Air intake mod, again

[Idaho]

I've been pondering the methods of opening up the air intake system on our Nomads. We have a Big Air Kit and the Caddmann option. The latter will generally cost less than $30 for a paper filter and then that can be replaced with a K&N type later on. Good air flow but apparently also gives a corresponding increase in noise and the risk of drowning out in a downpour, although that is seen as remote.

Then we have our own CME Blowndodge solution to drill extra air holes in the bottom of the air cleaner cover on the left side of the bike. This will allow more into the filter but it still has to flow through the crossover tube which will heat it up and restrict the flow. Out of curiosity I pulled the right side cover to look at the air intake system and the idle solenoids to see what else might be done.

My bike is a 2007 1600 and there is kind of a shelf on the backing plate that runs across the bottom just below the crossover opening. The space below this is open and about 3 inches long and maybe 2 inches wide at the widest part at the bottom. What if we did the BD thing and drilled several holes through the cover below where that shelf sits and then cut off a strip of foam to slip in there below the shelf to cover the holes and prevent dirt and bugs from getting in? It would not get past the ends of the shelf and be sucked into the intake but would let more air into the chamber. I found some open cell weather strip that is 2 1/4 inches square and 42 inches long that should allow air to pass through and would fit nicely with a little trimming in that space. Could buy a small engine air cleaner, you know the green foam ones, and cut it up to fit down there also.

It seems that this would let more air in and keep bugs, dirt and water out. I can not see any real drawbacks as long as a good seal is achieved between the cover and the shelf but thought that I would throw this out for discussion. If this was tried and did not work then the cover with the holes in it could be mounted on the left side where the air cleaner is now and the intact cover could be put back over the right side intake.

Go ahead, beat this idea up. Tell me what a dumb sh*t I am because I forgot something obvious.

[ponch]

I think Occam's razor applies here and Caddman pretty much hit it.

I've been pondering the methods of opening up the air intake system on our Nomads. We have a Big Air Kit and the Caddmann option. The latter will generally cost less than $30 for a paper filter and then that can be replaced with a K&N type later on. Good air flow but apparently also gives a corresponding increase in noise and the risk of drowning out in a downpour, although that is seen as remote.

Then we have our own CME Blowndodge solution to drill extra air holes in the bottom of the air cleaner cover on the left side of the bike. This will allow more into the filter but it still has to flow through the crossover tube which will heat it up and restrict the flow. Out of curiosity I pulled the right side cover to look at the air intake system and the idle solenoids to see what else might be done.

My bike is a 2007 1600 and there is kind of a shelf on the backing plate that runs across the bottom just below the crossover opening. The space below this is open and about 3 inches long and maybe 2 inches wide at the widest part at the bottom. What if we did the BD thing and drilled several holes through the cover below where that shelf sits and then cut off a strip of foam to slip in there below the shelf to cover the holes and prevent dirt and bugs from getting in? It would not get past the ends of the shelf and be sucked into the intake but would let more air into the chamber. I found some open cell weather strip that is 2 1/4 inches square and 42 inches long that should allow air to pass through and would fit nicely with a little trimming in that space. Could buy a small engine air cleaner, you know the green foam ones, and cut it up to fit down there also.

It seems that this would let more air in and keep bugs, dirt and water out. I can not see any real drawbacks as long as a good seal is achieved between the cover and the shelf but thought that I would throw this out for discussion. If this was tried and did not work then the cover with the holes in it could be mounted on the left side where the air cleaner is now and the intact cover could be put back over the right side intake.

Go ahead, beat this idea up. Tell me what a dumb sh*t I am because I forgot something obvious.

Well, again, I gotta give the real credit to Coyote. The reason mine is the way it is, (2 filters to his one) is that I was afraid I'd need to put it back stock at some point for either a smog inspection (which California thankfully still does not do for motorcycles) a fixit ticket for the bike being loud (again, thankfully none) and the remote possibility (remote because it is ,after all, a Kawasaki) that I'd need a warranty repair & I didn't want the bike to appear modified.

Whew.. that was a long sentence

Anyhow, I think that the greatest possible performance gain would still be with a single filter, about 7" dia X 3", and mounted directly in front of the throttles on a horn shaped stack about 5" long. Unfortunately, such a thing would stick waaaay the heck out there and is just impractical for street use. The next best is likely something like the long, bent snout Thunder kit. The BAK and similar being next, and the Caddmann Kit being dead last there.
Now the difference between all the things I mentioned, on an otherwise equal engine, would probably be no more than 4 horsepower, and probably no more than two between the Caddmann and the Thunder.

