airbox mod or not?

[ny_driver]

I want to do it, but don't want the bike to run worse obviously.

Currently the XB12R has an aluminum Jardine RT-1 with stock air filter and airbox.

The bike runs awesome right now, and I do not want to lean ot the A/F mixture.

Will it be safe to open up the airbox along with the Jardine without adding fuel?

*******yes, I did read the airbox mod thread, and the breather mod thread.


Thanks for reading, Dave

 

[freak2180]

I personally wouldnt do it. It looks cool with the tranclucent airbox's, but thats about it. It makes your bike sound like a giant vacume cleaner and whith your bike being 99.9% stock you wont gain anything. I did it to my 04 that has a Drummer SS on it and I noticed absolutly no gains.....In fact it had to of leaned me out because I gaind a decel pop I didnt have before.

I guess what Im saying is unless you have major mods done to increases the airflow through the engine, plan on tuneing and need the airflow (noise) then shy away from this mod.

This is just my $.2

 

[ny_driver]

Thanks.

I am getting a K&N filter very soon.

The way I'm reading it, with aftermarket exhaust adding a bit more air will add a bit more power.

Like it really needs more power, but still.....I like to mod stuff.

Definitely going to do the crankcase breather today if I can figure that out.

Other opinions??

 

[freak2180]

Try just using the K&N with the stock airbox first. You main get a small gain from that, but it may be hardly noticable. Unless you have the ability and patience to tune you run the risk of running too lean and damaging your motor over time. Again this is just my opinion so do what you want.........Im just looking at the whole picture over time and not just......."Hey this is cool and everyone is doing it"

 

[ny_driver]

Good advice thanks. [up]
She's running great, so reason to mess with it.

 

[buell05]

Not

I cant see anyone thinking they are smarter than EB himself. Get a filter and ecm and be done.

 

[freak2180]

Not

I cant see anyone thinking they are smarter than EB himself. Get a filter and ecm and be done.

Lost you here...........
Please explain in a bit more detail as how anyone in this post has expressed in any way that they are smarter than the next person. He asked for an opinion and receaved mine.

 

[clarson_75]

Not

I cant see anyone thinking they are smarter than EB himself. Get a filter and ecm and be done.

lets clear something up right now. This may be close to Eric's design, but a bunch of people get to take a great design and tell the designer that it isn't cost effective to make it the way he wants. That is why you have so much aftermarket support for almost every vehicle. Because aftermarket targets the people that are willing to pay the extra money to have it perform the best. So i bet if you asked EB what he thought of the stock intake, he would even say that it needs improvement.

 

[BuellyBagger]

i didnt mod mine bcuz of worry of water coming in the vent by the fuel cap and having nothing to deflect it from the filter. As everyone knows K&N uncovered in a rain storm if a bad deal.

 

[freak2180]

  So i bet if you asked EB what he thought of the stock intake, he would even say that it needs improvement.

.

Considering the XB was originally designed to be turbo'd I would venture to say you are correct. The intake system used 03-05 was just making use of the tank pass through with the dream that HD would change their minds. 06 up plugged the pass through and added volume to the tank. That's when the vent made its way to the front of the airbox cover ant the inner lid became windowed. In the end these motors and any other will only use the air needed to operate. All we can do is try to provide cooler air into the intake system. Unfortunately our air box sits on top of a blast furnace. I honestly feel the 06 up bikes suffer from more heat soak into the air than the 03-05 bikes due to design of the intake system. They don't have the open access to cooler air when in motion that the 03-05 bikes had.

I have never seen any flow or temp data to back anything I'm saying, it just makes sense in my walnut sized brain. When in motion the left side scoop access on the 03-05 allows cooler air to be introduced without much heat soak from the motor due to the solid hat on the air box. The 06 up boxes reley on air being introduced via the front of the cover and around it's base. Thingg that bugs me with this design is that heat rises......... And is trapped to an extent in the only area the motor is being force to breath from.

I will step back and breath now and prepare for the influx of opinions.

 

[williegoat]

Intake design is generally a compromise. I am sure that the XB intake flows as well as it can, given the noise level restrictions imposed by the government. That being said, the '06 inner air box does not flow as well as the '07+.
http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/Do-It-Yourself-Buell-Mods/2007--vs--2006-Inner-Air-Box
( if you can find one )

 

[ny_driver]

Did 07+ use more fuel(larger jets) with this open design?

 

[freak2180]

(larger jets)

No

more fuel

Quite possibly.......

 

[Rhino1]

Buy one of the cheap air boxes advertised here or on the "other" Buell forums and give it a shot. You may find you really like it. I'm going to do it when my translucent covers come in...

 

[xtreme]

I enjoy mine!

 

[ny_driver]

Just thinking about cutting my airbox, but I guess I won't without being sure the fuel mix is rich enough.

 

[xtreme]

I'm running a preprogrammed EBR ECM. And a drummer ss and have had 0 issues

 

[Aa79912]

I have a 2005 xb9 with a k/n filter but covered( cut out air box cover),& a jardine pipe and carbon fiber ram air air box cover ....sounds awesome runs great....I have been debating on doing and open air box and eb race ECM ...but what will I gain?

 

[crxtasy169]

As long as you have the correct ecm or program you should be just fine, but me I like the gas milage from the stock set up with just a K&N in it.

 

[Rhino1]

I have a 2005 xb9 with a k/n filter but covered( cut out air box cover),& a jardine pipe and carbon fiber ram air air box cover ....sounds awesome runs great....I have been debating on doing and open air box and eb race ECM ...but what will I gain?

Well, if you tuned your ECM for the open airbox and Jardine exhaust, you will gain some power and lose some of the backfiring. There probably isn't a huge gain because you've already cut your airbox up a bit--the goal is to get in as much air as possible and tuning for it...