KDXRIDER.NET

Everybody keeps on tellin me to "drill Holes in the Air Box" Remove the Lid, yadda yadda yadda. But i ask...ARE YOU ALL INSANE???

Now i answer: IMO yes, i get enough gunk mud and grit in my airbox as it is, non drilled or opened, with the ridin and the trails i have to deal with. Mabye it is because i have to deal with rougher trails than most people ever face...(ruts 10 ft long 4 ft wide 1-2 ft deep) Like my trails are also used by Quads, tractors and 4x4 trucks... so imagin what its like in SPRING!!!, now mabye due to My sisuation people may advise me keep the airbox solid, and i will, but does openin it up REALLY add that much power??? Finally does closing the hole in the bottom of the Airbox affect anything? thats where most of the mud comes from so....

The better you bike can breath...the better. Usually!

You have to make the call though. The bottom hole is a DRAIN, so it's best to let it do it's job...especially in your situation.

I haven't heard of anyone on a 220 having any jetting/hesitation problems with the air box lid removed. The 200H, however, is a different story. Most probably have no problems, but some (including me) had jetting/hesitation problems that couldn't be overcome any other way than putting the air box lid back on, FWIW.

Where I live, we get an average of 14" of precip a year, and a lot of that is snow when you're not riding anyway. We're not too worried about mud getting into our airboxes.

Well. It all depends on what you and your bike feel best with. I tried my bike with the lid removed and it was not good! It was not responsive on the bottom and I could'nt quite get the lean-ness to go away without going past it into a real rich situation. I put the lid back on sans the dork snork and the bike runs awesome. Another thing I hated about the lid off was the sound coming from under me package! It was compounded I'm sure by the lean jetting situation. Booo-waaaaugh!!!!!! Until I get an aftermarket silencer and/or RB the carb and head mods, I don't see my bike liking all that air getting in so quickly.
You can read about it more on my post; "First impressions."
BTW. Vermont is the king state of Gnarly weather and riding conditions IMOP. I zip-tied a piece of a tube in the space between the tank and the airbox and it works great at keeping the grunge out. I have found the KDX to be the best bike I've owned at keeping the mud and water out of the box. I have now been on 6 rides and the filter is still clean! I am very good about cleaning so I know it is fine! If you have the lid on you will not need to worry about the mud.
Cheers

Kdennan,
So, you zip-tied a piece of innertube over the top of the airbox lid? Or...does that mean it hangs vertically? Cause that sounds interesting! Got a pic? Anything that keeps the filter running longer sounds real good to lazy old me
Greg

I was having hesitation problems before RB did the Head & Carb Mod. Its very crisp now. I have been running with no lid since I got the bike last year and did notice a better response w/o the lid on. The hesitation I believe is due to JETTING PERIOD. I also use a pair of my panty hose (Oh, I mean my Wifes Panty Hose) over the opening where the lid goes. I has worked well especially in sand

re: 'ARE YOU ALL INSANE??? '

Evidently.

If it doesn't work for you, in your riding environs...don't do it.


re: ' i have to deal with rougher trails than most people ever face...(ruts 10 ft long 4 ft wide 1-2 ft deep)'



I'd call that a 4-lane freeway 'round here.

Honestly, all the trails in this area are groomed, most are blacktop. We have traffic control signals when tracks merge. There are HOV tracks, but you gotta be 2-up on a Beemer to ride those.




re: 'Finally does closing the hole in the bottom of the Airbox affect anything? thats where most of the mud comes from so....'

Maybe if the engine wasn't trying so hard to suck air through a straw on the top of the airbox...it wouldn't suck mud through the bottom of the airbox.

Just a thought.



Hey!! I've got a white porcelain thing in my house..every time I push on the handle, all the water goes out. If I plugged the hole in the bottom of it, wouldn't it work better?

Carver, You KILL me!!!!!!

Green Hornet, so...you're using panty hose on your KDX. Maybe that's the secret. Maybe if I tried cross dressing my KDX it wouldn't hesitate.
Seriously though, I would expect that you'd have no trouble with the lid off on a 220. Just don't ask me what I did to solve my hesitation problem (which I played with for 1 1/2 years)......don't go there... it's a long and ugly story (expensive too).

In response to GS; I have it tied off in front of the box. The frame and the front of the box create a little rectangle that works great for sliding in a piece about 8" long and tying off to the three sections of frame. You have to tuck the tube under the slot that your saddle slides into or it won't and you will get real uptight before you see the problem.
Now I have to say one more thing.
I TOOK THE LID OFF YESTERDAY! We finally got a 70 degree day here in Vermont and the conditions are actually dry. Anyway, the bike was giving a rich hesitation in middle rpms while rolling on the throttle through the needle ranges. I jumped off, whipped off the seat, stuffed the lid in my pack and pointed the bike up the hill. Man, what a difference! Great power! No hestitation! I turned in the air screw a quarter turn to meet the change half way. (I'd obviously err to the rich side) So, the bike likes the lid when it's cool and not when it's hot!
And you know what? The air filter still didn't get that dirty. One more ride before I need to clean. 3hr non-stop training ride tonight.

Have you had a chance to look at a KTM 300 air box ? not much there as far as air box and they are expecting the bike to go through sloppy coditions.

My WR is the same way, and and I've never had a problem. Well I have had to clean the air filter

Rhodester wrote:Green Hornet, so...you're using panty hose on your KDX. Maybe that's the secret. Maybe if I tried cross dressing my KDX it wouldn't hesitate.
Seriously though, I would expect that you'd have no trouble with the lid off on a 220. Just don't ask me what I did to solve my hesitation problem (which I played with for 1 1/2 years)......don't go there... it's a long and ugly story (expensive too).

The down side is the bike gets BITCHY Once a Month

re: when it's cool, when it's hot

Jetting resolves that.

Removing (or not) the air box lid changes the pressure inside the carb. To keep the air/fuel mixture 'right' when you change that pressure, you must change jetting in the carb.

Proper jetting will never resolve a lack of oxygen situation. You cannot make your bike perform as well at 5000'el. as it does at sea level with a normally aspirated engine. Not only is there less oxygen per given volume, there is less pressure to push the fuel in the carb bowl out the jetting orifices.

Similarly, if the engine's intake of air is restricted no amount of jetting effort will make it run as well as an engine that can breathe. Period.

Re: 'Just don't ask...'

OK. So, what happened?

Cleaning the airbox regularly doesnt both me, its the Air Filter, those get ruined if you cake em in mud, and if its 50 dollar Twin Air, its expensive to! lol

Ruined? You do know they are washable, right? I use No-Toil cleaner and oil. Check them out. I carry a spare and change it daily. Unless I'm riding with Brad, then I use his hot water spigot and wash it on the spot.