The boot itself didn't have what I would call an o-ring but more like a thin rubber seal that was degraded badly. "??? Should I change the boots & seals at the same time? What say y'all? By the way, I was kidding about the spray foam stuff-- it makes a giant mess!

The part number for the boots is: 16065/A, and the thin rubber seal between the head and the boot is 92055.

Where do you guys recommend buying the boots & seals? I am thinking about picking up that yamaha stuff that reconditions the rubber-- sounds like a great product!

As far as the cable routing goes, henrymski, I know it's wrong because the Harley shop had worked on it, and it was run from the clutch lever to the left side of the engine under the carbs to the cable mount-- and was just wagging in the air.

I re-routed the cable under the tank (under the plastic scuff guard), over the cylinder head, under the carbs to the cable mount, but I can tell this still isn't right (although the cable is working fine)

Would just like to know the correct routing for the cable to ensure max cable longevity (and its current routing interferes with the choke knob).

If you don't know how it's routed, that's cool. I was just hoping someone did know the correct route.

Thanks,

Dave

Im not sure how the cable routs, wouldnt think it would matter to much, just as long as there is no slack in it. You can try ebay for your rubber boots, i've seen them on there from time to time. ( if you hav'nt already looked ) Oh, btw welcome to kzrider.

I know Z1 didn't have it on their page, but it might be worth sending an email just in case. I've heard it said that Jeff (the owner) can sometimes track things down, and I can tell you that his customer service is top-notch. He also posts on this board as Jeff.Saunders.

Bikebandit.com is a great place to find parts. Unfortunately they're often a great place to find higher prices.

if there is any cracks in the rubber id replace them ,they get dryrotted like any other rubber part on these bikes and they arent that expensive compared to the tuning headaches caused by a vacuam leak!goodluck,happy wrenching!

yeah try an e-mail to z1 and if thats a no go you might try cyclewareables.com, they're located in the n.east area, and sometimes can find hard to locate parts. you'll probably have to send an e-mail to them too about the specifics of what your looking for, good luck hope you find it.

as far as the boots go if you want a temp fix too keep ya runnin seal the cracks with at least 90%silicone sealant.
my boots are pretty bad and i put about 800 miles on the old sealed boots before installing news.before sealant.



Post edited by: mykznme, at: 2005/12/27 22:31

Silicon and gasoline don't mix well. The silicon breaks down. I would not try and repair rubber intake manifolds but if I did, I would use nitrile rubber compound (liquid).