Boy do I feel dumb..

[Birddog85]

All the carb issues I've been having boil down to the one thing I never checked.
The intake manifold..
There's a 3" crack in it.
There's a new carb and used intake on it's way.

[Mr. A]

What was this on and what were your issues? Been having trouble with my 81' 200 not getting full power. I'll have to check my intake.

[the 80s rule]

If any intake leaks are suspected a can of starting fluid can help, spray it around the intake/carb area ( I swap the top for one that has a straw to be more precise with the stream) if you have it idling spay it if the idle picks up you probity have a leak.

[Birddog85]

What was this on and what were your issues? Been having trouble with my 81' 200 not getting full power. I'll have to check my intake.

There were multiple air/fuel issues that I solved with help in another thread. I had killer off idle and mid range power but it wouldn't idle at all and I had no top end power.
The PO tried tuning out the vacuum leak with a 58 slow jet. On the top end the 120 main jet just didn't have enough fuel to make up for the leak.

I assumed that the intake was rubber coated aluminum like others ive had experience with. This one isn't, it's solid rubber with threaded inserts for the carb mount.

[webbch]

I was able to order new intake boots late last year for both my '84 200s and '83 185s. I ordered them from bike bandit. They were a little spendy at about $35 ea IIRC, but available. One of the old ones had some gasket sealant covering crack in it. The other old one was liberally coated in JB weld, inside and out. It was a lovely mess.