Support at rear of carbs

More often than not, bikes without airboxes are seen without any rear carb support. But such fitting does indeed stress the carb holders, and carbs have been known to fall out or tear away from the holders upon hitting a large bump such as a pothole.

And the stress promotes premature cracking (think "air leaks") in the carb holders. With an airbox or other support at rear of carbs, there's very little stress on the carb holders.

Probably of less critical concern in a mostly 1/4 mile environment, or where low road mileage is anticipated for the bike.

Given the choice where airbox isn't an option, would fashion a solid support for the intake side of carbs. And would prefer a mounted "solid" bracket-style support rather than a "swinging" hanging-style support.

Good Fortune!

I agree. If you look at unsupported carbs, they will eventually sag low at the air filter end, so there's 2 ways to address it, either support the airfilter end to the frame. This can be done as simply as plastic zip ties, but they will not last forever.
The other way is if you notice, the carbs as they sag, will also naturally have the tops tilting downward away from the cylinder head. You can fabricate a bracket to hold the top of the carbs to a nearby bolt on the valvecover.
Of course the best thing to do by far is not to fall into this trap and stay with the factory airbox.

A small aluminum strap from the carb rack bracket to the frame center pipe above makes perfect.
A little drill n' tap, two screws, your done.

better to safe than sorry but i have never had any probs with mine my self. i could see something like that being a great benifit to motors with longer intake manifolds like gs 1100-1150s or 4 valve cb's or even excessive 11's

I really think this is a non-issue here. I have run pods on all my bikes without any rear support. The oldest one is my 78 KZ650 I have had pods on it since 1980 and I am still using the original manifolds. No cracks leaks or sagging.

Hello All:

Is there any consensus on this? A little more input would be very much appreciated. I have a 1981 550ltd that was given to me (very nice) and I need to address this issue. The intake boots that were on the bike are cut off and ruined--putting them back on is not an option. So something needs to be done, although I am less concerned with whether or not using pods will increase top-end speed and more concerned with maintaining reliability. It would have been nice if I had not ruined the boots....

Also it appears that there are no after market boots available, so I would need to purchase used intake boots online if I am going to keep the airbox. The problem there is that if the used boots available are anything like the ones I ruined, they have become rock-hard over the 29 years they have been around and will be nearly impossible to install.

So it appears that I will need to install pods? Or no? All advice is appreciated. Basically I am looking for a way to filter the air entering the carbs at a reasonably low/mid cost. If I can just install the pods without any rear support, that's great. If not, well that will need to be addressed. Any advice regarding rejetting is also welcome.

Thanks,

JG

You can get a new set of ducts from Kawasaki for about $100. Sounds like a lot of $, but by the time you buy pods, rejet several times, and get mad and dent your bike's gas tank in an angry moment it might be the cheapest option.

Sorry to sound like such a newbe, but by ducts you mean the intake boots? Kawasaki makes them then? I actually would be fine with paying $100 considering the bike was basically given to me.

If by intake boots you mean the airbox hoses (between airbox and carbs), they're a lot less than $ 100 - Z1E has them for 39 bucks (according to Kawasaki.com your 81 550 Ltd is a 550 C2):

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=331


If you're talking about the intake manifolds (between carbs and engine), Z1E has those too for $95:

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2680


Btw, given your username, do you have any relations to Denmark/Scandinavia?

"An ounce of prevention...." and so on. I just used a thick length of stainless steel wire hooked around the center tube and then under the carb cross strip. It's not going anywhere and cost me maybe 30 cents.

Here's another example of parts gouging by the parts manufacturers (or aftermarket makers). If you study these things, they are made from rubber with a small aluminum insert to take the bolts. Probably cost little more then a dollar to make, yet four of them go for $100? I recently made my own float bowl gaskets because a set of four of these little nitrate 'rubber bands' also went for nearly $100!! It's outrageous (just venting here)!

OnkelB wrote:
"If by intake boots you mean the airbox hoses (between airbox and carbs), they're a lot less than $ 100 - Z1E has them for 39 bucks (according to Kawasaki.com your 81 550 Ltd is a 550 C2):

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=331 "


OnkelB - Thanks for the correction! I was looking at the carb holders not the ducts. I stand corrected. Ed

OnkelB wrote:

If by intake boots you mean the airbox hoses (between airbox and carbs), they're a lot less than $ 100 - Z1E has them for 39 bucks (according to Kawasaki.com your 81 550 Ltd is a 550 C2):

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=331


If you're talking about the intake manifolds (between carbs and engine), Z1E has those too for $95:

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2680


Btw, given your username, do you have any relations to Denmark/Scandinavia?

Sweet. Thank you, I will buy those (the air box hoses are what I need). No I don't have any relatives in Scandinavia, but I did spend some time in Denmark. And I grew up in northern MN, surrounded by Scandinavians, taking saunas, cutting holes in the ice and jumping through in the winter. Heh :laugh: Thanks for the help