Once you start modifying the engine though, the point spread would climb, favoring the longer kits. The Caddmann is really too short for max power on a high performance engine.

I think the idea of drilling the covers and adding filter material behind them has some merit, but I don't think you'd get enough power increase to make all that drilling worthwhile unless you really drilled the sucker. Also, remember that in a dusty climate, with limited air intake area, they're gonna clog up fast. I've personally never liked sponge or foam filters. They're OK for lawn mowers, but even my Kawasaki mower has gone to a pleated paper filter. You can clean the sponge ones & re-use them, but they degrade with time, particularly in contact with heat and gas & oil vapors. Also that little shelf provides some baffling between the crankcase breather and the throttles, helping to prevent too much oil vapor being sucked into the combustion chambers. If you do this, I recommend to re-route the breather to a remote filter up under the neck. This means you could drill the heck out of the backing plate there, and add foam to fill over it, which is a heck of a lot easier than drilling the metal covers.

Still you are up against this: It's not just filter area that counts, but the path the air must take to get from the filters to the throttles. Something like the Caddmann provides the shortest possible path, and therefore much easier breathing.

It's still not as good as a longer intake like the velocity stack or "horn" type intake, because that provides a much smoother and consistent airflow, which is very important for consistent performance. The horn shape serves to "couple" the atmosphere to the throttles better, and that makes up completely for the fact that the air path is longer.

With the drilled covers method, filter area will increase and the average air path will shorten, but the flow of air is still going to be long and convoluted. Certainly shorter than stock, but still convoluted enough to not provide a similar performance advantage.

Personally, I don't think it's all worth the effort, when you could easily get more power with less effort, and for the price of a couple 6-packs.

Errr...

All that being said, you can get those covers and backing plates dirt cheap because of how many people go to a custom system, so please experiment to your heart's content. It's the American Way, you know, and you might well discover something the rest of us aren't even thinking about. It's from such experimentation that lots of great works have come about.

I do not mean to discourage anyone from trying new things. I just gave my own conservative and hide-bound opinions of what I think would work best.

[ponch]

the again, there's the woody: http://www.gadgetjq.com/wood_intake.htm

See? American ingenuity at work there!

A bit more work to fab, and you loose the ability to return to stock easily, but It looks like it would flow quite well.

Hmmm...
I was just looking at dyno charts & figures on another forum and Meanmother57 posted these results for his hopped up Meanstreak:

heres a dyno chart of my meanie, hasmuzzy 95in kit,ported heads and intake,tfi fuel processor,caddman filter with k/n extreme top outer, shaved 10 thou of heads for compression of 10 3/4 to one,muzzy replica exhaust , made 96 hp on dyno and 102 ft lb of torque .


Perhaps I'm selling the Caddmann kit short. I looked at a few dyno charts for 1600's and 1500's and comperable bikes with the Caddmann made more or the same HP as with the Baron's BAK.

You can read them all here, but you gotta wade through all the charts for 800's and 900's and 2000's as well.

charts

[Idaho]

I guess I should be a little bit clearer about my intention. It is not to turn the Nomad into a screaming hot rod. Just to give it a little more power and possibly get cooler air onto the temp sensor. That will richen up the mixture and maybe help the bike run cooler in the summer. I do appreciate all of your replies.

[bobzinger]

I thought about modifying the right side too...but was afraid any filter material would get sucked into the engine if it degraded.

[VulcanE]

I went with the "Stealth air intake" that I seen posted on gadget's web page. It has the 7" K&N round filter, you keep your stock cover (rain issues), and preforms really well. Besides, I wanted to keep the cover I was using. It is a aircover for the "EVO", and it fit right on top of the Kawi cover like a 7" diameter washer. It is the "Ride to live, Live to ride" cover, but it don't have the HD on it. I haven't gotten around to removing the Left side yet, but soon. I'm gathering parts for a "V" cover now.

[Idaho]

Stealth air intake. I will look for it. Thanks for the tip.

[VulcanE]

Hey Idaho, and anyone else that wants to give a look/see here's the link. Like I said, I am really happy with the performance of my Bike, and I've been running this with the V&H baggars, and the TFI for 3 years now with no issues.
http://www.gadgetjq.com/thunder+stock_acmod.htm