re:Fish - I went to the HEL website and they didn't have 2001 listed, just like you said. For some reason, a bunch of people and sites think Suzuki stopped making this bike from around 99-03. As we know, they sure as heck didn't!

Anyway, I emailed HEL and asked if the part for the '87 - '98 LS650 would work for a 2001, they replied saying they believed it would, so I ordered the HBF7408 and installed it yesterday. Installed fine, but, obviously, won't be able to test for real until I can get the bike running. Fit well, had the rubber parts for the frame clip things, screwed together right, was the right length, not leaking... all systems go.

They have lots of colors available, which is pretty cool. I expect the brakes to be MUCH better (new pads, new stainless line, new fluid).


UPDATE: fuel wasn't leaking last night. Left it in RES all night and wasn't leaking in the morning. Came home from work around 5pm and gas was leaking again. Before I turned off the petcock, I already had the airbox open and the air filter out. There was a slow waterfall of gas overflowing from the air intake down the front (inner) wall of the airbox and out of the airbox vent, onto the concrete floor.

I don't need to do the clear PVC tube level check... I think this pretty much tells me what I need to know. I have some clear PVC but it was actually too large to fit the carb drain line or I would have done this yesterday - this IS a good idea, just didn't have the stuff to do it.

Like I said earlier, the carb rebuild kit has been ordered.

**UPDATE**

Got the carb kit Friday afternoon, couldn't get to it until today.

Took the carb apart, and I'd love to throttle the guy that last took this thing apart because EVERY screw was way way overtorqued.    Not cool, man.

Anyway, took the carb apart and took out the float valve.

• Float itself - put it in the freezer for an hour and submerged it in water for a minute and no bubbles. Shook it, no fluids in it before or after. Check!
• Float valve - looked okay, had a tiny ridge where it had been seating all these years. I mean really barely noticeable.
• Float valve body - this thing just about fell out it was so loose. DING DING! I think we have a winner for the cause of the overflowing. While the rubber pointy disc itself wasn't perfect, I think it was holding. The body, however, must have worn out the o-ring a long time ago. The old body came right out and the new one was tough to get back in.

Put the battery on the charger (just in case), drained the oil (just in case gas got in there - new oil is cheaper than a new engine), put everything back together, finally got the brake fluid drained and put back together (the HEL kit for the earlier years worked great on the '01), filled the oil, got the seat back on and took 'er out for a ride!

Popping quite a bit on decel, but that's pretty normal for this bike. I haven't done a couple of the mods for the popping on decel, but as long as she runs and doesn't leak gas, I'm good.

After a couple of days of no more oil leaks out of the airbox, I'm going to plug the airbox drain. Don't see a reason why I should let air bypass the air filter and the manual says it's plugged. I bet the previous owner knew about this issue and that's why he had the plug out.

Found the culprit, needle valve seat oring was leaking fuel around it. Replaced o-ring, no more fuel in the air box!

Item 21 in diagram