Air Intake Question

[HarleyToo]

I have read through the numerous post on the various air intake modifications. The three being;

- Under the tank cone K&N
- 3 K&N Filters (either under the claw or with modified claw)
- RamAir

Each seems to have its pro's and con's.

Either the 3 filter solution or the RamAir seems to clean up the bike the most by removing all of the duct work. However, there seems to be a bit of an issue with cracking on the RamAir or issues around the crank case vent. Which does not surprise me as most modified intakes tend to not deal well with the positive crank case vent. It always seems to be a poor afterthought.

I like the under tank K&N cone filter, but I am concerned that it is a very small filter and that heat would be an issue.

At the end of the day, are any of these really worth the investment?

And, don't get me wrong, I love custom modifications. If one of them were worth their salt I would be all in on it.

 

[Bob R]

I guess it depends on what you consider "worth it".

I went from stock on my R3T with TORS to the Ram Air, not only did I get rid of all of the plumbing, I was able to relocate my overflow bottle to under the seat but for me what made it worth it was the 11+ HP gain just by going from stock to the Ram Air. I am sure the triple K&Ns would do about the same, not too sure about the stock replacement K&N. There is a pretty convoluted route to get the air from outside to under the seat and then to the engine.

bob

 

[HarleyToo]

Yea, a true 11 HP bump would be worth it.

Have you had any issues around the PCV?

 

[idk]

The underseat or undertank K&N filter will give minimal, if any, performance increase. The undertank may even lower performance because it is getting hotter air.

 

[HarleyToo]

The underseat or undertank K&N filter will give minimal, if any, performance increase. The undertank may even lower performance because it is getting hotter air.

I can see that.

I will re-read the RamAir information. I am leaning that way if it will really give a +10 hp gain.

 

[Bob R]

As far as the PCV filter, the biggest issue was getting it on. No issues since then. I will probably make a yearly (before the riding season) maintenance thing where I take it off and clean it.

This thread has my dyno run charts posted. I don't know what you ride so I don't know if you will get the same gains. This was done on a 2013 R3T and the only difference between the runs was 18 months and the installation of the Ram Air.

bob

 

[HarleyToo]

2013 Roadster. Thanks for the added input.

 

[Chris Kelley]

From what I understand pretty much any filter system that gets rid of the plumbing is going to give you 10-11 hp. Any real difference in the filters only starts to be exposed when you start tinkering with the exhaust or engine. So it really depends on what you plan to do in the future. If you're going to leave it alone, find your happy balance of expense vs maint vs cool factor and run with that.

 

[HarleyToo]

Would the RamAir require any tuning beyond the 12 minute tune advertised?

 

[Chris Kelley]

On that I'm not sure. I don't think I've heard of anyone leaving it to the 12 minute tune here on the forum. Everyone seems to grab one of the pre-existing tunes on the tune-ecu site, or ask HansO for a tune. In fact I believe that a new tune is required to pull out the 10-11 hp that was mentioned earlier.