| Author | Message | ||
     Markymark |
Is there any advantage to performing the air box modification that is posted on the website? Any other adjustments needed when doing this? | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - yes - better engine breathing always helps - nothing else is needed though many relocate the breather/vent line from the carb intake to elsewhere. GT - JBOTDS! EZ  | ||
| Gren |
Is the Buell Pro-Series Intake worth getting? It looks kinda funny, but at the same time it looks like it would work a lot better than stock. My stock air box cover has a broken clip and is kinda falling open at the moment. Nothing drastic, but looks broken (to me anyway). $50 K&N Filter _-OR-_ $80 Pro-Series Intake ? | ||
| Rockbiter1 |
I have the Pro Series intake, i like it. Don't forget carb bracing.... | ||
| Gren |
Explain carb bracing please.  | ||
| Naustin |
The pro series intake doesn't mount to hard points on the bike like the stock one does. It is basically just a little snorkle hanging there off the carb. There is a curved "boot" between the intake and the carb, made of rubber. They often tear if you don't Brace the Pro Series intake because your knee will touch the snorkle and move it back and forth. SO, you need to Brace the Pro-series intake. You can use scrape metal, or small springs or just about anything, witht the goal being to make it as solid a possible. Most solutions that actually work, look ugly. Solutions that aren't noticible, don't work. Best advice is not to brace it at all - make sure the Pro-Series is installed correctly, be really careful not to bump it, and keep a few extra carb boots (cheap) around for when it does tear. Bring one with you on long trips too. When it tears, you can't ride the bike due to the intake leak and the possibiliy of serious damage to the engine's internal components. | ||
| Newblaster |
Check out the Carburetion section of the Thumper KV. It's explained in the header of that section. If you want pics, you can go back through the archives, but some of the methods (fixed braces, etc.) may do more harm than good. The "spring method" seems to work best. | ||
| Gren |
Thanks Naustin & Newblaster. I think I'll order the kit! Hey Naustin, I've been to Albert Lea. How's the weather?  Do you try to ride much during the winter? Spike tires? | ||
| Naustin |
Gren - No kidding?! That's sweet. I bought my bike in April, I think, and It was still pretty dang chilly up here. I'll take it out in the snow on one of those warm (read 40 degree) days that sometimes come in November or February for sure and take a bunch of pictures. So do you have your wings? Would have joined up myself if I had perfect eye-sight. Someday I'll be rich enough to by an F-5 tigershark from Egypt or something and then I'll be tearin it up! | ||
| Fasterblaster |
Hey...does anyone have any latest news on Air box...? What are the best one and options for our Blasters... | ||
| Jprovo |
nothing new- the Pro-series, the stock airbox with a K&N, a velocity stack (with or without boot), or a homemade unit. James | ||
| Fasterblaster |
James, What is a Velocity Stack...? | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - ask me - GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Jprovo |
 | ||
| Ezblast |
 Torque Stack from American Sport Bike - I run this with a stack filter on the Black bike. I run the pro-series intake minus the pod filter and added a stack filter on the red bike. The stack filter filters out particles to .05 - thats perfect. GT - JBOTDS! EZ (Message edited by ezblast on September 23, 2005) | ||
| Matty |
FYI - that torque stack from American Sport Bike, while being a very nice product, did absolutely nothing for performance when tested on my M2. Quite an expensive bit of bling, but not worth it if you are looking for performance gains. It did look very spiffy though. | ||
| Ezblast |
Yes but did you run it alone as a stack? That application has been very benificial to my black bike in terms of optimum breathing - lol GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Fasterblaster |
Ed..., is the stack legal for street use. I just order the K&N filter for my stock air box. | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - is it EPA compliant - no, have I ever been bothered about it by officers - no and I have coffee at Farley's most days in the early morn and not a word by the many officers - knock on wood - at least in the Bay area I've never been bothered or hwy 5 or 1 - N or S., or the wine country - lol GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Naustin |
