Air Intake - Pros and Cons...

[stevo]

i know you can get more out of ANY motor by reducing intake and exaust restrictions and jetting accordingly.. iv'e been a motorhead since a kid...have built and run stuff from old kaw h2 750's to strocker heavy breathing big blocks... as in chevy big block. iwork on and rebuild motors for a living ...in boats.. actually
my shop repairs all boat (systems).back to bikes.when i got this bike i had to rebuild carbs ...(had been sitting 6 years) 1'st time i couldn't get emulsion tubes out so i cleaned the best i could without ruining anything.. after ridding a few days i noticed one of my pipes was blueing so i went back into carbs ..by now the fuel flowing had helped loosen emulsion tubes and i cleaned accordingly.. also stepped up 2 jet sizes (mains )... have 4 into 1 pipes....safer a little rich than a little lean.. bike runs great..idles smooth at 1000rpm and pulls like hell to 8000.. i pulled filter assembly each time.. second time it took probably 5 minutes (phew) .. you know to each his own .. if this bike was a boat i'd be comfy with casting off before i hit the starter...reliable... we can all be different...but still be friends..


/a few years ago i would have agreed with you.. but today i don't care if i could tweek another .5 off 1/4

[cueball]

Agreed, however I am a life member of the "Less is Better" club. Am in the process of doing a mild custom job on an 80 XS850, solo seat, rear guard replaced by hugger, wiring reduced to minimum etc., will finish with a "no uneccessary **** left on it" ride.

[Street_Rat78]

cueball

will finish with a "no uneccessary **** left on it" ride.

Make sure you give us some pictures to see. Sounds like it's going to look real nice.

[Shuriken]

I think the XS11 was a good design to begin with. I like the looks of my 79sf airbox with the chrome on it.

Admittedly however, there are good reasons to go with pods. The exhaust, stock airbox, sissy bar, crash bar, etc. all add quite a bit of weight to the bike. Pods can reduce some of it.

But my feeling is that if I want really brute performance it could be better to just pick up a more modern bike.

Stock, the XS11 retains a lot of character and looks unlike any new bike, which I like.

However, though I can get the carbs off in 10 minutes or less, I think I may try pods at some point to really see. Maybe I'd like them better, especially on my 4-1.

Ben

[Bob Falter]

Be careful what pods you put on. I put on a cheap pair (stock 79 with 4 in 1 exhaust). Started it up. Backfire, missed, ran bad, black smoke, etc. Took them off and started it with no air cleaners, ran fine. Tried them several times with the same results. Put the stock air box back on, ran fine. I'll sell you some pods real cheap (they look nice).

The Japs spent a lot of time designing the air box. Not so sure it isn't better than any of the pods though you won't hear that from most people that put on pods. The air box on my V-Max is a lot like the XS11 with the velocity stacks built inside.

The XS11 air box is a PITA to get off but I'll live with it.

Bob

[cueball]

Will when it's done, slow project at this stage, lack of funds. Same ****, different day, week, month, year etc.

[bandet01]

i put pods on my bike i think it give it a more muscle bike look and i have never had any problems out of them and the bike runs like a champ

[RS Thornton]

The PO of my 78 did extensive modifications and there is no easy way to go back to the airbox. When I got the bike it was not running right, I did the carbs and put K&N's on and it was better. My final mod was to take a set of air box boots and modified them to mount the air filters on there a little better and give a better entry to the carbs. The bike works great, but... I have been caught in some rainstorms and the bike gets pretty sluggish when this happens.

My 79 has a intermediate version, there are holes drilled in the bottom of the air box so the air flow is not restricted to that snorkel. The air still flows through the filter to get to the carb, and you still have the vent hose connections. I am not sure it makes a lot of difference, but the PO did that so I guess it stays cuz I don't care enough to buy another airbox.

IMHO, I would stay with an airbox as the carbs perform differently with an opened up intake. To optimize them you have to play around with the needles and jets which can be time consuming and a PITA. I believe you can get some more power out of this, but these bikes are already fast enough for most of us.

[chevy45412001]

rain

i say phoooy i've had pods since day two. (aprox 7 years) i've been in XStraemly heavy downpours for hours.no problems at all.So there goes that theroy. But to be totaly honest when i lost the box the brut low end grunt went with it. By this i mean coming out of the hole arm ripping power was lost.Rejetting has brought back a lot but it is still not the same.and i've run the best time to date with 4-1 and no filters at all.So take it for what it's worth,you like em or you don't

[RS Thornton]

chevy,
just for my interest, what was your best 1/4 mile with the airbox?

[petejw]

Ive taken my air intake box out and replaced with pod filters,
advantage - easy removal of carbs
induction roar sounds awsome
disadvantage - apparently with the pod filters it is harder to get the correct jetting. the air box allows for more equal distribution of the air into the carbies.
tho from what others have said, they havent had any problems. the k&n filter fitted to the original air box is apparently the best for performance.
pod filters tend to loose a little low down power,
and if you've got a bike like mine with worn rings, the blow by coming from the pcv is smokey and smelly this would normally go back into the airbox if fitted.
I havent rejetted the carbies as yet,
try the pod filters there pretty cheap and if you dnt like them put the old filter box back on.


pete

[chevy45412001]

Hey RS

best with the box was 13.85 at aprox 94-95 mph. The low end grunt felt great (where most of our bikes actually run around town and such)

[petejw]

while we're talking about pod filters,
what have u guys done with the pcv hose,
ive attached a filter at the end of a 6inch hose and
it just sits there, but as i stated earlier my rings r worn and im getting a fair bit
of smoke emitting from the filter, it also smells pretty bad
any ideas would b appreciated.


pete

[chevy45412001]

Smells bad

my suggestion .....BIG BORE 1196cc's

[mro]

________________
Posted by chevy454
my suggestion .....BIG BORE 1196cc's
_______________

don't forget turbo and chain drive conversion


mro