Red gunk in Mikunu carbs, odd hose from engine?

Hi,

Background - skip if you get easily bored:
I recently bought a 1982 XJ550 (4V8) with more than 80'000km on the meter (about 50'000 miles for you imperials). It was an impulse buy with the thought to rebuild it to a cheap bobber/cafe racer/flat tracker thingy and at the same time learn a bit more about motorcycles. So if it breaks down fataly after another 2000 km, I've still gained a bunch of experience and not lost that much money.

It's in quite bad shape cosmetically, and on top of it the PO broke the air box and replaced it with pods. But it runs pretty good whenever I get it started (which usually happens on the very first try, but not the ones immediately after). So as a first step I'm going to tear the carbs down for cleaning and then try 700bobber's beer can mod, as it is the thing I've found that closest replicate the function of the original airbox.

Questions - the reason I'm posting:

1. Upon removing the carbs, I found this red gunk in all the rubber boots. Is this normal?



Looking further in, it looked like it was dangerously close to get into the cylinder as well. So I removed the boots and found more of it, covering most of the cylinder side, but looking very dissolved. Could this be some kind of sealant that over time has gone bad and more or less dissolved?
Upon reinstalling, should I apply more of this or simply remove it?

By the way, as can (barely) be seen in the above picture, all rubber boots have a glazed uneven coating. Could this be the result of someone repairing them, or something else? Anthing I should be aware of regarding this?


2. When first removing the pods, I found this hose going from the right side of the engine to where the air box originally was.



Is this the "afterburner", that feeds unburned gas fumes back to the air box, or is it something else? The PO obviously just let it hang, to me that is inviting junk to travel down the tube. Since I'm currently on pods, what should I do with it? Plug it with something? Remove it at the engine? Let it be?

3. Whenever I get finished cleaning the carbs (and exchanging all screws to stainless hex heads - eBay kit), what about synching the carbs? Do I need to purchase a 4 gauge carborator tool for this? I might be able to get my hands on a 2 gauge version, is it possible to use this, like two carbs at a time or something?

That's all for now, but you will surely hear more from me.

 

Check the gas tank for the red stuff. Looks like the tank was previously coated and its coming out. The tube goes from the crankcase to the bottom of the stock airbox. Maybe cut it short and put a filter on it? It's a PVC hose so I wouldn't plug it.

 

thats the crankcase breather tube,it releives any pressure build up in the crankcase, and feeds the fumes and oil mist back into the airbox,
you can remove it and replace it with a minature version of the pods filter,
alternatively you could replace it with a longer tube and direct it down the back of the engine to exit under the bike.
stu.

 

It looks to me like the PO used a Sealant on the Gaskets and Intake Manifolds.

Most likely tying to combat an Air Leak.

Harmless.

 

Thanks for the answers! I'll see if I can find a filter to fit the breather tube, clean the red gunk off and see how it goes then. Main problem now is that half the screws are worn down and stuck, guess one of the POs were not very careful. Good thing I have a Dremel and some time on my hands.

 

I don't think a filter is necessary.
I think the "Red Stuff" got placed in the Manifold.
Probably to seal the Manifold-to-Head joint, ... and ... also in the Locating Channel of the Manifold for the Carbs Intake Neck.