Carburetor insulator sources and part numbers – Honda CX500, GL500, CX650, GL650
These are called many different things by different people; Honda calls them left and right carb insulators, others intake manifolds, inlet runners, intakes, carb rubbers and probably more that I haven’t heard yet!
The carburetor insulators are of different shapes between different models, and they aren’t cross-compatible! If you take a look at the carburetor shape differences page you’ll understand why – the spacing and even angle changes between models, so intake manifolds that fit one set of carbs definitely wont’ fit another.
Now that it has been some decades since they rolled out of the factory it’s not uncommon for the rubber portion of the inlet runners to crack all the way through and create a vacuum leak; this can be fixed with some large (65mm) heatshrink (eBay US, eBay AU) or perhaps with the application of an adhesive.
Below are the part numbers and sources. The only ones that are available new at the time of writing are the CX500 single spine ones; the others are often available on eBay used, but do try to get a good view of their condition before purchasing if you want to save yourself from having to fill in cracks. Heat-shrinking them isn’t hard but if you aren’t interested in doing that check before buying.
Model | Left side | Left Sources | Right side | Right Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|
CX500 Standard CX500 Deluxe CX500 Custom CX500 Shadow GL500 Wing< |
16221-415-000 | eBay US eBay AU (left and right, cheapest) DS (UK) DS (US) |
16211-415-000 | eBay AU (left and right, cheapest) DS (UK) DS (US) |
CX500E Sports GL500 Silverwing GL500 Silverwing Interstate |
16221-MA1-000 | eBay US | 16211-MA1-000 | eBay US |
CX650E Eurosport CX650C Custom GL650 Silverwing GL650I Silverwing Interstate |
16221-ME2-000 | eBay US | 16211-ME2-000 | eBay US |
Here’s a page showing the shape of the 650 variants: LINK