HOW TO Fit Individual (Pod) Air FiltersNOTE (1): This thread is also available to download as a PDF file from the Downloads (General) Section
NOTE (2): You will need to remove your air box to fit Pod Filters (this is not covered here)
Some of you have fitted individual air filters to your beasts, and have encountered the problem of getting the filters to fit. The throttle bottles are 43mm and the nearest filter size is 44mm, either K&N or DNA ... but this isn't really a problem as they will seal ok. The problem lies in that the centre to centre distance of the throttle bodies is 70mm ... the filters are around 75mm wide, therefore each filter overlaps into the space required by the other filter by 2.5mm.
One friend used DNA filters and had to sand the inner edges of each of the filters, allowing them to sit together better without pushing on each other so much that they popped off.
Another friend clamped the two outer filters to the throttle bodies, with the inner pair on spacers so that they sat further out from the throttle bodies, which due to the conical shape of the filters gave clearance between the inner and outer filters. I didn't fancy either sanding (wire mesh is very near edge) the filters, or having them at different distances from the throttle bodies, although in practice this probably wouldn't cause a problem.
My solution…..
I had a look at the air box rubbers figuring that I could maybe mod them to allow mounting of the filters. I found when a rubber was removed from the air box that it has a bellmouth shape on the inner air box side. So there I'm sitting with a filter and an air box rubber, wonder what happens if I try and push the bellmouth into the air filter I thought???
The result was that after a bit of squidging and squashing it fitted like a glove, only problem was the bellmouth was kinked ... one press of a finger later and it popped out into the correct shape, thereby locking the air filter and rubber together pretty securely, and since they flex slightly they allow the filters to sit side by side (at a slight angle to each other), hopefully without making them pop off.
So this is how I've mounted mine
Response-1I just have a couple of questions, the sensor thingy in the air box, what did you do with that?
What sort of HP increase would one see with the pods? How do they go when you ride in the rain?
Next mod to mine is going to be two extra pods on the back of the air box, to let a bit more air into the old girl. I will be interested to see what you get when you put yours on the dyno.
Response from Topic AuthorI just to tied it up out of the way, but left it connected ... it means it can still sense the air temp which is required for the fuel injection. As for the rain, shouldn't be a problem as they are hidden behind the side panels, although I may mod them at some point. I had individual filters on my 1200 Bandit which were open to the elements and never had a problem with them.
With regards power, it's not just the pods I've added ... I've removed the PAIR system, will be slotting the pickup plate to give me 4° ignition advance and finally I've had the head skimmed, ported and a three angle valve job. I haven’t put her on a dyno since, so hard to say what power increase (if any) I may get.
I've also got a full 4-2-2 aftermarket system with twin Blue Flame Evo's and of course the obligatory PCIII ... previous power output (with K&N in air box) was about 118bhp at the rear wheel with 97lb/ft of torque ... would be happy with the magic figure of 125bhp and 100ft/lb.
Response-2I fitted the 2 interior filters to a Stainless tube advancing them approximately 10 mm to make clearance, I actually tried your method before and found the clearance wasn’t enough and that they still popped off! I also used the air box rubbers in conjunction with the stainless tube.
As for the air box sensor, I cut out the part of the air box were the sensor is screwed into & drilled a hole through the tank side of the storage compartment under the seat & then put a bolt through into the already threaded part of the air box this way the sensor is in a fixed position pointing towards the underside of the tank behind the right hand side cover, sorry I can’t post a pic, my computer is a bit screwed up at the moment,
Until I got mine dyno’d she was a bit of a bitch to set up smoothly due to the pods as the air intake quantity is considerably increased, but the induction growl is awesome & well worth the hassle.
I am in the process of cutting some nice slots in the side covers for the optical look of the filters & also to hear the sound as the side covers dampens this a bit.
I recently rode for about 2 hours of waterfall like weather on the motorway, so plenty of water floating around & no problems there with water induction.
Response from Topic AuthorIf I find that they pop off then I'll probably go your route of mounting them but they seem quite solid at the moment ... pity the Suzuki engineers didn't put a groove round the mounting points on the throttle bodies, would've meant that the rubber had something to grip on to. I'll make a bracket up to mount the sensor on, together with my PCIII ... may even move the electrics to behind the filters underneath the tank (loads of space now air box is gone) ... means I'd be able to get to them by taking out the storage compartment.
Response-3Can you tell me the part number of the K&N filters you used in your mods? I couldn't sort them in K&N catalogue by appearance.
Response from Topic AuthorCouldn't find any K&Ns in the country, so opted to get the DNA filters ... Part number is OV-4404
For K&N, go onto the K&N website and do a search for filters which have a 44mm opening - they don't do 43mm which is the size of the throttle bodies
http://www.knfilters.com/universal/universal.htmActual Filters - K&N RU-2454
http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=RU-2454Response-4Don’t forget you will need a 5th smaller filter for the pressure box thingy on top of the gearbox as this normally connected to the bottom of the air box. I used a piece of the Mrs stockings as it arrived 2 weeks after the pods.
Pictures of mine fitted
Response from Topic AuthorThe wire mesh for the panels would finish it off perfectly.
Response-5Purchased Hein Gericke individual cone filters 46mm . Went about getting original air box out, which was not too bad after picking the courage of hacking it in two. Modded the OEM rubber ram pipes which were fitted to air box to fit the new filters, by taking out the rubber fitting of Hein Gericke filters and fitted the old rubber inserts, fitted nice and tight, used original jubilee clips as HG were slightly too wide.
Just got to relocate air temp sensor, modify the side panels and dyno up again. There’s a hole in frame where OEM air box was mounted on offside just got to enlarge hole and bolt sensor to that.
