When I pulled my carb, the air tube split right behind where the hose clamp held it onto the carb intake. It was too short to use, and I wasn't about to spend $50 plus shipping for a new one. I went to Home Depot and found a rubber coupler made by Proflex that's 1 1/2 CL, PL, or ST to 1 1/2 tubular. It's a thick 4" rubber hose that's bigger on one end than the other and is surrounded by a stainless outer sheathing. The sheathing gets tossed and you use only the rubber part.
The small side is a perfect fit for the carb body. The inside of the big side is around 1/4" bigger in diameter than the outer diameter of the original carb tube.
I trimmed the end of the original carb tube so that it was around 1" shorter than it was originally, then cleaned up the rubber on both parts really well. I put a 30mm socket halfway into the original air tube and slid the big end of the coupler onto the socket until the step down to 1 1/2" butted up against the original tube, and filled in the gap with hot glue. I'm sure silicone would work just as well, but I was in a hurry and a carb stays cool when the engine is running. I needed a slightly bigger hose clamp, which is fine with me because now it's easier to get at the mounting screw.
Just thought I'd pass that on in case anyone else has an air tube that broke in the same way mine did.
Air Filter to Carb Tube Repair Instructions. $8.00 fix.
Great fix. Mine broke right behind the clamp and I tried a fix with silicone which I'm not too happy with. I may use your method before I actually run the engine.
I'd be a little leary of the hot glue as a longterm thing. It's not as flexible and may tend to separate from the rubber. I have an aircleaner where the PO had put foam on instead of the paper, attaching it with hot glue. I didn't like the fix and found that the glue had separated from the metal in several places allowing dirt entry. 63 CA78
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||