Working on an Intake project

This is going to go further than initially planned, where originally I just wanted good stacks to aid airflow I have been perusing over some datalogs and realize, our intake setup is very lossy and leaves a lot of power on the table.

Vacuum at WOT shows there about a 1psi pressure differential between atmospheric norms and the pressure just after that throttle blades, that amounts to about 13whp on a RAMAIR and CES equipped bike if that 1 psi drop could be countered.

Initially I was thinking about a legit ramair setup that resembles the OZclaw, but working it to fit a good foam panel filter and 2" stack. While that would flow incredibly well, and certainly give the power back, it would only start to give back around 50mph, and would need about 130mph to really give full 14.69 psi at the throttle blades.

So what's better and isn't speed dependent? Ramair + Heimholtz!! RPM targeted reflected sonic wave that can force air into the chamber, and with a ramair setup we could definitely see greater than 100% VE filling at the sub 100mph area.

Still have, lots of work to do, and this intake might end up looking all kinds of crazy, but, in the end there is potential to pick up 15-18hp peak at 6k RPM, and a good bit of midrange as well. If I can nail it down, it would mean 180whp is an intake/tune/exhaust away from stock.

More to follow.

So I guess the first step was to get a Ram-Air design that actually... you know... rams air So from here now it'll be a bunch of math to figure out how big/long the heimholtz resonator needs to be. Still have to work out fasteners to hold this all together but my idea will be 2 screws, holds the whole mess together air-tight totally secure. Plus a bracket to attach it to the bike with metal instead of relying on the hose couplers to the TB.

In the below, you can see I finally got my software to do the bell-mouth shapes I wanted on the stacks internally, the red part is a flat K&N filter that was only 1mm off my initial ideas and its cheap, originally powered a 500hp car, so I can't imagine it'd be a significant restriction for the R3. Ram-air inlet is 4" tapering to 3.5" with a radiused lead edge. Stacks are 1" below the bottom plane with very wide very gradual bell-mouths that sit just under the filter to suck up all the clean forced air. The cosmetic finisher will have to get added to clean up the tank to intake area, not sure how I'll tackle that just yet.

Whole thing is 7.5 inches from TB lip to the top and 13.8 inches from back to front not counting the snout, which sticks out 3 inches, should put it just above the radiator (an area with very high pressure air at speed).

K&N will be only for a prototype, then will be sent off for a replacement made from foam, rigid wire mesh to hold it flat and rubber around the edge for the seal. The K&N filters don't really work for this type of design as they require the air to change direction as it passes through, and it needs to shove straight through the filter to work properly.

If you can make one that fits the Touring, you'll be my buddy, the tank drops considerably at the rear vs standard or Roadster.

Once I figure out all the math, its really just adjusting shape while maintaining consistent internal volume, will take some time, but getting there.

Plenum volume works out to be just under 2.9 liters, more than I expected it to be (maybe too much). Now for the fun math part.

Two questions.

1) Can the filter element be made of paper or fabric so that doesn't need to oiled and so it won't over restrict air flow ?


2) Keep in mind the length of the intake snout needs to be short enough not to make contact with windshields and fairings when the forks are turned full left. I was not able to use my OzClaw due to the length of the intake snout. It made contact with my fairing at only 1/3 turned to the left.

I've been known to ride in the rain.... monsoon rain.... so make sure you have a gutter at the bottom of the air intake. lol

I was told the Oz Claw collects rain like a bucket.... not sure about this however.

All good questions

Concerning rain riding, you given me an idea to allow for drainage but maintain the purpose, a pressurized plenum. It will require some drawing edits, but you'll be able to reach down with your hand to open a vent allowing water to pass through. This would ruin any ram air effect, as well as the heimholtz, but it'll keep the motor dry inside. The ozclaw is an open back, it doesn't collect rain at all, have ridden through typhoon like rain with it, slow and very fast, no issues.

The left hand turn thing, if you can't fit the ozclaw, this probably won't fit, at least not the first revision. I'm using the ozclaw as the forward limit on how far the intake can extend, the drawing above would be a couple inches further back though.

Thinking about manufacturing, the cheapest route is going to be for me to get a prototype from nylon printed to validate on a dyno and test out various resonated diameters and lengths, once found, the right length would be added to the drawing. From there it'll get printed from polycarbonate, braced internally, waxed and prepped and be used as a molding slug. Final product will only be cost effective from hand laid fiberglass, 3d printing, metal machining, or injection molding will be insanely expensive on a consumer level.

The prototype above is an $800 print job as is.

I think I've determined the right frequency for the heimholtz component to target a peak effect at 5500rpm, the effect is spread out over a range of RPM so should provide a measurable effect from about 4500-6500 RPM. Combined with the increased runner length, this will probably land peak HP right around 5900.

Doing some math today has revealed something else.... Throttle bodies are too small, they target peak HP RPM of 5800, makes sense given what Iv seen on dyno graphs etc. So coupled with bored TBs, it would be pretty easy to lift peak power well into the 6k range.

Ultimately hoping to target peak hp at 6600 and use the second torque peak the CES pipes create, bolstered by the intake and TBs to hit peak torque somewhere in the 4500 range, but still hang on to the big area under the curve at 3000rpk range. If it works it'll pair extremely well with Neville's mild cams and the carpenter 7k limited setups for more area under the curve and maybe a slight peak power boost.

Oh, and regarding filter material. The specifics of getting a full 14.69 psi at the TB entry preclude use of paper or cotton. To have enough area they have to be pleated, to get through the pleated the air makes two 90 degree turns, totally defeated the purpose of pressuring the plenum, as the pressure drop across the filter will be very high.

Foam allows air through in any direction, so, is vastly superior in this particular design with my particular design goals.

Finally got outside and did a whole bunch of measuring, as it would turn out, information I was finding on the internet is wrong or there is a change on Roadsters from original release, so that's a good thing

The below is a draft, but the final will be similar,

Working on a 1 piece intake design to replace the bear-claw and provide ramair and filtration it will look something like this when done:

Well, funny thing about the world...

If you invent it, chances are someone else already has, somewhere, at some point in time

Sexy as fox carbon solution off the shelf, requires a little custom work, but the hard stuff is done:

Reverie Universal Carbon Fibre Airboxes

Reverie Universal zolder Carbon Fibre Airboxes

Itg foam air filter for zolder 112 air box - ITG Foam air filters for Reverie