| Author | Message | ||
     Jmhinkle |
Did my swap today. Major differences are big holes on left instead of right which, to me, makes sense due to possibility of engine heat on right side coming up right side. The top around the exhaust servo is mostly open now and there are the holes in front too. I live at 5300 feet and did not have the ecm flashed. The bike is much more responsive to throttle input when cold and idles better so far. Will ride it tomorrow and see if there is any difference. I'mn guessing for me it is more like living at sea level. '06 right. You can see where the frame is thinner on this side and more open to the engine area compare to the left.  '06 left  '07 right  '07 left  Joel | ||
| Birdmanrh |
Are you going to get it re-flashed? This is an interesting thing for them to do, I wonder if it effects pinging?? (Oh, I better add that I am not being a smart-ass! I really wonder why they changed this...) | ||
| Jmhinkle |
After taking off the air cover and seeing how it looks possible that it could have been taking in engine heat on the right side, I started wondering myself if it had something to do with the pinging which I also never suffered from at my elevation and lack of humidity even when it was 100+. I will see how it runs for a bit before getting it reflashed. | ||
| Treadmarks |
Did my swap today. Major differences are big holes on left instead of right which, to me, makes sense due to possibility of engine heat on right side coming up right side. Jmhinkle, Ya wouldn't happen to have the part numbers and cost handy for the 07 cover would ya?  } | ||
| Jmhinkle |
I bought it thru Daves (Appleton HD). Part number is p0215.3aa. Price is 34.95 and Daves will give 10% off for badwebbers. Just drop him a line in the "Daves I need it now thread". I can't even begin to speak on how great Daves is. | ||
| Treadmarks |
Thanks Jmhinkle, I just left him a message on voice mail. | ||
| Teeps |
Dam cheap Buell parts prices. $34 not worth my time to carve up my '06 airbox. There's another trip to Cal/H-D/Buell.  | ||
| Jmhinkle |
Got my first real ride in tonight after doing the conversion. I can't speak for the sea level guys, but if you live at altitude, this is a must! My bike feels like it has the claimed 103 hp now. When I crack the throttle is responds amazingly. My bike has never pulled this hard. My bike used to bog down if I cracked the throttle before. It was always a case of gently rolling on the throttle to gain speed. A downshift was usually needed too. Now, I can whack the throttle and hang on for dear life! It sounds much better too! The engine actually sounds healthier now. None of that sewing machine with marbles in it sound like before. I have to imagine that at sea level you would need a reflash, because it is definitely flowing way more air. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Just a heads up. While I had the air box cover off where you can see the velocity stack rubber boot, air breather hoses and the air intake sensor (AIS). The manual states that the air breather hoses should not be higher than the shoulder of the AIS or it may ruin the AIS (unclear how??). The manual clearly shows both hoses very low, maybe protruding 3/8" out of the plastic plate. Both of mine were way too high. Since the manual does not state how this condition can harm the AIS I can only hope that it didn't. I lowered both hoses. Maybe the harm is because of oil vapor. | ||
| Snowscum |
Would cutting more holes in the 06 help any? So if I were to double the pockets of the would it need to reflash up here at a mile high? | ||
| Adrian_8 |
If you cut the 06 box by adding extra holes on the right side and cut corresponding holes on the other side to match plus cut the front behind the screen the difference is amazing...it really breathes from 4-6k rpms and runs better through the whole rpm range. Feels like ten more HP. I pulled the plugs after two weeks of hard running and they show no signs of leanness, perfect tan color. It must have been restricted due to EPA regs. Like JMHinkle said.. "hang on boys". | ||
| Jmhinkle |
Snowscum, you should be just fine without a reflash. If you are going to do your own cutting, I would recommend not touching the right side. Possibly even covering it up. Make most of the holes on the left and front of the box for the cooler air. Joel | ||
| Xbimmer |
Thanks for the pics, Jmhinkle. The reasons for the redesign jump out, at least for me. It's got to be intake flow temp related, or else why wouldn't they just open up the left side also? Teeps hit the nail, I can only imagine how much a big piece of plastic with brass inserts in it would cost from BMW... I'm sold, I want! Oh yeah, this and one of Odie's blankets ought to fix up the intake side pretty well! (Message edited by xbimmer on September 16, 2006) | ||
| Blake |
"I would recommend not touching the right side. Possibly even covering it up. Make most of the holes on the left and front of the box for the cooler air. " Please explain why; I'm curious.  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
