1979 vs Prolink Intakes

[barryadam]

I realize the Prolink carb-to-engine boots angle the carbs differently than the 1979 boots do.

Are the air chamber-to-carb boots, the chamber, or the airfilter box different dimensionally between the 1979 and the 1981/82?

My 1979 project hulk was missing everything south of the carbs. I have access to a nice condition Prolink chamber and chamber-to-carb boots, and an airfilter box from an unknown year.
Will it fit the 1979 frame?

My schoolbike engine came with carb-to-engine boots, so I assume they are the angled, Prolink ones. (I can't get to them right away to verify) Will the 1979 frame with the Prolink intake system as above, I assume I'd use those angled boots.

I guess the bottom line is: are all the parts upstream of the carbs dimensionally the same and the difference taken up in the location in the frame? Or is the 1979 and Prolink frame identical for airbox/chamber mounting and position? I assume the engine is mounted in the exact same place/angle in all years' frames.

Jeez, this is harder to describe than I thought.

[Don]

I believe everything behind the carbs on a ProLink is completely different than on an early model - None of it will correctly fit a '79 frame

Don

[daves79x]

You need to use the Pro-Link chamber and it will bolt right up to the '79 frame, but you'll need the '79 air box (filter box) if you want the wiring mount to match the '79. If you don't care about the wiring being mounted in holders, then the entire air box system from the Pro-Link will go in a '79 frame. I have both here and can compare exactly if you want, but that is my recollection.

Dave

[barryadam]

Dave & Don,

Thanks guys. The Prolink chamber looks really fresh, so that's going to work for me. The air filter box has the wiring bracket, so I'm guessing it's from a 1979.
I have a 1979 chamber, too, but it looks like it was in a swamp for decades. For some reason, I disassembled it when I first got it to try and get the scum cleaned out. The chamber sides would take a bit of work and probably never look as fresh as the textured ones on the Prolink box.

Barry

[NobleHops]

Dave & Don,

Thanks guys. The Prolink chamber looks really fresh, so that's going to work for me. The air filter box has the wiring bracket, so I'm guessing it's from a 1979.
I have a 1979 chamber, too, but it looks like it was in a swamp for decades. For some reason, I disassembled it when I first got it to try and get the scum cleaned out. The chamber sides would take a bit of work and probably never look as fresh as the textured ones on the Prolink box.

Barry

Barry, if you want to stick with the original setup, mine were repainted with SEM flexible bumper coating, although I now think that the SEM satin trim paint would have been a better choice. It comes in rattlecans and is very easy to work with. I use it all over the place.

Before:




After (with some fisheyes that I resanded and touched-up):





and those are raindrops in this next pic:





The other approach to restoring the old one is to clean the bejesus out of it with something like 409 and then hit it with the heat gun. I believe that Spencer did this and had good results, but it is possible to do catastrophic damage this way too.

N.

[Don]

Also . . . . the badly faded ones can be wetsanded to look like new - No painting required

Begin with #600 wet or dry paper and work your way up through 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit, then wax the plastic and it will look like new

Don