Let the Testing Begin - Air Box Mod

I fitted TT`S airbox mod last year, for those of you living in Europe Tom has an agent in Holland, Rene, at Gadgets 4 bikes, very friendly and I received said item in a couple of days. Good price as well.

In my opinion and on my particular bike ( an early 2002 model ) I think the mod works very well, in fact I agree with byron`s views. The low end torque and the ability to pull much better in 5th gear is very noticable. My friend, a very experienced rider and retired Honda dealer has riden my bike and his comments were " WOW ". The extra noise from the airbox is minimal, I only opened mine up as per Tom`s instructions ( 2 holes on each side ) and I totally agree with his comments as to the overall gains.

I would like to take this oportunity to thank Tom for his developement work on this and his other products for the ST.

Regards,

Mike
 
As I have already stated in a previous post I fitted the mod last year and am very pleased with the overall gains in performance that I and others have noticed.

I have some observations on the kit itself namely the metal plate, this is NOT a " knock " merely an observation.

When I ordered my kit from Rene at gadgets 4 bikes in Holland, I received some information from him as to the fitting. He told me that my already fitted K & N had to have the top centre removed, which I knew about and the hieght reduced, which I didn`t. I emailed Tom as regards this and received a reply that only the top centre had to be removed. I do not think that the reply was from Tom himself as he always, in my experience ends with " Thanks Tom "

I removed the centre from the filter which was quite straight forward and smoothed everything out with my dremel. When I offered up the plate to the top of the airbox I noticed that it did not fit flush to the top, there was about an 1/8th of an inch gap between it and the raised plastic lugs on the top of the airbox which locate the air filter. If the plate was angled forward it would rest on the front of these plastic lugs but as a result was not mounted level. This meant that the air filter would indeed have to be reduced in hieght and whatever was removed cut at an angle. I did not fancy trying this at all.

I reasoned that by reducing the back of the plate by an 1/8th of an inch the plate would sit level with and flush with the plastic lugs, there would only then be the thickness of the plate to content with ( It is quite thin ) and no trimming of the top of the filter would then be required. I opted for this approach, sealed the plate in position after cutting the holes ( As per Tom`s advice ) and put everything back together. The fit was fine and the filter box nipped up perfectly, I couldn`t tell the difference between this and the standard fitting.

Regards, Mike
 
An update:

The plates are being lazer cut now and I think you will find that they fit perfectly. They were hand made in the past and there was some varieation in the way they fit.


Thanks Tom
 
I looked at the turbocity web site, too, and I can't figure out what keeps unfiltered air away from the intake stacks. In the stock setup, air comes up from the bottom of the filter, through the filter from inside to outside, then into the intakes.

With the turbo city kit, where does the air the comes through the top of the filter come from? And what keeps the engine from sucking air OUT the top of the air filter, directly into the intakes?

And on the mod shown in the OP, what keeps air from those new holes from going directly to the intake snorkels? I'm having a real hard time visualizing how this works.

Can someone post some photos, or draw me a picture?

Thanks,
 
Blue Streak,

Look at the first thumbnail ( the airbox with 3 holes cut in it ) from Byron, at the beginning of this thread, then visualise a right angled metal plate behind these holes, fixed to the top and front of the airbox lid and sealed to it with silicone. This plate then forms a closure between the lower airbox and the upper, apart from the oval hole at it`s centre with the airfilter in between. This hole matches with the one in the top of your modified air filter. Your modified airfilter now enables air to enter it from the top and bottom. So with the airfilter in place this seals the bottom of the airbox with the top of the plate, thereby only allowing filtered air through the normal entrance ( At the bottom ) and the new entrance through the holes in the modified air box at the top. At no time does ANY unfiltered air get to the engine!!

Hope this helps you,

By the way I said Tom signs his emails with " Thanks Tom " !!!

Regards, Mike
 
So anyone have an air box lid lying about?

How much for a new one?

I'm a little jaded having spent 80k miles on a 98 CBR1100XX that I had modded up to 145 HP. The ST isn't far off seat of the pants, and I think has MORE down low up till say 4k rpm.

I DEFFINATELY don't want to lose that down low power but to get a bigger kick till redline would be nice.

I was just under again (makes 10 times with 2 FPR installs and SV and throttle plate syncs. I'll soon find out just how many times I can flex that transfer hose till it dumps 5 gallons out) for my 59# FPR install. I can now do it in 1 hr.

Without installing the air box lid screws I revved the engine up and down around 7k rpm and felt the extreme suction pulling the lid down. The engine IS starving for air. The factory opening IS undersized. That intake horn at the front is only a little bigger than 1 throttle body diameter.

Still thinking........
 
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