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TLS Air box mod..

46K views 71 replies 36 participants last post by  xx.hrc 
#1 ·
I finally got around to doing it. Albeit not as sophisticated as BX-459, it did open up some really choking air ways. So here are a few pics of what i did after doing research here.

First i got a spare Airbox from ebay, just so that if something went wrong my bike would still be ridable. I got lucky and got a 97, it did not have the Pair Valve piping into it. One less hose to plug. Then i began hacking away. I removed the flapper using some Channel locks to grip the vacumm actuator and twist.. it came right out when the lobs aligned. Then just twisted the actuall Flapper right out. After that.. it was DRILL time. I used the drill to make lots of little holes. Then used a Flat bladed screwdriver as a chisel to get the plastic "broken" out. I tried to use a saw.. hell, i have normall hands and my tools were just to cumbersome to get in there. Trying to make tight turns with a flat blade was tooo damn hard. So, out came the drill. Cordless drills are great. I used Fiberglass, just for smiplicity sake. The local hardware store "ace" had a Bondo brand Fiberglass Repair Kit that had all i needed to do what i did. Enough epoxy and Resin/hardener as well as Fiberglass matt. I think it was like 15 bucks. Nice and affordable. :thumbup I Used 80 grit paper to do my rough sandign with. I roughed up Both the front and back-in relation to bike-of the Tunnel so the Resin would have a good hold of the old plastic. After i did all the "Glassing" i then used 50 grit to smoooooth it all out. I did not get carried away seeing that the airbox tunnel would not be seen easily. I did two layers of glass matt. The first one was interesting... i did not follow the instructions perfect and ALMOST cut my glass matt too small. It worked, but when the directions called for a couple of inches extra to cover with, you need it, As i found out. When you saturate the glass matt, it seeeeeeems to shrink up, whether or not it really does i am not sure, BUT, on the second layer i made it about an Inch wider than the last so i would have lots to work with. After the first layer cured, i sanded it smooth and got it ready for layer two. Be sure to let it cure for a FULL 24 hrs. I got realllllllllllllllllllly lucky when i laid down the first layer of glass, the natural curve of the intake tunnel kept the wet glass in place nicely enough i did not have to use additional support. I made the overlap extra long so that the matt would hold it self and it worked!! I cant believe one of MY ideas actually worked!! ok, So once the first layer was cured, i cleaned up the edges and then used a toothbrush sized steel brush to rough up the new glass so the 2nd layer would adhear to it. After applying the second layer, i let it sit for a few minutes untill it started to set up, i then took some Utility scissors and trimmed off the Semi Hardened Matt. this Greatly reduced sanding time and effort. WARNING-when you sand this shit, wear an Air mask, and run the vaccume to suck the dust up..this shit is messy. After it all cured up i sanded to my liking and called it good. I put fresh weahterstripping foam on the intake tunnel so the seal would be complete. I to got it from Ace. All in all it turned out pretty good. I look forward to a dyno run and a custom map to see what performance gains have been made.. if any. :devious

I also found out that one gallon Milk jug that has been washed and dried makes a great Resin mixing bowl, that is after you cut the bottom off of it. The Resin did not stick to the bowl, i am not sure why, but it allowed me to literally "pop" the cured resin out of it after each layer had cured.





The first layer of glass...


First layer of glass cured and getting ready to trim and sand to prep for the next layer.


The pizza box was used just to balance airbox for photo opp. The second layer is on and curing now.


The second layer has cured and is solid, hence my finger pokeing at it..


now in the first stage of sanding..


2nd stage....


3rd stage...


4th and Final..


And of course a pic of my milk jug mixing station...


And last but not least my fresh Foam weatherstripping...


:)
 
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#3 ·
nice work :thumbup
 
#4 ·
...nice work...
 
