Keeping carbs together while removing air box pan

Ref; 86 VF500F
I've been trying to bring this bike back from the dead and it's going good. I got a small box of parts from the PO. In the box was a bag that has the 4 rubber gaskets and the 8 metal locator tubes that go between the carbs and the bottom of the airbox. I'm going to have to seperate them to put them back in. The carbs are off the bike because I am cleaning them. Anybody have a good way to take the carbs lose from the airbox bottom without having them come all apart? I was thinking about tightly wrapping the whole assembly in saran wrap but since I've never taken this assembly off I don't know what to expect.

 

i tell you what man its a tough one dealing with these carbs especially when you have to split them.. the biggest things with the carbs when you pull that top pan is that the seals all go to hell in a handbasket.

first set i done took me 2 attempts to get back together correctly without leaks. second set took me 5 tries but i was half toasted the first 4 times.. if you must take it apart just have some seals on tap for all the crossovers and b4 you put them back on the bike test bench for leaks with a low pressure pump.. as far as tryin to keep them together the best you can mmm yeah.. just take a few pictures look at all the linkages and whatnot before you attempt to go forward with the disassembly and also look at the online parts fiche if you need help eyeballing where something goes..

 

Another option I've thought about is to wait until I put the carbs back on the bike then remove the airbox base and try to reassemble it on the bike. It's a little tougher and if I drop anything it goes right down into the engine.

On another note; How do you get the choke plungers out without taking apart the whole assembly?

 

all that can be done without removing the air plenum... if you lose or break the crossover's your are screwed harder than a 2 dollar whore outside of a navy yard.

you best bet would be to get a service manual it will show you all the in's and outs ... TOECUTTER did a carb leaning thread the years are a different but the concepts and parts are pretty much the same...

good luck

 

I think I just figured out how to keep the carbs together and remove the airbox base; I've got the carbs all apart (still attached to the base) and I noticed that all of the main jet receivers are the same height. They are alternated on their orientation which is no big deal. I'm going to get a piece of stock, drill holes that match the jet offset and use those to "bolt" the carbs together. That should hold them pretty tightly so I can take them off the aircan base just long enough to insert the gaskets and sleeves. All I need to find is the thread size on the jets and try and find matching bolts. I'll take some pics when I do this for referrence.

I still don't see how to removet the choke plungers though.

EDIT - here's what the brace looks like. I think I'll also put another one across the pump openings on both sides just to keep it from moving at all.

 

Check out the Mike Nixon book. I found it to be a pretty good guide to taking these things apart and getting them back together again. I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the choke assembly can be dismantled without separating the carbs.