Author Topic: Installed K&N filter  (Read 3561 times)

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hillntx

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on: April 21, 2012, 03:55:30 am
I installed the K&N filter today, it was more of a chore than I expected.  I opened the airbox, removed the nylock nut and washer, removed the blak plastic inner air box, and pulled out the filter.  Pretty straight forward so far...  the filter has a black flat cover that helps hold it in place.  The cover is glued to the edge of the filter and has to be pulled off.  I placed the new filter in the air box and centered the flat cover over it and bolted it in place.  I didn't bother reinstalling the black inner box, it looked like too much trouble trying to get the filter to stay in place and slide the box over it at the same time.  The next joyous event was trying to get the airbox door closed.  What a pain in the butt.  At some point it magically closed after about 25 attempts and one damaged key.

I really enjoy riding this bike and I like the way it looks, but everything else related to it so far has been a frustration.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2012, 03:00:29 pm by hillntx »


prof_stack

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Reply #1 on: April 21, 2012, 04:29:44 am
I installed the K&N filter today, it was more of a chore than I expected.  ...

I really enjoy riding this bike and I like the way it looks, but everything else related to it so far has been a frustration.

Been there, done that, with the K&N filter.  Did you try gluing the plate on to the K&N filter? 

You have to think of your frustrations as labors of love to keep the old-styled machine working.  The RE is not for those who don't want to get their hands dirty once in a while.
A Royal Enfield owner's cup is always half full.


hillntx

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Reply #2 on: April 21, 2012, 04:44:32 am
I have a garage full of bikes from a 1978 Suzuki GS400, a 1980 Vespa P200E up to a 2005 Honda ST1300.  I don't mind getting dirty, but it's a little annoying when you have to custom adjust every part on a brand new bike.


Arizoni

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Reply #3 on: April 21, 2012, 05:24:23 am
hillntx

You must have a different K&N filter than the one I bought from NfieldGear for my UCE G5.  (I think it is supposed to fit the B and C models too.)

It is a hollow filter that looks like a larger tapered version of the stock paper air filter with the orange rubber ends on it.

It fit into the plastic airbox without any problem except I think it tends to block off the engines air intake.

Anyhow, if our K&N filters are the same it requires that plastic air box cover to be installed.

The air that is going into the engine follows this route:

Dirty air goes thru a hole in the back of the airbox into the inside of the filter body.

The dirty air is filtered as it passes thru the air filter into the area around the outside of the filter.

Clean air collects inside the airbox and then travels into the engines inlet duct to the fuel injector body.

As you might note, without that plastic air box cover installed, dirty air will go under the outer metal cover and directly into the uncovered airbox, totally bypassing the air filter and then directly. engines inlet.

If you run your motorcycle without that plastic cover in place you might as well take the K&N filter out and put it back into the box.  It isn't doing anything.
Jim
2011 G5 Deluxe
1999 Miata 10th Anniversary


hillntx

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Reply #4 on: April 21, 2012, 11:12:33 am

Thanks, good point.  I'll have to find a way to stick it to the round cover so it doesn't fall down when I put the plastic air box back in.  For some reason I was thinking the air routed the other direction.  Now I have to fight the box lid again.


MegaMoo

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Reply #5 on: April 21, 2012, 02:12:42 pm
Thanks for the info guys. I'm about to install the new filter too so good to know what to expect!


tooseevee

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Reply #6 on: April 21, 2012, 02:27:18 pm
I have a garage full of bikes from a 1978 Suzuki GS400, a 1980 Vespa P200E up to a 2005 Honda ST1300.  I don't mind getting dirty, but it's a little annoying when you have to custom adjust every part on a brand new bike.

             You'll have to work on adjusting your attitude a bit if you ever expect your marriage to an Enfield to last. You can't let yourself be frustrated by every little thing you have to do because Enfields sometimes require many "every little things".

               Learn to somehow love it or you'll end up hating it.

               I'm 74 & have been playing this silly game since I was a teenager & yet again, just yesterday, I was faced with a glitch that could have wrecked my day (see the Classic Forum). After hours of flailing about & much troubleshooting, I found the problem was a simple tree that was blocked from view by the Forest of Dumb. It was NOT the bike at all, but a matter of skipping Steps #1 & #2 & going directly to #3.

