Air Box / Filter

[gremlin]

Thanks for the correction Gremlin.

picking nits = hobby

[JVS]

Thanks for the clarification, Bare and Gremlin  I shall stick with the stock filter.

[avandr]

Correct me if I am wrong guys, improving an engines breathing both in and out must give improved fuel economy? I believe where people are seeing reduced economy is due to the fact that there is a small increase in power and they tend to screw on the throttle a bit more.
Cheers

[Jack Leis]

Correct me if I am wrong guys, improving an engines breathing both in and out must give improved fuel economy? I believe where people are seeing reduced economy is due to the fact that there is a small increase in power and they tend to screw on the throttle a bit more.
Cheers

  True that !

[Arizoni]

I wouldn't expect to see any noticeable improvement in economy by changing the air filter to a K&E or some other type of free flow filter.
The greatest economy is had with minimal throttle settings where very little air is flowing thru the filter.  This being the case, the differences in air flow thru the filter would not be noticeable to the engine.
The only time this would not be true is if the air filter was plugged up with dirt (or in the case of the K&E, over oiling).

Of course, everyone who installs a free flowing filter wants to see more power so it is pretty natural for them to "dial it on".

[jartist]

My reason for switching to the K&N is that I have had issues with the airbox sucking in oil from the crankcase.  I know it's from overfilling the engine with oil but some bikes are more prone to oil over-fill symptoms than others and it's really easy to do.  If you get ANY oil on the stock paper filter it is contaminatied/clogged and will lower the pressure in the airbox and just suck more oil out of the engine.  I figure with the K&N it just gets a mist of more oil and if need be I can clean it and start over.

[Jack Leis]

Never had an issue with crankcase oil in my air box. I ran some 3/8" fuel hose from the crankcase vent connector and ran it up over the airbox to just above the right side top shock mount and tie wrapped it to the seat frame. Plugged the breather hole in the airbox with RTV sealer and that took care of the burping on the K&N. Got the idea from Bare about 12,000 miles ago. The crankcase breathes clean as a whistle.

[gremlin]

the thermal efficiency of the engine does not improve with changes to the air-filter / exhaust    UNLESS  you modify the systems (and the cams) enough to radically alter the combustion ....... like ..... forced induction.

but then again, we are talking about the desire to make our machines special !  like us !!

[Fogrunner]

Special being the operative word!!