Why would the EPA care about the air filter set up?? Shouldn't matter what goes in the motor, as long as what comes out the tail pipe is O.K. Maybe the EPA should promote velocity stacks because they eliminate all those bulky paper filters being thrown away. Then again, if you consider that a bit of sand or something ingested into the engine could score the cylinder wall and result in your bike billowing out blue smoke all over the place, the EPA might view velocity stacks as potentially causing more pollution by potentially damaging engines. | ||
| Ezblast |
Its just with a stack the EPA vent line gets relocated from shooting into your carb to elsewhere - that they don't like - lol - the stack filter protects against small debree. GT - JBOTDS! EZ (Message edited by ezblast on September 26, 2005) | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Naustin: In California Harleys now come with a charcoal canister AND catalytic converters!Who knows what we'll have next. EZs bike is not legal in California because of the breather line and the absence of the charcoal canister (thank god they dont check emissions)! Sidenote: I tie a bandana to my jacket (have for years) for emergencies (bugs, rain, blood,etc.) and it usually hangs against the exhaust and I've never had a problem. Recently I looked down and it was ON FIRE! What the ...? Thats when I realized my bike had catalytic converters, an exhaust hot enough to do that. I can imagine how many people are gonna burn their legs on that. | ||
| Naustin |
I forgot about that vent line being eliminated. I think they should leave motorcycles alone. What bikes save in gas and road congestion more than makes up for a lack of catalytic converters. If they really want to make an impact, they should require catalytic converters on all lawn mowers. Everybody has them, and everybody uses them and they pollute more in 1 hour than your car does traveling 100 miles. Motorcycles are virtually nonexistent compared to lawn mowers on a pollution output basis because there are so many MORE lawn mowers. | ||
| Berkshire |
I did the vent line re-route a few days ago, basically using the method described in TKV, but without changing the orientation of the plastic fitting that comes out of the rocker cover. Instead of using a K&N breather, I got a Fram fuel filter (G3, I think... the one with the larger sized connections. about $3). It came with a couple of short pieces of hose and some springy clamps like the one that holds the end of the stock breather hose on the venturi screw "plug". The filter looks like this:  I removed the airbox and plugged the hole with an unnecessarily complicated combination of rubber washers and grommets, held in place with fender washers and a screw with a nylock nut on the end. It's probably good for 100psi, but... sheesh! there must have been an easier way!  I connected one of the short pieces of hose that came with the filter onto the "open" side of the tee, where the hose going into the airbox used to be connected. Then I stuck a fat headed screw into the open end of the hose to plug it, and twisted the tee around so that the plugged hose was pointing away from the airbox. A cap would have been better, but it was midnight... I took the two hoses and the tee that were originally inside the airbox and put the short elbow piece on the fuel filter outlet. I put the longer piece of hose on the fuel filter inlet. The slight bend in that piece was just right for situating the filter in a snug place.  With the stock hoses from the airbox attached, the filter fits right into that little cubby hole in the left side of the frame, and the other hoses and wiring looms that are already there keep it from rattling around. The elbow hose on the outlet is resting against the upper end of the shock, which also helps hold the filter in place - and if there's ever any oily discharge, I'm hoping it will just run down the shock instead of oiling up everything under the seat. So far the filter is doing a good job - the filter element looks slightly moist, but the side of the shock is completely oil-free. The red arrow (above) shows the approximate location of the tee fitting, which is shown in the next picture.  