I just read of a way to make old carb boots soft again. It uses a 3-1 mixture of rubbing alcohol and oil of wintergreen. I am going to do this tonight and i will let you know monday if it worked.
I won't be able to report my results until Thursday next week, the oil of wintergreen won't show up until tuesday then i need to soak it for 24 hours or so maybe more. Do you guys want pictures or something too?
Your talking about the boots that go between the carb and the airbox? I always just dropped them in a pot of hot water and they soften up really nicely.
Yes those are the boots I mean they are like stones right now. I am going to give this a go. If I am wrong I can get podfilters If I can't get NOS boots. Nothing ventured right?
I agree with Andrew - they just need a bit of heat. I simply give them a lube where they go through the airbox and over the carbs - then warm them up gently with the wife's hairdryer.
Personally, I wouldn't soak them in chemicals for 24hrs. Heat them up and pop them on.
I got wintergreen oil from the Walmart pharmacy. Yes it does work, but it swells them quite a bit, you have to wait a few days and they will go back to normal. Your bike will also smell like chewing gum for a long while. I used a mixture of xylene and wintergreen, people said it was the xylene that made them soft but I tried xylene on it's own and no go.
I hear that boiling water and winter green works as well, would be better, no harsh chemicals. They hardened back up after about 6 months.
i went ahead and did this using a 3-1 mixture of rubbing alcohol and oil of wintergreen. They are much softer and they did grow by about 20%. They soaked in the mixture for about 48 hours. I will put them back on the bike soon. I used wintergreen from my local wallymart and cheapo water bottles from the dollar store. Do you guys want pictures of the boots as they are now? I don't have any "before" pictures.
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