thwrightstuff
"Trust me, I'm an engineer"
Hey guys,
This is an age old question that plagues the lives of cafe builders, but I think we need to put this discrepancy to rest once and for all. I have searched everywhere and gotten fairly general, but conflicting information on this topic. Here's what I "know" about this:
Airbox: If you aren't racing and don't care about aesthetics, this is the perfect option. Why? It allows your carbs to pull from a common, dead, air source, thus giving your bike a nice smooth flow of air into the engine. This may be the most ideal option for most people.
Pods: Pods can be hit or miss. They are aesthetically pleasing, and they provide just as much filtration as a stock airbox, which is an advantage over velocity stacks. When tuning for pods or K&N filters, it takes an act of God to get the tune perfect where you don't have unsteady air flow. This is as a result of the vacuum pressure being taken away from the vacuum inside the carbs due to the air rushing past and creating lots of turbulence. Even if tuned properly, typically you find the bike still will not have perfect, peak power throughout the throttle range.
Velocity Stacks: Perfect for racing and very aesthetically pleasing for many builders. It's my impression they are hard to tune, but once you tune them properly, there is no performance better. The catch is that you will need an aftermarket exhaust that will not create any kind of back pressure in the system. The biggest draw back to stacks are the lack of filtration.
Having indicated what I know, here if my take on my situation. I currently have K&N's on my bike and I've got the bike working decently, but I know I'm still missing 10-20% power throughout the range. Mechanically speaking, I like the idea of an airbox, but I hate how it looks. It totally ruins my plans for my custom bike. I've seen a few threads showing in detail how to build a custom airbox to your liking, but I don't have the resources or the money to build my own, sadly. As a result, I've been considering putting stacks on my bike and trying to find a fine mesh filter/screen to put over them to protect against dust and dirt. I've seen a lot about pre-filters, but those are typically disposable and I don't have that kind of money. This is an everyday bike, not a racer, that I want to look like a cafe brat. Here's a picture of it so far. It's a 1980 CB650 Custom.
Can you help me get to the bottom of how I can attain the look I want while getting max performance out of my bike without running the risk of damaging it? I am very handing with tuning the carbs and customizing my bike.
This is an age old question that plagues the lives of cafe builders, but I think we need to put this discrepancy to rest once and for all. I have searched everywhere and gotten fairly general, but conflicting information on this topic. Here's what I "know" about this:
Airbox: If you aren't racing and don't care about aesthetics, this is the perfect option. Why? It allows your carbs to pull from a common, dead, air source, thus giving your bike a nice smooth flow of air into the engine. This may be the most ideal option for most people.
Pods: Pods can be hit or miss. They are aesthetically pleasing, and they provide just as much filtration as a stock airbox, which is an advantage over velocity stacks. When tuning for pods or K&N filters, it takes an act of God to get the tune perfect where you don't have unsteady air flow. This is as a result of the vacuum pressure being taken away from the vacuum inside the carbs due to the air rushing past and creating lots of turbulence. Even if tuned properly, typically you find the bike still will not have perfect, peak power throughout the throttle range.
Velocity Stacks: Perfect for racing and very aesthetically pleasing for many builders. It's my impression they are hard to tune, but once you tune them properly, there is no performance better. The catch is that you will need an aftermarket exhaust that will not create any kind of back pressure in the system. The biggest draw back to stacks are the lack of filtration.
Having indicated what I know, here if my take on my situation. I currently have K&N's on my bike and I've got the bike working decently, but I know I'm still missing 10-20% power throughout the range. Mechanically speaking, I like the idea of an airbox, but I hate how it looks. It totally ruins my plans for my custom bike. I've seen a few threads showing in detail how to build a custom airbox to your liking, but I don't have the resources or the money to build my own, sadly. As a result, I've been considering putting stacks on my bike and trying to find a fine mesh filter/screen to put over them to protect against dust and dirt. I've seen a lot about pre-filters, but those are typically disposable and I don't have that kind of money. This is an everyday bike, not a racer, that I want to look like a cafe brat. Here's a picture of it so far. It's a 1980 CB650 Custom.
Can you help me get to the bottom of how I can attain the look I want while getting max performance out of my bike without running the risk of damaging it? I am very handing with tuning the carbs and customizing my bike.