How critical is it for the carb [T] nipple to be air tight?

[Darkstar]

This black [T] joint pulls air in, bridged between the two carb tops. I noticed mine is quite loose. Maybe its worn from all times I pulled carbs to set up jets. Is this known to wear out, and is it worth replacing, or maybe a way to tighten the fit with teflon tape, etc? (Pic shown here is not mine, just here for reference)

[J_Walker]

I used electrical tape to tape mine all sealed up.. even the end that the filter is suppose to go, I have tape over that with about a 2cm squared area left un-taped. works fine for me. my T is all cracked and barely on there lol

[Darkstar]

thanks, i just remembered that this pulls air from a filter, so its not vacuum

[user11235813]

Ha, got my carbs in pieces and was wondering the same thing, didn't realise about it not being under vacuum. doh.

BTW have you noticed when you removed the mid jet 60 that down the hole there appears to be another brass jet?

I was wondering how safe it is with regards to any rubber bits if I gave it a squirt of carb cleaner but blew it off with air quickly afterwards?

[70pelle]

I just finished rebuilding the carbs in our 04, and replaced those two items.  Along with all the other rubber O-rings and gaskets.  I bought them from BikeBandit, didn't cost more than 10 bucks.  Sure made a difference in the way the bike starts and idles. No more popping when cold.

Ken

[user11235813]

I'm in the middle of trying to understand all this plumbing so I can removed it. But if I'm understanding this video correctly https://youtu.be/FyA-L5XIYpo then it appears that it will not be sucking any air through that filter unless the valves are open underneath the white plastic bits on the top of the carbs which appear to be actuated by another solenoid plugged into the vacuum line as part of the fuel emission control.