250-500cc WR300 Intake Manifold replacement ?

Hi, I'm using the Honda boot for a few month without issues, I am having a look at the boot regularly and by now I see no growing cracks or something. During the installation I heated the airbox boot with a hair dryer to soften the material a bit (I did this in winter), that removed some of the tension going to the carb and intake boot. So far so good. I think the trick is to get a good / new as possible boot from Honda. They are discontinued so you will probably not find a new one. Mine was from 99 but you can use up to 2001, after that they changed the shape of the bolt pattern.

Cheers.

Thanks! I just got a used 2011 WR 250 and noticed that the previous owner had used RTV to seal some cracks. And there was another crack that I also had to seal.

Just ordered one through AOMC. It was $32 shipped:

https://bit.ly/2O14cOr (part #24)

They said they can source one and get it shipped in just a couple of days. Hoping that is true! I'll keep you posted.

That is the OEM boot, in my case they hold up for some time, not more than 2 years :/

Gotcha. This is a new (to me...) bike so if I get a couple of years out of it I'll be happy. Check back with me in two years and see if that's true :-p I guess that I am getting more grouchy as I get older!

I've had them last for just a few months on the 300. Seems to be a non issue on the 165. I have an OEM on the 300 now for @ 6 months and still looks good. Previous one started to crack so I wrapped it with rubber tape (self-amalgamating electricians tape) and that worked, but looked a little ratty.

My OEM manifold replacement arrived and boy, is that material think and rigid! I have not pulled the old one off the bike yet. I am hoping the cracks that I noticed (and sealed from the outside) did not extend through to the inside of the manifold.

I will post pics of the pieces when I swap them out.

They're thick AF. Be surprised if they're anything other than superficial. Mine's been cracked for years!

Well, the Honda CR boot is getting worse over time, I'm watching it closely, it will probably still be OK for some time but I may need to think of an substitute, maybe I'll try to adapt a GasGas boot. These are solid aluminum and would not crack anymore... (I could not just get an OEM boot anymore with the VForce4 reed case)




Cheers.

Well that didn't last long, but I guess that boot was years old when you installed it.

Why the vforce4 reeds? Any noticable improvements?

My current OEM boot (from Bill's) was installed almost 8 months ago and still looks good. I have a older/shorter boot to try and also have an older, longer Lectron 36mm.
The 300 is running sweet though, so not touching any of that until necessary

What were the oem boots worth over there Steve?

The reed came from a 99 CR250 (used), it already did have some cracks at this zone when I installed them, but they did grow a little bit.
The problem with the Honda boot is that the angle is narrower and incorrect so that it applies more force inwards, stressing the cracked area even more.

As far as why I tried the VF4 ... I grabbed them for 99€ NEW on a discount. They are for GasGas and I needed to install a GasGas spacer in order to fit them. And the Intake 'hole' is center offset as opposed to the OEM VF3 on the Huskys, so a different boot is needed.

Cheers.

I'd have to look mate, but pretty sure under $30 each plus shipping from Bill's. It's been awhile, so not sure what the going price is though

I got around to swapping in my new OEM intake manifold and found the old, cracked one still had a TON of material left beneath the crack. Given how stiff this plastic is, I can't imagine the crack extending deep enough to cause any problems.

Huh

They’re like wrinkles, add character. But harmless, hopefully.

I had an air leak before because of this, but on the OEM boots the problems are not the superficial little cracks you see but the upper section just below the upper central bolt, that part did always get loose and having a direct passage leaking unfiltered air, I did fix that several times with silicon gasket maker but it's only a temporary fix:

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/wr300-intake-manifold-replacement.84005/page-3#post-634409

On the Honda CR250 boot this may not be an issue, I'll leave it as for now, but once I notice any change in carburation (lean running) I'll need to actuate.

Cheers !