As told earlier, I opened up the left side of my airbox and everything was fine for about 200 miles and the first tank of gas after the mod yielded way better gas mileage. BUT, my bike fouled the rear cylinder plug. I was 1/2 mile from home at a store and when I went to restart the bike I noticed it was only on 1 cylinder and the rear cylinder pipe was cold. I limped it home and the rear plug proved to be just a wee bit dark brown. Wouldn't run on the rear until I installed a new plug. Up until this episode I have not experienced any plug problems, starting, or idling problems. Only 3,000 miles on bike. | ||
| Jmhinkle |
Blake, Please see all my earlier posts and pictures. By design, it appears that the intake could take in a lot of engine heated air on the right. When I had the airbox cover off, the path of air travel at idle and speed was much more clear to me (non-scientifically that is) if you consider what the left side engine scoop is designed to do and see the openess of the right hand side of the engine area to the intake tract it becomes clear like Xbimmer said. Electra, Why do you think it fouled out? Seems odd that by introducing more air, you fouled out a plug. Do you think the ECM was trying to overcompensate for the added air with too much fuel? It could be possible that you overflowed the stock ECM mapping at your altitude and a reflash is needed. At my altitude, I could actually run a Turbo at 5psi and still be in the sea level map on almost any fuel injected vehicle. When I wanted a custom ECM for a Turbo Maxima project I was going to build, Jim Wolff personally calculated that at my altitude it takes 5psi of boost to make up for the loss of air density. That is when I started to understand air density vs pressure a little more. Here is some way too scientific reading. http://www.answers.com/topic/density-of-air If I remember right, I believe that Jim Wolff stated I basically had 25% less air than sea level. If I ever plan to drive to a lower altitude, I would probably get the reflash, but at my altitude I'm quite happy with it. As a side note, my fan is coming on a lot less now. I live 5 miles from work, and before the change, everytime I got to work or home and shut the bike off it would kick on immediately. Now it doesn't come on at all. I went for a rather spirited ride the other night probably close to 20 miles round trip and the fan barely ran when I shut the bike off. Maybe washing the mud out of the oil cooler helped too! Lastly, the wife says no more Uly stuff until I finish some of the projects around the house so I can't buy your windshield. She claims I'm spending all my off time on the bike and atv and none on the house. Really?  Thanks for all your clarification on the shields though. Maybe someday I won't be grounded anymore! Joel | ||
| Thunderbox |
I don't see how anyone figures they are getting a performance gain from the bigger holes in the airbox. Most engine breathing problems occure at or near redline as that is when the most air is getting ingested into the engine. The Hp and torque specs on the new 2007 Uly are exactly where they are on the 2006 Uly so I guess it really doesn't increase Hp or Torque. I can believe it sounds faster as you will hear more intake roar than you did before but show us the dyno before and after and it won't be any better. | ||
| Jmhinkle |
By your same train of thought, your bike came with the claimed 103 HP right? Funny, I believe that no one has been able to find that kind of power stock even with calculated losses and what not. Is it not reasonable to believe that with the newer airbox design, the bike comes closer to those claimed numbers? Of course only a dyno would tell. But if you had read the entire posts, no one was claiming more than stock HP. I believe we mentioned that "The bike is much more responsive to throttle input when cold and idles better so far" and "My bike feels like it has the claimed 103 hp now." I believe it is also mentioned that it "Feels like ten more HP" not that it makes 10 more HP than stock. The '06 airbox barely has any holes in it compared to the '07 and they are closer to a major heat source which would obviously not be a benefit either. Add those facts in to my major loss of air at this altitude and and any restriction in the airbox hurts. What I do know for a fact is that my bike doesn't bog down when I open the throttle too fast and it never pulled like this from 2000 RPM to redline because I couldn't open the throttle like this. If you cough up the money for Dyno testing, I'll gladly swap the parts back and forth and get the appropriate data for you. I even believe that you would see a difference for the better in them. I also don't believe that it "sounds faster" as I'm not sure what faster sounds like. My ears aren't tuned to the frequency or pitch change in the different accelerations through the wind. Yes the intake is much louder than before, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I actually have to hold on when I whack the throttle and I have to make a conscious effort to keep the front end down. It took a hard launch from dead stop to pull the wheel up before now it will come up on the change to 2nd under acceleration. I'll call around for dyno prices and you can Paypal me the money, but I'm not turning a $35 project that makes the bike run 1000 times better into a money pit. | ||
