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Sealing Pod Filters?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
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Anonymous

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For the guys running pods - what do you use on the inside of the pod mouth to help seal it against the carb bell mouth? I was thinking of putting a bit of white lithium grease on the inside of the pod opening. Any other ideas/opinions?

Mark
 
Seems like they should seal fine dry. In fact, when I got my Uni filters, the mold release residue on them made them slide off when I tried tightening the clamp. So I had to clean the insides with thinner or something first.
 
Yup, clean as a whistle, clamp 'em tight and let 'em be. That's how the stock airbox boots are mounted, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be fine for my pods.
 
I think that K&N does make a sealing grease for thierOEM-style replacement filters but recommends NOT using it for individual filters. My guess is that there is a risk that they could pop off the carb mouths.
 
I was having trouble getting mine back on the last time and luckily had some Carmex lip balm in my pocket, worked fine and now my pods have a nice vanilla smell! :lol: :lol:

Oh nevermind, that was the trick I used to get my carbs back in the intake boots.

Pods seal fine with no grease, just back off the retaining ring a little more to get them on, then make sure the ring is located correctly before cinching it back down. They can get distorted and not hold very well after that, trust me :oops: :oops:
 
The only time I use any grease to seal my filters is riding in dusty, sandy conditions trail riding with the XR or CR. I have the sealing surface on the pods on my GS clean and dry.
 
I don't use any grease/sealer with my K&N ovals. Neither do any friends.
The clamps seal fine.
 
1981 GS450L
Mikuni BS 34 carbs

I want to get pod air filters for my bike to help the breathing. Is there a specific filter that anyone found to fit the best? :?: Will I have to adjust the carbs to work properly with the new filters? :?:

Also a general performance mod question. I don't know much about engines, but I would like to make my bike faster. I think the first step is to adjust the breathing, ie. new air filter and exhaust. Is there anything else I should do besides machine work? :?:

Many thanks in advance!
 
I want to get pod air filters for my bike to help the breathing. Is there a specific filter that anyone found to fit the best?
Click to expand...

I bought pods (not K&N) from a local dealer and they had a stack of different sizes. I measured the OD of the carb bell mouth and bought filters to fit that size.

Will I have to adjust the carbs to work properly with the new filters?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. If you make big changes to the airflow capabilities, you must rejet to match.

Is there anything else I should do besides machine work?
Click to expand...

Breathing is a good place to start as the mods are pretty cheap. You can also slot your cam sprockets and degree the cams accurately. The stock cam timing is notoriously imprecise and you can gain significant power by setting it accurately, plus you can tailor the powerband some to suit your riding style better. After that, it starts to get expensive.

Considering how small your bike is, the easiest upgrade is a bigger bike. There really is no replacement for displacement. You can spend a fortune on your 450 and it will still not be as fast as a 650 or 750. And it will be less reliable, require more fettling and generally not be as pleasant as a stock bigger bike.


Mark
 
They should fit snug, then just clamp them down. No sealant is needed.

If they don't fit right then you need to get the right size.
 
KEITH KRAUSE said:
I don't use any grease/sealer with my K&N ovals. Neither do any friends.
The clamps seal fine.
Click to expand...

The carb master has spoken :wink:
 
Thanks for the detailed reply mark m! You confirmed my fears that I have a small bike and it's never going to be "that fast." I'll make due with the 450 until I can afford something bigger.


As for rejetting the carbs. What's this mean? I am doing a complete carb rebuild right now (first time to look at a carb) and replacing all the rubber.

Anything I should be aware of when I rejet the carbs?

Thanks again
 
As for rejetting the carbs. What's this mean?
Click to expand...

Rejetting means changing the jet sizes to suit the new airflow conditions. You simply remove the old jets and put in new ones of a different size (man, that sounded dead easy... :) ).

If you have your carbs torn down, you will see the main jet sticking down into the middle of the float bowl. The pilot jet is hidden under a plastic plug beside the main jet. There is also a mixture screw that you use to adjust the idle mixture.

Changing jets is the easy part, the hard part is knowing what to change to. Jetting is an iterative process that requires you to make an initial guess on what you need, then try it and see. Based on the way the bike runs, you diagnose a rich or lean condition and change jets/adjust the needles/adjust the mixture screw accordingly. Repeat until it is all correct.

You have 3 circuits in your carb - idle, needle and main. You must tune each one separately until they all work properly. The best way to do it is to start at the bottom and work up, sorting the idle first, then the needle, then the mains. It can be a difficult thing to get correct and can take a lot of fiddling and time. Sometimes modifications need to be made to the carbs to get all 3 circuits to work properly.

If you are not equipped to do this yourself, or do not want to invest the time and labour, your best bet is to get a shop to dyno tune it with an exhaust gas analyzer. It costs $$$, but the job gets done and it should be dead on when finished. You need to find a shop that will work on older bikes for this, though. Many shops are useless on anything older than a few years back and will not get the job done properly on our older machines.


Mark
 
Sounds like I have my work cut out for to rejet the carbs.... Thanks for the info, I'll probably start this process in a week or two.
 
hipster, mark m gave you good advice. For pods, with or without a pipe, you'll have to make changes to the mains, jet needle and pilot circuits. If you have a U.S. model, your jet needle isn't adjustable and you'll need a stage 3 jet kit or try raising the needle by using spacers. I recommend a jet kit over shimming the needles, but I'm not sure they make one for a 450. I personally wouldn't go with just pods, get a quality pipe too if you can find one. I recommend K&N filters too.
You'll probably have to drill out the vacuum orifice to your diaphragm chambers too, for better throttle response, as required in most jet kits. That info, correct drill bit, would be in the kit. You may need different air jets and even different springs for the diaphragm/piston assy'.
Be aware you'll most likely lose some low end grunt, even with a correct re-jet. I have to agree about a larger bike may be the answer here.
 
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