                 I'll finish the story (on the other forum) later.   
RI USA '08 Black AVL Classic.9.8:1 ACEhead/manifold/canister. TM32/Open bottle/hot tube removed. Pertronix Coil. Fed mandates removed. Gr.TCI. Bobber seat. Battery in right side case. Decomp&all doodads removed. '30s Lucas taillight/7" visored headlight. Much blackout & wire/electrical upgrades.


tooseevee

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Reply #7 on: April 21, 2012, 02:36:08 pm
              & yet again, just yesterday, I was faced with a glitch that could have wrecked my day (see the Classic Forum).

            Sorry. That should be the AVL Forum.
RI USA '08 Black AVL Classic.9.8:1 ACEhead/manifold/canister. TM32/Open bottle/hot tube removed. Pertronix Coil. Fed mandates removed. Gr.TCI. Bobber seat. Battery in right side case. Decomp&all doodads removed. '30s Lucas taillight/7" visored headlight. Much blackout & wire/electrical upgrades.


hillntx

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Reply #8 on: April 21, 2012, 02:56:33 pm
             You'll have to work on adjusting your attitude a bit if you ever expect your marriage to an Enfield to last.   

So basically accepting that "hand assembled/hand made" really means "slapped together" rather than master craftmanship; and that all tasks will take roughly five times the anticipated time to complete.  You know if I was doing a brake job or an oil change or swapping the drive chain and I ran into snag it wouldn't be that big of deal.  Those processes are a little more involved and things happen; but when you can't do something basic like closing an airbox door that can only fit one possible way; that's just annoying.

On the plus side, my right side pilot light suddenly decided to start working again.


Jack Leis

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Reply #9 on: April 21, 2012, 03:52:38 pm
    What ? Your K&N filter wasn't BACKORDERED ?
I would much rather ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow    Jack


tooseevee

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Reply #10 on: April 22, 2012, 12:52:52 am
So basically accepting that "hand assembled/hand made" really means "slapped together" rather than master craftmanship;

          I don't think they're "slapped together" at all.

[quote hillntx]
..... but when you can't do something basic like closing an airbox door that can only fit one possible way; that's just annoying.

           I had the same problem on my '08 when I first got it; one side worse than the other. I got my HD needlenose & carefully tweaked the rotating piece that hooks the inner part a tiny bit at a time. No more problem.

[quote hillntx]
On the plus side, my right side pilot light suddenly decided to start working again.

           Every single light bulb (AND the flasher) had been methodically burned out when I first got my zero mileage, never sold '08 AVL from an out-of-business dealer. That was only the beginning of what I had to deal with.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2012, 12:57:11 am by tooseevee »
RI USA '08 Black AVL Classic.9.8:1 ACEhead/manifold/canister. TM32/Open bottle/hot tube removed. Pertronix Coil. Fed mandates removed. Gr.TCI. Bobber seat. Battery in right side case. Decomp&all doodads removed. '30s Lucas taillight/7" visored headlight. Much blackout & wire/electrical upgrades.


Hobbydad

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Reply #11 on: April 22, 2012, 02:56:57 am
The K&N air filter is designed to be used in a very specific way. The larger end of the tapered filter has a lip that holds the Enfield metal cap inside of it. Once it's installed properly on the air box mount, it's impossible to reinstall the plastic inner airbox, without modifying the plastic airbox, or deforming the filter itself. The K&N is simply too large. I believe that the thin plastic trim around the outer door of the metal airbox is sufficient enough to seal it. I've tested it with water on my '11 C5, and it remained dry inside. I also found that the inlet hose to my throttle body wasn't trimmed properly, and could be opened up further, inside of the airbox.
'11 C5 Military


Arizoni

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Reply #12 on: April 22, 2012, 05:12:08 am
For what it's worth, I've installed the tapered K&N filter that is made for the UCE motorcycles on my G5 three times and the G series plastic airbox cover fits fine.

I guess the C series bikes filters are different enough that they have a problem with these filters and the plastic cover?

If you wonder why I have installed the filter 3 times, the first time I over oiled the filter the first time and the engine power disappeared.
It was poor enough that I only rode the bike for a day before I tested the air flow thru the filter.

