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$21.50 DIY Intake

17466 Views 26 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Ryan Lake
8
Here is how I made an intake for the Z. Only thing I had to buy was the air filter.

Perfect companion mod to Kaw'ee's 10 cent muffler mod. Intake and a pipe for under 22 bucks lol.

1. Buy K&N RC-1060 filter, got it for $21.50 on Amazon.
2. Take off side fairings that push into rubber grommets on stock air box.
3. Remove stock air box. I had to take my horn off first but mine isn't stock. Stock air box is bolted to frame one screw on Left hand/Clutch side 2 screws on right hand/brake side. Loosen philips head on hose clamp that secures hose from stock air box to the throttle body. May need to wiggle that hose around the throttle body to get it to break free. Remove crank case vent hose from air box. There is another hose that goes from air box cover to under motorcycle to drain water if any ever gets in there. Remove it. Should now be able to remove the air box with the hose. I took the cover off first not sure if necessary.
4. Replace the bolt and bracket on the right hand side that guides the throttle and clutch cables.
5. (PIC 1) That flexible hose (hence forth refereed to as "the hose") should pull out of the stock air box. Will re-use it. I always assumed the hose was rigid abs but it is actually very flexible. Use some finesse so you don't break sh|t.
6. (PIC 2) I thought about cutting off the flange on the air filter end of the hose, but placing it next to the filter and taking a measurement it looks like that flange will pop out and sit nicely against the inside of the filter and not block air flow.
7. (PIC 3) Put the filter on the hose. Push it down and twist at the same time to get that flange to sit nice on the inside and not get jammed up.
8. (PIC 4) shows the hose and filter assembly installed on the bike. Don't forget to oil your filter if it isn't. Install the hose clamp and tighten it down. I used a zip tie to hold the hose up and keep it from moving around.
9. (PIC 5) Remove grey inserts from air box that the fairings clip into. The inserts have an OD of about 3/4".
10. (PIC 6) Make a fairing brace now that stock airbox is gone using the stock grey inserts. I had some schedule 40 1/2" PVC (the white stuff) in my garage that was perfect for the inserts, I got lucky. Some guys have bought the carbon fiber tube but I had the PVC why not use it? I used some hot glue to secure the inserts into the pvc after using some black rattle can to paint the PVC. Section of PVC was cut to 11" long.
11. (PIC 7) Shows fairings back on, intake in place and home made fairing brace installed. Nice!
12. The crank case breather hose has an inside diameter of 1/4". Best thing would be to get a mini filter for this guy. I'll probably do that eventually but for now I just tucked and secured the hose (yes, with another zip tie) up and facing back to try to prevent anything from getting in there.
13. (Pic 8) Shows the secured breather. You could cut a piece of the stock filter and zip tie it around the breather hose too instead of buying a filter. I was not ready to commit to damaging stock parts yet...

NOTES:

Intake is LOUD! Like holy (rap loud.

Evil Pirate's Bleeding Ears Loudness Scale, 1 - 10:
Let's call Harley w/straight headers a 10... Where when he fires it up everyone looks around, babies cry and car alarms go off.

Stock Exhaust is a 1.
10 cent muffler mod a 2.5
Mustang GT ripping it down the highway a 6
DIY intake is a solid 5.75, but unlike the mustang that's going 85 mph we're going 35.

It makes me consider ear plugs and I'm a little scared of the Zoom Loop that's coming today which I planned to run without a baffle. At least with the pipe the "business end" is behind you. Intake is in front of you so you get more of that noise when riding. Really it's when you open it up to WOT that it makes most of the noise. MrEvilPirate 15 years ago would just have said F yeah now let's get that pipe on... so maybe I'm getting too old.

Butt dyno say performance gains, even with stockish exhuast. My wideband O2 sensor confirms by showing increased airflow. My horn blocks a lot of potential road spray, but if you ride in the a filter wrap may be in order. I imagine you could keep it under the seat and pull it out when needed.

