Will not having the rubber intake boots do this to my bike?

You know those crappy rubber boots that the bike is suppose to have? Well mine are completely shot, and I figured I could atleast start the bike and ride it up and down the street afew times till I figured out what I"m going to do (new boots or Pods) But this is my delema....

With the choke on the bike fires right up almost the instant I hit the starter, it revs pretty high, and as soon as I go to shut the choke off it kills the bike. at full choke it sits at about 3K RPM. and at half choke is about half that and at no choke it kills....Now mind that fact I just rebuilt these carbs, and I don't have them tuned yet. I have been doing some digging on the site but no luck so far, so I figured I'd post the question. So do you think the fact that I have no restriction on the cabs ie; pods or rubber connector boots, that it would keep it from running? Thanks for your help guys......

Post edited by: gunman, at: 2006/06/21 04:55

That wont keep her from running. It might keep her from running at her best, but she should run fine without, at least until you suck something big in.

I think you have some adjustments still to make. the bike should idle without the airbox boots on. the trouble with modified bikes are the modified problems that tag along.
having the float heights right and equal on all 4 carbs is a start.
Next the mixture screw and pilot circut need to be absolutly clean. they are the smallest holes and parts in the whole carb. fuel and air bleed passages some times need 2 or 3 cleanings. they are so small they can be very tough to do it properly after varnishing has set in. I swear I have cleaned hundreds of carbs and I cant stress it enough. if a guy can get a pilot circut clean the rest is a sinch.
mixture screws cannot be bent AT ALL! the spring, washer and o-ring have to be like new and clean enough to eat.

Earlier VM26s will run OK without any air cleaner attached but the 78s are ridiculously lean... the 78 1/2 assemblies were the leanest Kaw ever used without accelerator pumps. The choke is really an enrichener and if you have stock jetting, you pretty much described the way the carbs would run without air cleaners. Hard to say, but I would guess you could take it off choke if you hooked the factory airbox up but will probably still need to set the idle mixture, idle speed and synchronize the carburetors at a minimum.