Rant: Bloody carb rubbers!! (long and painful)

Nice evening, so I thought I'd do a nice 'easy' job on the final stages of
an engine swap on SO's ZZR250.
Fit the carbs and exhausts and finish reconnecting clutch cable and engine
wiring, leaving only the bodywork for tomorrow and MOT Friday.
That was the plan anyway.
Exhaust port threads lovingly cleaned out with a tap and copaslipped. 10mins
to fit the exhaust system- check.
All wiring connectors and clutch cable cleaned/lubed and reassembled.
20mins. check.
Refit airbox rubbers to carbs.....4!!! sodding hours. Unbelievable.
I loathe, hate, detest and generally shit upon old carb rubbers; Liberal use
hot water, silicone grease, pushing, pulling, use of specially formed (bent
at 90deg) screwdriver blade (1) , removal of the damn subframe even,..ALL to
no avail. Finally did it from *inside* the airbox with a bicycle tyre lever
(losing much skin in the process of course). I suppose this is what
aftermarket S&B/RamAir/K&N filters are *really* for.
Oh *how* I love old Jap shit.

(1) pushing said blade right under thumbnail in the process.


JB

 

JB wrote

Swot the bitch and her hair dryer is for laddy.

 

Tried it too! Too much direct heat. Move around the circumference of the
rubber softening it up and the fucking thing is hardening almost straight
away.
Was thinking of sourcing new ones but I'm told that it's a 4 day delivery.
All done now anyway thank God.

JB

 

JB wrote

You get her to use it on the manifold as well, the extra heat stored
there helps keep the rubber supple while you faff around getting it
lined up.

 

How much are new ones?

I remember test driving a ZZR250 when they were new. Unfortunately when
the dealer said it had only done 4 miles and to keep it below 4,000 rpm
I did. It was very boring below 4,000 RPM.

 

Worth the running in I suppose as then afterwards you can use the full
14,000rpm. That's really insane revs for a twin.
Nice chassis but not enough power. I should have put a YPVS or an old RD400
lump in it I reckon.
Ah well, once this one's MOTd on Friday it's up for sale to fund the next
one, a GPZ900A1 lurking in the back garden.

JB

 

The ZZR250 is bitch to work on but I agree that the airbox rubbers are the
worst fucking bit.
We had to do it in a car park while it was snowing once, so you had it easy.

 

easy.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Try telling that to the neighbours. They now know *all sorts* of colourful
new words and phrases.
PS: do you need any engine bits? I've got a whole excellent engine less a
crank with shagged big-end.
Top end is *perfect*.


JB

 

Thanks for the offer, but we sold the two bikes to one of my Mum's work
mates...