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I've been looking at doing this for a while. I already have the $3 carbon tube I got from China. Guess I'll order a filter, but not a kandn job. $6 El cheapo for me.
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Hate to bum your new pipe but, I'll bet you 22 dollars you eventually take the zoom off and sell it. Just Like you said if I was younger it wouldn't be loud enough... I Hate my FMF exhaust, totally obnoxious, I am even wearing ear plugs now when i used to totally enjoy the the 4.0 deep purr sound (without baffle 4.0) of the 10cent mod.. But again I need the ground clearance more.
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Well intake is no longer a problem. I can't hear it over the Zoom. Gonna try with the baffle in. Flies up hills now but Kaw'ee I think you're right it is too friggin loud!!!!
Well intake is no longer a problem. I can't hear it over the Zoom. Gonna try with the baffle in. Flies up hills now but Kaw'ee I think you're right it is too friggin loud!!!!
You must have the Non-loop Zoom?
No man I have the loop! Got it in carbon fiber thinking it may be a bit quieter. It's not really the "loudness" it is the way it resonates when you crack the throttle maybe I'll adjust. Do you run it without the baffle?
Nice. Back when I was putting my bike together, I ordered the Chimera kit, I was installing it and I pulled the stock airbox and saw that rubber snorkle and thought to myself ****, I could have done the same thing.

I don't really notice the Chimera being loud with my Yosh exhaust in place, but the Yosh is kinda loud.
No man I have the loop! Got it in carbon fiber thinking it may be a bit quieter. It's not really the "loudness" it is the way it resonates when you crack the throttle maybe I'll adjust. Do you run it without the baffle?
I've been running w/o the baffle since I got it. I just added a Yoshi SR2 baffle to mine to quiet it down for my riding buddies. I wear bluetooth earbuds so sound level isn't a big deal to me.
Does the baffle that comes with Zoom do anything? I'm taking a day trip up to the Catskills tomorrow... about 360 miles round trip. I picked up some ear plugs tonight...
I stuck the baffle in. PS there are no instructions with this kid for people searching:

zoom baffle
zoom baffle install

The baffle does not go into the end of the exhaust pipe. It goes between the actual can/resonator and the last piece of header pipe.

People say it kills all the power. I've compromised by drilling a 3/8" whole through it. Apologies no pictures. We'll see how it goes tomorrow... I have open loop AFRs at WOT without the baffle will be interesting to see if it richens up now with it in.
Baffle is garbage. Stock exhaust runs better. Still loud AF. Had to turn around from Catskills after 75 miles with baffle and ear plugs in thought my ears were going to bleed. Someone randomly flipped me the bird on the trip too loud?? It was like the noise was resonating inside my skull so sad all I wanted was a little more BRAAAAAP in my life.

Power with pipe (no baffle) was SWEET on flats it got me straight to 62 then slower climb up to 68 at the limiter I just can't take the noise.

It is a sobering moment when you realize that you are now too old as the pipes are too loud.

Really odd considering the VW motor in my sandrail is straight headers and that is ok but this little pea shooter 125 totally owned me.
Wow! It's not THAT loud w/o the db killer. I've run mine w/o since day one, even w/o my earbuds it wasn't ear piercing, just loud. BTW, my hearing is fine...
Hey @Fox Fader, your BT earbuds, are those noise isolating or just competing noise? I figure the former since you are an audiophile by profession, but by the same penchant closed earphones generally sound like junk.

Just curious. I'm very rarely wired up for music with the exception of long trips and haven't found a solution I like.

EvilPirate I can't believe you ride such long distances without earplugs! I have a 200pk right next to my jacket in the closet. Used to use them for anything over 30 mins, now it's more like anything over a trip the gas station gets a set of plugs. Ironically i can't hear our stock Z idle with plugs, but the wind noise drives me batty without them.
I won't even ride to the gas station without ear plugs in. Even with stock exhaust, the wind noise in a helmet warrants ear plugs.
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Funny wind noise never bothered me that much.
@Fox Fader I think you posted about using a yoshi db killer in the zoom pipe but I can't find it. Did it reduce sound? Did it kill power?

I wonder if the power only gets killed if you have intake as well as exhaust when you use the DB killer.

I had substantial gains from doing just intake.
It reduced the sound a bit, not a lot at all. Power seems to be the same.

https://www.z125owners.com/forum/appearance-modifications/15827-zoom-loop-vs-rs-2-silencer.html
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Did mine on Thursday with an UNI filter and el cheapo breather. Definite power increase, but LOUD!



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LOL so I'm not the only one.
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Would work better if it had a velocity stack bell shape to help get the air coming into the pipe. Some of the K&N pod filters have that built into the base.
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