Small airbox mod, added to the mod

MN72Busa

Formerly known as "Zuki"
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Ok, so I wasnt real happy with the stock airbox, so I modded it according to Brock's small airbox mod. I drove around with it for a week, and wasnt sure if I noticed any difference on the street. So I purchased another stock airbox, and put that back on and tried it stock for another week.

Observation- The stock airbox flapper opens up at 2600 rpm. Ok, this is nice to know, because I was being told by more than a few people that by running the modded airbox I was losing torque on the low end. Well...Im not sure about Dyno tests, but It seems to me that if you ride your bike under 2600 rpm, yah you may have a loss of torque, but I dont ride at that rpm except for leaving the driveway.

Ok, so I put the modded airbox back on, and was looking into getting some seals that Schnitz racing sells. $80.00 is a lot to spend for seals in my book, so I started to read about other options.

Solution...I went to FleetFarm, and purchased some professional grade Duct Tape (In racing Silver). I taped the seals where the ram air tubes come from the front nose area to the frame. It appears the Busa may get some air loss at this point. Than I taped the seals where the ram air tubes meet up with the airbox extensions (the area with the foam).

Conclusiion... Yesterday I took the fiance out for a 200 mile ride and noticed better throttle response. Today, while riding solo, I thought I was riding a different bike. The throttle response was very crisp, and power seemed to be up compared to just having the small airbox mod alone. Again, I haven't had the Busa on the dyno to test HP/Torque, but I can seriously tell a difference from taping up the ram air areas that could possibly be subject to air loss due to poor sealing.

Taping the area around the airbox tubes was kind of a pain in the butt, and if I go to pull the airbox off I would need to retape, but I can honestly tell a difference. I thought some of you might like to know about the mod, and possibly give it a try. $4.99 for some high grade tape and you be the judge...I know it was worth it to me for my Busa.
 
Wow, guess I should try this what can go wrong for the cost of duct tape. I did the suggested airbox mod for the full BDE system so I'm surprised they didn't suggest this too.
 
It is a good idea to seal where the airbox meets the inside of the frame, which was proven by one of the sportbike mags (the link to the article is around here somewhere)

However, putting your bike on a dyno won't tell you anything about this mod unless you can pump enough air into the airbox to simulate 100+ mph speeds while the bike remains strapped to the dyno. Note that the magazine tried to do this on a busa, but could not get two large compressors to supply enough airflow to just one ram-air tube....
 
It is a good idea to seal where the airbox meets the inside of the frame, which was proven by one of the sportbike mags (the link to the article is around here somewhere)

However, putting your bike on a dyno won't tell you anything about this mod unless you can pump enough air into the airbox to simulate 100+ mph speeds while the bike remains strapped to the dyno. Note that the magazine tried to do this on a busa, but could not get two large compressors to supply enough airflow to just one ram-air tube....
If you could post up a link it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your input, wasnt sure if I was just imagining it, but it really seamed to help.
 
The Busa ram-air ducts are very poorly sealed. I'm gonna try this immediately. Like you said, for $4.99, who cares if it doesn't work. It can't be worse than the way they come from the factory.
 
Several years ago, i used alum duct tape to seal my ram-air tubes. I removed the upper fairing and the ram-air tubes. I then reached inside the hole in the frame and added the tape to the INSIDE of the airbox/frame sealing the gap. I used small manageable pieces and that type of alum tape is easy to tear and form and make a smooth transition. I then used the same tape and put several layers on the part of the ram-air tubes that push inside the frame. I used enough that i had to force the tube to fit into the frame, thus sealing this joint. I also removed the screens in the ram-air tube openings. I consistantly picked up 2mph and .1 in the 1/4mi doing this on more than one Busa(and one GSXR1000). Removing the airbox is a little harder and i just use a knife to cut the tape between the frame and airbox. Downside is i had to remove the upper fairing and ram-air tubes to re-seal. I did'nt remove the airbox much so it was no biggie. BTW, saw the same gains with a totally stk airbox with flapper and tower still intact.
Gonna do the same thing to my new(to me) 03...
 
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