Stupid newb question yet again.

Where is the PAIR valve on this bike? I have only worked on older stuff that did not have this. Could anyone link a pic for me?

Also, the nipple caps on top of the carbs, are they part of this PAIR system? I know folks have mentioned removing these (older carbs did not have them, so it makes sense), but is there a kit to do it cleanly? I cannot seem to find one specifically for our bikes. I really would love to get rid of unnecessary crap.

Remove the tank, IIRC it is bolted to the frame, right over the top of the engine, you will figure it out when you see the plumbing.

Thanks Stevo, issue is, my bike was pretty butchered when I brought her home. and the only plumbing I saw was small vacuum hoses that ran to the top of the carbs, the fuel lines, a hose running from the top of the engine to the airbox, and the vent hose from between the carbs. If it wasn't one of those I wonder if it had been removed already. For all I know the engine was replaced at some point with one from an earlier model (assuming this is possible).

I googled it and know what the part looks like off the bike, apparently has 2 hoses running to it, but I saw nothing like that. Where do those hoses run to? Perhaps if I knew where to start I could verify it is gone, or find it and feel like an idiot.

I have an older GS500 and have already removed all the California emissions stuff so I can't give you good advice on this but I think it might make a difference what year your moto is and also if it is a California model or a 49-stater.  The emissions sticker on the right side of the frame near the steering stem should indicate if it is a CA model.

No sticker near the stem. Just one below the tank on the frame. Says nothing about CA, just that it meets U.S. emissions for 2005 models. So PAIR is only on CA bikes? I thought they were on all of them. My mistake. I think I also read today that part of the Pair system is located under the battery box, There is nothing there, I can see clean through my bike.

So I guess the only question I have left is... Can we block off the nipple caps on the carbs for reliability purposes? Many people, like myself, seem to have issues with leaking vacuum or broken nipples. Again, older carbs for this bike did not have them (I believe, correct me if I am mistaken), so an uneducated guess is that they can be removed with the right know how. Has anyone here had any success with this? Are they a necessary evil?

Thanks again for all the help! I am learning boatloads! If I can manage to get time to finish putting her back together (fairings, other small things, and a safety check), tonight may be date night! Woot!

P.S. My old brittle fuel lines from the tank to petcock gave up the ghost this morning. I took your advice and went to NAPA and grabbed some 1/4 Tygon. Was a real PITA to get on the petcock. I threw some oil around the fittings, stretched the hose with some needle nose pliers, and cut the hose end at an angle and got them on. I used clamps for the petcock side. NAPA was the only parts store that had it locally and I made it with only 5min before closing time (they are shutting down early for the 4th). Autozone, Advance, O'Rielly, and Carquest said they have never heard of the stuff  .

Oh, and for any interested parties, Tygon works great, after the initial hassle of getting it on. It was $3 per foot at my local NAPA and a 4 foot section fit and left me with enough to spare that I could replace one of the lines, just in case, or replace the line from petcock to carbs. In other words, 4 foot should do ya! Thanks again for the advice! I am not against paying for the OEM stuff, but I would have had to order it and probably waited another week for it to arrive.

It's the silver thing to the left bolted to the cross frame over the engine.

Stevo, I can confirm that I do not have a PAIR valve on my bike. Thanks for the pic!! It really helped!

For the record, prior to 2007, the pair valve (2nd Air on parts fiche) was CA only. In 2007, Suzuki made it standard for all 50 states.