I broke the airbox drain nipple - help?

In moving things around yesterday to get my carbs out and back in, I broke off the drain nipple at the front left corner of the airbox on my '81 XJ750rh Seca. I've tried gluing it back on, but it seems to be the kind of plastic that doesn't take kindly to glue. If it were on the dirty side of the filter, I wouldn't worry about it, but it's on the clean side and I worry about road dirt getting up in there.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to repair this? Should I worry? I'm wondering if there's some kind of fitting I could push through from the inside of the airbox and attach the drain tube to that. There is the problem, though, that there's not a lot of room to work in there.

Also, just to be clear, this it the 1/8" or so drain hole that connects to the tube that hungs under the bike - not the connector for the breather tube.

Thanks for any help/suggestions you can offer.

 

When I have broken vacuum connections in the past - if they are not large - I used RTV silicone to plug the hole. It seemed to work well.

If you don't need to drain your airbox often (I hope not) - then just plug it! :lol:

 

Well, since it drains all on its own, I'm not really certain how often it's used. I was inclined to just plug it. I suppose I could plug it with something gas-soluble and if the plug goes away, I know the hole needs to be there

 

if you havent tried epoxy i would try that first.

otherwise whatiwould do is, support the tube somehow, and permenantly attach it to the airbox with RTV silicone, and then use an exacto knife afterwards to try to cut the excess hose off, so it is as low as possible, allowing for as much drainage asyoucan get.

 

Oblivion, you will find that a gentle sanding of the surounding area and the part where it mates up to the break will provide the best foundation for a little JB Weld. Another thought it to hit Home Depot and score a brass nipple fitting and just use a nut to secure it from the opposite side (little dab of RTV between the two would be a good idea as well). You are not up a creek without the paddle, just look (literally) outside the box. Good luck too you!

 

Thanks for the hints, guys, I'll try sanding/epoxying first. Then go from there. The brass fitting idea was hat I was going for if I coulnd't get the original back on. Right now, it's the least of my issues, but it's good to have ideas on how to fix it. When I get back to that, I know all of my other problems have been solved