interest in intakes/airboxes?

[Jake250ex]

Me and my dad are steel fabricators, we made one for my honda and its worked well. I know the kawis have bad intakes on them and I got someone to let me borrow their quad that has a fuel airbox on it.


Im wanting to make it as unrestricted as possible, with dimensions similar to the fuel but with a neck on it that acts as the boot. Another thing, the boxes will be made of STEEL. A little heavier, but aluminum breaks too easy. Im thinking of using a honda oem 450r air filter, cause of how plentiful and cheap they are. It would be like a pro flow kit.



Let me know if you guys got any ideas. Price would be low since they are in development, even when we get em figured out it wont be near what the aftermarket companies are charging.

[MtnEX]

Originally posted by Jake250ex
Me and my dad are steel fabricators, we made one for my honda and its worked well. I know the kawis have bad intakes on them and I got someone to let me borrow their quad that has a fuel airbox on it.


Im wanting to make it as unrestricted as possible, with dimensions similar to the fuel but with a neck on it that acts as the boot. Another thing, the boxes will be made of STEEL. A little heavier, but aluminum breaks too easy. Im thinking of using a honda oem 450r air filter, cause of how plentiful and cheap they are. It would be like a pro flow kit.



Let me know if you guys got any ideas. Price would be low since they are in development, even when we get em figured out it wont be near what the aftermarket companies are charging.

Yeah, I will chime in here with you, because I have built one also... and have a LOT of thoughts about it...

My only issue is... well I am sort of shooting myself in the foot if I want to sell this idea.... or produce it myself for sale.

So here is what I will tell you, and I hope you will respect my input and wishes.... or maybe even join forces with me at some point in the future....


With that said, let me break this up in steps....

[MtnEX]

First, the biggest problem is the plastic part of the stock tube... it's a pancake.

I think this is absolutely on purpose.... engineered limitation of how much air can actually pass, no matter what you do with the box or filter... probably so it can't be leaned out too far with box and filter mods.


What does this mean?


Well, the BIG thing that has to change is the forward length of the air box. This is the big change that BCS, Fuel ATV and Fuel Customs makes.... Making the front of the box much farther back allows for a larger, straighter path.


Now, here are the known options for tubing from the box in....

LTR450 intake tube (fuel ATV)
LT500R intake tube (BCS)

Fuel Custom's one-off creation (supposedly the best)

[MtnEX]

Now, I myself based mine off using an LTR450 tube like fuel ATV.

I would prefer you took another direction, not only because there are several LTR450-derrived intakes (mostly one-offs).

But also because I can already see where there is quite a bit of room for improvement over the LTR tube size and shape.

It's easy to adapt to the spout off the throttle body. But it is VERY hard to get everything lined up in an ideal position that does not kink the tube in the least (since it is not a perfect shape).

Also, on the box end, it is an odd diameter to deal with.... 3.25" is the largest flange it will accept.... and has to be custom made...

Likewise, from there on you also have to go custom or be real limited in filter sizes.

The easy alternative is to just conform and live with 3".... Else you have to come up with a custom velocity stack, or see if you can buy a fuel ATV/Dasa ring to clamp tube and filter to....

If you are going to build your own tube, I would suggest doing something similar to Fuel Customs... but not a direct copy of course.

[MtnEX]

Now, the million dollar question is, why did I... with a lot less fabrication skill... set out to do my own since to me, the project is a whole lot harder to me than the $300 bucks or so to just buy one?????

Well, I am in the same boat as you....

I do not like the available BOXES out there.
All of them have something I dislike.

Most of these dislikes are under the categories of lack of protection for hard XC... and lack of any way to improve that much on the existing box.

[MtnEX]

Now... I will offer you a small argument that will likely be a big one for you on selling these....

Steel vs Aluminum vs Alternatives....

Some of the aluminum fuel ATV boxes did crack early. But they made changes and I think that is fixed.

I'm no metals expert, but I would have to guess that it's not an aluminum vs steel thing.... but more so, it has to be the right gauge and grade of aluminum to avoid cracking, more so than it must be steel.

People are going to ask what the weight is right away. So it might be worthwhile to consider aluminum... if you guys can work with it.


Myself, I went with an alternative material. I gave my first mock-up a rough time and decided it was not durable enough. So I have moved on to another alternate material for the next one I'm building... and I know it will be plenty durable... and pretty light (not sure how it compares though).

If I can ever get good enough at working with the material though, I'd make the tube from it also......

[MtnEX]

Now, if you want to get the most of it, and get the most buyers....

Well I would recommend working something out for a tube that goes from like a 4.5" flange for the filter to clamp on.

I'd velocity stack that down into a smaller diameter right there to increase flow stuffing. Then I would work down from that size to 2" or whatever (can't remember) to fit into the short rubber hose on the throttle body.


I would shape it and curve it as so you can run the filter size you want inside the box...

In other words you'll want to build a box to line up to the stock plastics that is large enough to accept the filter inside and work from there on the tube...

[MtnEX]

Now also what I am doing that the others are not....

I have provision for protection....
High flow, yet there is something there to keep stuff from entering the box itself.


That means I have added a back, and also a lid.


This is a bit more complicated than it sounds. The reason being is that I wanted it to be high enough that stuff couldn't easily splash on top from underneath the plastic.... which means it has to top out above the bottom of the sub frame... yet it also has to set down low enough for the seat and all its contact points to clear all parts of the box.


Right now, I am still in the process of working out how much intake area the box needs to flow the maximum the filter and tube can take in.....

And I want this to be able to happen at a LOW vacuum strength.... so it will not actually suck hard on the outerwear material.... so that it will be impossible for water to enter.... without sinking it and leaving it running like a dummy of course....

[Jake250ex]

well thank you for your input. I dont know much about these bikes i have no experience with them yet...


on the aluminum VS steel thing... aluminum looks pretty and is lighter. those are the 2 advantages i see to it. I have AC nerfs, bumper, and grab bar on my honda. They are all cracked on the welds. the nerfs are cracked AND broke. Its not a knock to ac. every pair of nerfs i had - broke. I know they take a beating BUT this is for comparisons sake. Im friends with a local pro xc rider, who is hard as hell on equipment. Gets pro armor stuff for half off. Has probably made $1000 in scrap aluminum... you get the idea. We made him a steel set... pretty primitive nothing fancy just something to keep the trees going between the footpeg and rear tire. theyve been on all season.


Aluminum on something with some mass to it like a stabilizer, i say go ahead. something thats exposed to stress and takes a beating, or is tubing or sheet metal, i will choose steel. Id rather have it weigh a couple pounds more than buy a aluminum one twice a season

[MtnEX]

I understand what you are saying there...


Most of these companies have went to using a low grade of aluminum though.

I run PRM stuff on my 400EX and have a hard time hurting it.

I love Pro Armor pegs though, and between getting caught up in that and the cool factor, I went with all Pro Armor stuff on my KFX.

Huge difference in material quality.
It's softer, yet somehow more brittle too...


As for pegs/nerfs/heel guards.... I have had to resort to changing the the Pro Armor PowerGRIP system... with the STEEL pegs rather than the billet.

The pegs are HEAVY but TOUGH where it counts.