Aftermarket Airfilters
Testing of
aftermarket airfilters on the RC51 has yielded poor
results. Typically there are no real world benefits to
aftermarket filters for the RC51 as small hp gains can be
obtained on topend, but only with a trade off for
mid-range hp. Truth be told almost every sportbike
in the last 20 years has had losses in power at some
point in the rev range or even throughout it from the
addition of K&N, EMGO, BMC filters etc... There are
exceptions to that rule, but I will save delving into
those anomalies for a different time and place. Since this article was originally written we've also had multiple issues with drivability on the Honda 919 that resulted in small stumbles and hesitations at lower rpms. None of these were able to be ironed out with mapping changes, but simply swapping out the K&N filter & reinstalling the OEM air filter instantly fixed the problem. I don't think much else needs to be said on that... Interesting info
#1: Flow testing on the stock filters performed
by Brian Sheridan of Sheridan Racing Design proved to us
that the OEM filters are more than capable of flowing
more air than the engine can use Interesting info #2: Dyno Testing on the BMC filters showed a definite decrease in topend horsepower with only a very slight gain in the mid-range. dyno charts from testing on 02/23/02 Note: when testing new high flow filters it is imperative to allow them to be broke-in properly by getting some miles on the bike at normal riding speeds. The oil applied from the factory can be initially too thick & can cause flow problems which can mis-lead dyno results in either direction. You may initially get good dyno results, but when the oil dissipates & the flow increases your dyno results may worsen or vice versa. Simply put with the extra oil in the filter you might get a good or bad initial dyno run, but after the oil is thinned out the dyno results may change (& usually do) just depends on the bikes flow characteristics Additional common dyno testing discrepancies are discussed here dyno tuning basics Back in the old days all the bikes benefited from slapping some individual pod filters on & adding some larger fuel jets... Things have changed greatly in the last couple decades whereas it's not uncommon for modern custom jet kits to use smaller main jets with slimmer needles etc... to gain more horsepower & a more linear power delivery instead of just following the old cliché of bigger is better. Fuel Injection has made that process even more convoluted as it allows the laws of physics that Constant Velocity carbs must abide by to be thrown right out the window in favor of any combination of Air/Fuel ratios at any point in the rev range or throttle position or any other sensor in the system for that matter an engineer wants to obtain. Since originally posting
this page I have received hundreds of further inquiries
about testing methods involving ram-air & how do I
know the aftermarket filters don't work etc... Well there
are more ways than just dyno testing to get results.
Utilizing an Air/Fuel meter while riding in real world
conditions will reveal alot of what your bike is actually
doing, but even then not everything may be as it seems,
sometimes a rich condition will be reported when the
reason is that too much air inside the airbox is causing
turbulence & stalling the airflow etc... Ultimately if the
aftermarket air filter introduces turbulence into the
airbox and causes a disruption in air flow or a harmonic
problem that results in an issue with fuel atomization
then all sorts of little problems can occur.
Something as small as a little hiccup at a specific rpm
or even fuel that doesn't atomize and burn evenly in the
cylinder that can cause piston slap and liner wear
problems due to the uneven flame propagation. Strange
things can happen when you start messing with induction
variables. Many of these things can happen and the rider
is 100% totally oblivious to it. I'm not going to outright say that there is nothing to be gained from aftermarket filters, but I will say that most top-notch tuners will sway you a different direction especially if you are riding a streetbike as opposed to a racebike. Citing drivability issues as the number one concern. Another point routinely thrown in my face is that the aftermarket filters are "re-usuable" Which simply put means that not only are you spending $80-$100 for a filter, but you also now have to purchase an additional cleaning kit so that you can wash, dry & oil your expensive filter, but in less time that it takes you to just wash the re-usable filter I can remove my old OEM filter, throw it away, install a new one & be off riding... If you are one of those people that are going to argue the cost savings of aftermarket vs OEM filters then you are into the wrong sport as nothing about a sportbike is cheap, not the cost of the bikes, insurance or maintenance period & you should be prepared to pay a few bucks every 4000-8000 miles for a filter. Another important issue is that these fabric media filters have been independently proven by many sources to allow way more dirt and debris into the engine that paper filter elements. On a racebike maybe that is worth the risk, on a streetbike it is not. Let's take a different look at it. If K&N filters really were the instant bolt-on horsepower that they are claimed to be in those ridiculous tv commercials then why doesn't K&N simply put a picture of the dyno chart showing the gains over the the stock power curve right on the box for every air filter they make??? Could you think of a better marketing strategy proving to the public that the filters actually work? Unfortunately they don't always make horsepower and sometimes decrease performance so obviously this simple tactic won't work... Caveat Emptor In the end one thing is for certain if you are going to use aftermarket filters & get any appreciable gains from them it's going to require a Powercommader, some dyno time & probably some creative airbox mods too, maybe even to the point of fabricating custom bellmouths to get it dialed in correctly & you must also consider that in some cases there are no gains to be had & in many a loss of performance or drivability can occur! Do not blindly believe the hype that people on the web forums making claims of how much horsepower they got with their air filter installation. If they did not do a COMPLETE dyno tune & test before the installation then claim they got x amount of horsepower after they installed an aftermarket air filter & then did a dyno tune they simply have no way of knowing what their gains or losses were from the air filter itself. Very few people go through the trouble of properly testing their parts to get apples to apples comparisons like I have over the years because everybody just wants to make themselves feel good about buying a $100 air filter so they will pretend the first dyno chart they see with a good number on it is golden to them when it truth it doesn't mean squat. It is very reminiscent of the 10 year long airbox debate where the airbox actually loses performance and barely gets the bike back to stock numbers after doing a full tune, but everybody that owns one claims it helped the performance... Link to airbox testing page BTW because someone always brings up the fact that they use K&N filters in their car or truck & they do work under those conditions I must add that I too use K&N filters in my vehicles & they do show definite increases in power & throttle response, but autos aren't generally trying to atomize fuel for an efficient burn at 14,000+ rpms like a motorcycle does... I have also had problems with my Mass Airflow Sensors getting dirty and I can tell you from years of testing K&N and other high flow filters that they do indeed let a lot of debris past the filter media that an OEM type paper filter would catch. Additionally the oil from the K&N filters always gets shed off and mixed with that debris making a sticky mess. Back to the point though cars are different from current bikes in that cars have a closed loop Fi system that can compensate for the air flow variance whereas most bikes use an open loop Fi system that cannot automatically compensate. Adding supporting evidence to my theories of airbox turbulence you will be interested to know that K&N has developed many different types of turbulence diffuser inserts for many different makes of cars & trucks that lessen intake turbulence when using their filters to increase performance. So far nobody has developed a way to even test for turbulence on motorcycle induction systems let alone cure it. |
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