This is the tee that was originally pointing at the carburetor inlet. The branch is pointing up into the frame, with the hose that used to go into the airbox connecting the tee to the filter. If any liquid oil ever condenses in the filter, it should just run back down the hose to the tee, and then down to the stock drain point. The tee adds a bit of extra length to the hose, so I made the cut where the downhill side of the tee would be, then pushed the whole hose up a little. That way, the drain hose stays the same, and the loop of hose above the engine gets slightly longer. I wanted to leave the hose running uphill from the rocker box, because I think some oil vapor might condense on the inside of the hose and run back into the engine. I've only ridden 111 miles since doing this (limped home on a flat tire, took pics today after pulling off the tire), so it's too early to tell if oil consumption is decreased, but... my airbox isn't dripping oil anymore, and the area around the new outlet under the seat is bone dry. The real test will be to see what it does on a fast all-highway ride, but I'm optimistic for now! | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
From what I think I read it sounds like a perfect installation! I dont see any reason why the fuel filter wont work instead of a regular breather (in this set up), but I'd check it regularly to be sure it doesnt get fouled by oil. Its made to filter much finer particles than a breather filter and may eventually clog up. | ||
| Berkshire |
 Instead of plugging the airbox with an unnecessarily complicated combination of rubber washers and grommets, fender washers, a screw, and a nylock nut... ...and then using a screw to plug the piece of hose that I'd put on the tee, and twisting the tee around away from the airbox... ...I COULD have just left the tee pointing toward the airbox, used the piece of hose that came with the fuel filter to go into the airbox, and then gotten a stock oil/vent drain plug (0103.9A) to plug the open end of the hose. THAT would have been a perfect installation!  ...and when it's time to lose the stock airbox, just turn the tee the other way. | ||
| Uberblast |
Has anyone had any problems with the carb choking after replacing the airbox with a more open filter? I heard this can happen so I'm hesitant to change it out. Thanks! | ||
| Ezblast |
Huh? Explain please - EZ | ||
| Reuel |
Choking is the restriction of air flow, so that doesn't make sense.  | ||
| Uberblast |
Not sure I really understand it either... but I was talking to a guy in the local motorcycle shop about taking the airbox off the Blast and replacing it with a K&N cone filter or something similar. He said that if I would take off the airbox the airflow around the K&N filter would not be as good being behind the piston... and hence might choke as it gasps for air. I don't know if that was a meaningful comment, but I thought I'd check with you folks before I continue to search for a K&N filter. Just learning as I go. Thanks! | ||
| Reuel |
I think he's talking about air flow outside the airbox. Stock has sort of a ram-air intake. Aftermarket doesn't have the same air flow around the air cleaner. It could theoretically become a problem at higher speeds. I did have that sort of problem with an old motorhome. I put an open air cleaner on it, and at speeds of over 65 MPH, power would fluctuate wildly. (Message edited by reuel on July 25, 2008) | ||
| Berkshire |
I agree - he was probably trying to say the intake to the airbox on the left side would scoop up more air than what is available behind the cylinder. The stock intake to the airbox looks as though it may get a very minor ram-air effect, and it could probably be modified to get a real ram-air effect, but as-is I doubt the pressure at the airbox intake is significantly higher than it is behind the cylinder. In *theory*, the "still air" box is a really neat idea and it would be my choice - especially with an air ram inlet. But in *practice*, it has a pointy part that pokes me in the leg, the cover clamps are sharp and fussy, and it blocks access to the idle mixture screw and other things and is cumbersome to remove and/or work around. Also, the cover doesn't always seem to seal well - and if the cover doesn't seal perfectly, then the motor is breathing unfiltered air! Also, IMO it's ulgy - I prefer the "see-thru-bike" look to the "large-solid-mass-of-plastic" look. (Message edited by berkshire on July 30, 2008) | ||
| Reuel |
It adds at least 20 minutes to almost any kind of work you might want to do. It takes up room where a rediculously loud horn could go.  | ||
| Hld01blast |
Berkshire, are you saying that for rerouting the breather, all I need to do is take the line out of the airbox, attach it to the T like before and then route it under the seat and cap off with a Fram filter? I want to do the airbox mod and have order the K&N air filter, but cannot get a handle on the routing of the hoses to make sure I have the best set up possible without going with a velocity stack. Thanks for any tips. |
