So, I'm about to seal all 4 boots between carbs & block tomorrow morning with Ultra-Grey Permatex.
Anyone have thoughs/tips before I proceed?

1982 XJ650 with no doubt, original boots..
Reason I'm doing this? I don't have the 100.00 for new set of boots, and I can see some good cracks in them.

thx fellas,
Rich

Save the money and time on the permatex goo. That way when you put new rubbers on in a few months you don't have to spend alot of time scraping it off and risking getting it in the cylinders. :o

Seriously, if the rubbers have good size cracks in them, which most 25 year old rubber parts do, it's only a matter of time before you have to replace them. And that's a time-consuming job. Easy, but time consuming. The intakes don't require any kind of gasket sealer, so putting that stuff on now won't solve anything. The air is still going to leak in from the other cracks and the bike will never run like it should.

Do you have a birthday coming up? I hated having to spend that kind of money for rubber parts, but if you are going to own old bikes, that what you have to expect. Jerry-rigging is only going to leave you stranded somewhere, and I'm too old and it's too damn hot in S. Texas to be pushing a bike along the side of the road :lol:

Yes and NO
go ahead and seal the outsides of the boots but as stated above don't bother to seal between the block and carbs. you run the risk of getting the stuff in the motor yuk.

thanks lads,
Rich

I have an 82 seca with the same problem. #1 and #4 intake boots have small cracks. I'll likely replace the boots in the winter but would like a quick fix if it will make a difference. I just purchased the bike and it seems to run fine, which means that I'm not really sure if these cracks in the boots are actually hurting the bike performance.
Anyways, did you use the permatex? And did it make a difference?

Your previous responses to your question are smack on.
I had success with removing, cleaning and smearing a product called "Automotive Goop" over the whole boot. This product seals all cracks and remains flexible in all cases. I cleaned the boots with a cleaner a bummed from a tire shop. Smelled a bit like
acetone. Don't put any sealant on the carb connection. It might get sucked into the carb and/or engine and give you real problems.

[B]

If you're looking for a short-term fix, RTV sealant on the boots will do the trick just fine. When I bought my Seca, there were significant cracks in the #1 & #4 boots that were leaking a lot of air, resulting in a high warm-engine idle. I didn't even take the carb rack off--I just gooped the sealant onto the outside of the boots with a Q-tip and let it cure overnight. The next day the idle was nice and steady around 1100, even after a couple hours of hot-weather riding in city traffic.

If the cracking is so bad that you're considering putting sealant on the inner surface of the boots, or if you have cracks on the #2 or #3 boots that will necessitate removal of the carb rack anyway, then you should just go ahead and replace the boots with a set of new ones. They're almost constantly available on eBay for $90 or so.

--Bryan