Hoosier Daddy said:xb may have come across a little harsh but his heart is in the right place. Some here have a hard time with settling for looks over performance.
I agree, I'm sure he was trying to help. I also understand his stance in not compromising any performance for looks, on his personal bike.
I have read all of the pods threads over the past few years, and I understand the issues. What I don't understand is people getting angry, and feeling a need to write rude responses over what others are doing to their bikes. I see a lot of things on here that I don't agree with, but it's not my bike so why go put people down? I am trying to build a comfortable, reliable and stylish bike. I'm not after track ready performance here.
Now back to motorcycle talk:
I upgraded carbs to a set known to work better with pod filters, and actually went a bit bigger than optimum (36mm). After some testing, I found the bike to be running lean (even with 120 main jets) and breaking up a bit due to slide flutter on hard acceleration. So, I built the air box in an attempt to slow/smooth out the airflow coming through the pods. If I slowed airflow a bit my fuel ratio would be better, and if it flowed smoother acceleration should be smoother. So far it seems to have worked.
It has always been my understanding that cheap pods allowed a bunch of turbulent air to flood into the carbs causing the slide to move erratically, causing both rich and lean conditions during acceleration. They are also affected by crosswinds funneling into the carbs. From what I've read, I was under the impression that a k&n pod filtered more evenly through a thicker/denser filter causing less turbulent airflow. Therefor "restricting" airflow just a bit. I guess I was wrong. I also thought the large stock air box functioned by stopping turbulent air from rushing into the carbs, letting the carbs pull smooth air in. Again, restricting airflow just a bit. Neither the k&n's or stock box allow crosswinds to blast into the carb, I thought that counted as restricting airflow (in a good way).
So maybe my understanding was off a bit. I don't claim to be a cv carb expert. I diagnosed the problems the bike was having (lean and slide flutter) and came up with a solution (maybe). If I lose a few hp, so be it. The bike is still plenty fast. I didn't mean to bring the stupid.
Sorry for the rant.