| Josh_cox |
I will promise to get this dyno tested sometime. I'm planning on getting a Uly setup as my new bike, but have knee surgery tomorrow. As soon as I'm back on two wheels I'll run a back to back. I already have an 07 airbox sitting in stock, so unless someone wants it before then, I can use that to test. | ||
| Jevansxb12x |
I may be missing something here, but why aren't more of you guys just running an open air box instead of the '07? -Jon. | ||
| Bienhoabob |
I took the cheap way and saved $35. Drilled some air holes is the '06 box. (about the size of a quarter.) Two in the left side front and three on the left side. Kept the right side stock. I'm in agreement with "Jmhinkle". That very slight stumble when taking off is gone. I thought that was due to the Uly having a tall first gear, guess I was wrong. It just needed to breathe. A little louder, but no biggie. I'll have to run it through a tank and see if mpg is higher. Should take a day or so. I'd recommend the change. (Message edited by bienhoabob on September 20, 2006) | ||
| Jmhinkle |
Jon I highly weighed the option, but at the time I was doing so, we were having the wetest summer on record in the desert. I was constantly getting caught in flash floods and unexpected downpours. I became afraid of taking in too much water. I was also afraid that the open airbox would definitely require fuel tuning ability or at the minimum the race ECM which I have neither of. I felt the $35 for the '07 box and great breathing improvements it made were worth not worrying about taking a chance on sucking in water. | ||
| Mramsey |
More holes in my airbox seemed to make a bigger improvement in how the power feels than any other mod. How much? How about WOW hold on I can really feel the difference. Definitely feels like extra 10hp at least. But this could be due to all the mods working together and the airbox was just the last item needed to let the engine breath. Don't know how but major performance gain. I'll list mods in order and their perceived affects. Odie Tailgunner pipe: Big grin, sounds great. Moved some power from low end to high end and completely did away with low end snatchyness (Is that a word?). Race Ecm And K&N Filter: Smoother throttle response and cured decel popping. Maybe a small amount of top end power increase. Holes In Airbox: Biggest difference, feels like much more power from mid to upper rpm. These observations are merely seat of the pants and include no scientific measuring. So take it for what its worth. | ||
| Etennuly |
After reading your posted suggestion and feeling like the bike was suffering from asthma, I drilled 7 - 1 3/4" holes in the left side and front of my stock '06 box and used high quality duct type tape over stock holes on the right side... Wholly crap!! I spent $800 on my City-x and didn't see any where near this much power and response difference. I have not touched any other settings and everything else is stock. You're right it will now bring up the front wheel in second with a hard quick twist of the throttle just like it used to in first. Awesome FREE mod...thanks. Long distance test coming up this weekend, Thunder Beach Rally Panama City FL. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Etennuly, Let us know if that duct tape stays on. I would think it would get hot and not stay put. The 103 hp claim I believe was measured at the crank and not the rear wheel. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Jmhinkle, it looks like your interactive exhaust valve cable is loose in your 1st photo. | ||
| Snowscum |
Well I have the race kit on mine and it pings. If its running lean already, would it run any leaner? I probably should wait till I get it put on a dyno and tuned/timing first I would think. So they dont find it and claim I altered the bike and happen to burn it down with this mod. | ||
| Red_chili |
Snowscum, if I had to make a guess... timing is your problem more than anything. Davo's got the cure. Put a light on it and see? You may or may not have success at your dealer, for so many reasons. Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do... | ||
| Etennuly |
Electraglider_1997 The duct tape is a temporary test patch, it will be replaced with a very simple plastic panel that will be riveted and sealed. I don't care what the dyno says, this thing feels great with this mod. | ||
| Thunderbox |
So JMHinkel you are of the belief that Buell lied about HP figures and now is coming up with methods to increase HP to their claimed level. I'll tell you what I can do. I can buy a new 07 intake and I will get it dynoed before and after. If it isn't any better you can pay me what the cost of the air cover is worth. That sound fair. |