After testing the flow rate of the K&E against the stock air filter I de-oiled and cleaned it per the mfg instructions and reinstalled it. 
This time I could sense no increase in the engine power and my fuel mileage dropped from an average of 71 miles per US gallon to 65 mpg.

Switching back to the OEM air filter my fuel mileage returned to normal.

Being too cheap to just toss a $50 filter I did some thinking about the situation.
Studying the location of the larger tapered K&E  filter I noticed that on the G5 the increased size of the filter body greatly (IMO) decreases the clearance between the filter body and the filter box outlet that leads into the throttle body inlet for the engine.
 If my theory is correct this reduction will serve as a restriction to the overall system air flow.

With this in mind I deformed the K&E filter locally by flattening an area. I reinstalled the modified filter locating the flat towards the engine air inlet.
The clearance was greater than it had been but was still not as "open" as the area with the OEM filter installed.

This time, my fuel mileage dropped to 67 mpg and while climbing a local mountain grade at 65 mph although the engine sounded like it was producing power it wasn't accelerating very well at all.

I have now changed back to the OEM filter. 
Climbing the grade at 70 mph now,  the bike is back to its old self and will keep on accelerating past 75 before I hit the top.

This may be just my G5 and the K&N filter may work very well for other RE's.
It just didn't for mine.
Jim
2011 G5 Deluxe
1999 Miata 10th Anniversary


Ice

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Reply #13 on: April 22, 2012, 06:50:26 pm
         I don't think they're "slapped together" at all.

[quote hillntx]
..... but when you can't do something basic like closing an airbox door that can only fit one possible way; that's just annoying.

           I had the same problem on my '08 when I first got it; one side worse than the other. I got my HD needlenose & carefully tweaked the rotating piece that hooks the inner part a tiny bit at a time. No more problem.

[quote hillntx]
On the plus side, my right side pilot light suddenly decided to start working again.

           Every single light bulb (AND the flasher) had been methodically burned out when I first got my zero mileage, never sold '08 AVL from an out-of-business dealer. That was only the beginning of what I had to deal with.

Burned out or swapped out? Is it possible that it was a source of service spares ?
I just wonder as I think it unlikely that all the bulbs and the flasher would fail simultaneously especially with low or no miles on the clock.
No matter where you go, there, you are.


tooseevee

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Reply #14 on: April 22, 2012, 08:15:24 pm
Burned out or swapped out? Is it possible that it was a source of service spares ?
I just wonder as I think it unlikely that all the bulbs and the flasher would fail simultaneously especially with low or no miles on the clock.

           I know what I saw. ALL were burned out.

           In fact, I documented all this on the forum as it happened.

            In fact, at first we all thought it was an electrical supply problem (wires) because in the beginning as soon as I put a battery in it I had ZERO lights of any kind anywhere. Nada. Nothing. The bulbs were ALL there installed; not missing.

            Then I pulled the headlight & found it burned out (Hi & Lo). From there on I pulled one bulb after another out & found them ALL burned out. I found out the flasher was blown after I put new directional bulbs in. Previous to discovering all the dead bulbs I had done a lot of wiring troubleshooting (unnecessary).

             I can't explain how or why it happened (I still wonder how it's possible) because I didn't see it happen & have not had a problem since. I did not even start the bike until I had all the lights working & had done a full dealer prep (& more) on it. Then I did a charging circuit checkout & all seemed to be as it should be.

             This bike arrived at it's dealer (who went out of business sometime in '08) in March of '08. It sat until I got it in December 2010. I got it with drained gas & no battery & no history.       

               You can read the whole ugly story if you go back in the archives. Pete Snidal & others were a huge help to me at the time. Enfields were a totally new thing to me then except for what I had read. I can see the complete wiring diagram in my head now  ::)
RI USA '08 Black AVL Classic.9.8:1 ACEhead/manifold/canister. TM32/Open bottle/hot tube removed. Pertronix Coil. Fed mandates removed. Gr.TCI. Bobber seat. Battery in right side case. Decomp&all doodads removed. '30s Lucas taillight/7" visored headlight. Much blackout & wire/electrical upgrades.