Ram Air?

[Anonymous]

A previous owner made what is best described as a ram air setup on a 81 450l. It is on the right side. It comes out of the air box and through the side cover, he cut the cover. It has a foam filter and a chrome mesh screen, the box still has a filter also.

What I want to know is does anyone know if this is a worth while mod or should I remove it. Haven't tried it removed yet.

It looks good there but does it help.


Thanks Kyle

[Anonymous]

Depending on where you are getting the air from, it could help. The newer Kawasakis use ram air and it does help (starting at about 80mph :roll: :roll: ).
If its really working, your bowl vents have to go into your airbox or you'll stop the gas from getting in.

[Anonymous]

the vent tubes do go to the box.

The pipe extends along the bottome of the tank to about even with my knee, but it is not in the way at all

[daveo]

messing with the airbox configuration (unless you have a dyno too, or are using an idea proven to work for your application) is not a good idea, the airbox is designed to provide an adequate air flow to the carbs under a wide variety of throttle conditions, by changing things, such as opening a side of it to add a ram air, you're disturbing this calculated flow. You may gain some grunt above 6K rpm (or not), but, the 1K-6K range is now sluggish. As with adding pod filters, you may be able to optimize this setup by re-jetting,changing needle heights,changing needle sizes etc., but unless you have a dyno to quantify your modifications this becomes time consuming and costly, personally I'd recommend removing the ram air gizmo and try to restore the airbox to it's stock condition, or going to a pod setup with the appropriately sized jets, needle heights, slide lift hole diameter etc.

[Anonymous]

I have access to a dyno but for a 450 I am not sure it is worth it. I will try it a few days with it remeved and with the hole sealed and see what happens

Thanks for the input

Kyle

[1100ED]

I have access to a dyno but for a 450 I am not sure it is worth it. I will try it a few days with it remeved and with the hole sealed and see what happens

Thanks for the input

Kyle

Ill bet it runs just as well or better. I feel that a 450 is a nice ride and should be enjoyed for just that and not screwed up with wild ideas of horse power gains. If you see that it runs poorly after you remove the air scoop?? There is a posibility that the previous owner also screwed with the stock jetting. Read your spark plugs before and after you make the change back to the stock setup.

[lhanscom]

A dyno won't really tell you if the ram air is working, as you need to be moving forward for it to take effect.

[AOD]

motorcycle dyno's have large fans in front of them that speed up as you go faster...at least a good one will. the ones we used at S&S Cycle had huge fans on them. it was just like you were cruising on the road. 8)

as for ram air...ram air is not effective until 90 MPH. generally you're only going to see about .8 PSI change in pressure then.

~AOD

[oldschoolGS]

One of the major advantages of running a ramair/pressurized airbox setup is that all induction air drawn from the front of the bike is unheated by the engine. This relatively cool dense air is much better than the hot stale air that most stock airboxes or pods suck from beneath the seat. To combat this in the mid 80's most GSXR race bikes used a insulating barrier that ran from the top of the head to the gearbox and the width of the carbs to minimize the carbs sucking hot engine air. As for ram air only being effective at very high speeds, I highly doubt that. A pressurized airbox will create vacuum and will draw the high pressure air off the nose of the bike even at low speeds. Same principle as the ram air on 1960's GTO's and Chevelles. Those autos made big HP and rarely ever saw triple digit speeds.

[HiSPL]

Here's some folks smarter than I that can 'splain a little better

http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_9508_ram/

[Anonymous]

Good article but I dont see me hitting 120 very often. Was too busy today to work on the bike and I am going to pannama city this weekend(not taking the bike, found a little dry rot on the front tire).

So I will get to it monday. I will let you know if I notice any differance.

[Mark Harrop]

ram air tuning

Sometimes, cutting a hole in your airbox can give you a little more carb noise. Just like when I drilled holes in the airbox of my first dirtbike and heard that carb sucking air, I just knew that baby was faster. While you probably wont ever see any power gains due to ram air effect, you may be getting a power gain in your brain due to the extra noise. After riding a Hayabusa with the stock silent exhaust, I knew the bike was ungodly fast, but it was quiet. My old GS may be much slower, but with pods and an open 4 into 1 header, in my mind, it literally "screams". And to me anyway, that kind of "placebo" horsepower is priceless. Heck, its free. It can transform a mild, run of the mill bike into a fire breathing cafe racer. Your bike may run better with the hole plugged, but would it be as cool?
Just my 2 cents....

[1100ED]

One of the major advantages of running a ram air/pressurized air box setup is that all induction air drawn from the front of the bike is unheated by the engine. This relatively cool dense air is much better than the hot stale air that most stock air boxes or pods suck from beneath the seat. To combat this in the mid 80's most GSXR race bikes used a insulating barrier that ran from the top of the head to the gearbox and the width of the carbs to minimize the carbs sucking hot engine air. As for ram air only being effective at very high speeds, I highly doubt that. A pressurized air box will create vacuum and will draw the high pressure air off the nose of the bike even at low speeds. Same principle as the ram air on 1960's GTO's and Chevelles. Those autos made big HP and rarely ever saw triple digit speeds.

I found your explanation of the alternate air source to be inspirational. Once Duncan advised me to use some sort of insulator between the carbs and the engine to keep the fuel cooler and now this is also sound advice. Now all i have to do is figure something out that doesn't look like that turbo junk that someone on ebay is selling. Perhaps an insulator at the carbs and a simple vent of some sort in the side covers. Another thought is that since i am setting up a modified air box and an oversized air filter, I could put a second heat insulator just at the rear of the air box and before the air filter causing all of the fresh air to be drawn either from the side cover openings or other open areas at the back of thr bike.