#5 ·
Thanks ,exactly what I was looking for . Good job too .:thumbup
 
#6 ·
Thanks guys.. I did make one mistake... the 50 grit is what i used FIRST, then the 80.. dunno how i mixed that up in my write up this morning. :banghead
 
#7 ·
Was also busy doing this yesterday, i used a hobby drill with a flex output shaft i got from ALDI for £15, it has a sideway drill bit, which makes easy work of the air box, lots of plastic mess to clean up tho. Smoothed it all off with a wire wheel attachment.
Patched up the hole with a sheet of thick plastic from a ice cream tub, cut and bent to shape with the aid of a gas soldering iron heatshrink tool. And finally hot glued in position, made sure i melted both base plastics for a better stronger seal, same hobby drill to the ram air duct and a bit of foam packing hot glued on and cut to shape.
There nicer looking ones out there but this was fairly quick and cheerful bodge. had box out looking for pair valve but my 97 not got one! lol

Bottom pic of the bike, just shoved the Bitubo in and started raining :banghead , hence nip inside and do the airbox :devious
note TL has perfect frame for using axl stands, shame there a lot of frame in the way of the shock!
Liqueur Bottle Drink Alcohol Alcoholic beverage

Trunk

Personal protective equipment Diving mask

Vehicle Auto part Tire Motor vehicle Automotive tire
 
#8 ·
Good work Antimosh

NICE!! very nice.. good to see others with different approach. :thumbup I am not good with plastics, nor do i have tools for it. So fiberglass was my approach. I like the frame stands... that idea should come in handy for me with some other project. gona have to check my exhaust clerances there. Just a lil advice... watch out how far your swingarm drops when you pull the old spring on a stick out.. it will drop far enough to rest on your rear cylinder exhaust pipe.. possibly DENTING it if your not carefull. I hope ya haven't found that out the hard way. :) :cheers
 
#9 ·
Cheers, didn't bang the exhaust, as i'd taken it off to repaint it, and needed the swinging arm off just to clean check and lube up the bearings, as it had a squeek, tho it was probably the dry link i found or the spring on a stick :)

Now just need to get the front to bits to do the fork etc...etc...weather permitting!
 
#10 ·
WOW... finally got the electric issue sorted and got to take the bike out for a goooooood flogging. I should have done this mod 39,000 miles ago. Damn flapper valve. well lemmie tell ya it's like riding a new bike. i can whack the throttle wide open at about 2700 rpm in 5th and it just pulls away.. no bog, no lag... just pulls.. and the acceleration if your in the proper gear with the proper rpm is just awesome. Damn i wish i had done this airbox sooner. I am sure the electric mod had some help too.. as having 14 volts to run all the electrics has got to be better than say 12.5.. and the headlights are brighter too.
 
#13 ·
yes, kept the ram air tubes.. when you take it apart you'll understand how it goes together. That part is Untouched.
 
#14 ·
i did something different and my bike runs like it brand new, you no where your air filter has that groove for it to sit in cut it all away then take and cut a u shape to the far right wall this will open the air box entirly where the air comes up into the filter every things goes back together just your filter will be on the far right to the wall of the air box letting in all the air instead of just 50 percent
 
#19 ·
looks good. i was going to ask about the divot. :thumbup

was worth 2 hp on my TLS when it was stock.
 
#21 ·
Right in the middle of the picture above the base of the airbox.

 
G
#28 ·
i did this mod by using aluminium plate and silicone and pop rivets. it's pretty easy to do like that. just leave enough plastic so the ram tubes can seal.

I think the best way would be to made little ridge or wall to the bottom of the airbox tower, then the airflows from the ram tubes would not hit each other and loose momentum, this wall would turn flows up towards the filter.
 
#30 ·
I think the best way would be to made little ridge or wall to the bottom of the airbox tower, then the airflows from the ram tubes would not hit each other and loose momentum, this wall would turn flows up towards the filter.
Pulled this out of an old range hood and thought of you Jarkko.

 
#29 ·
Here are some pictures when I did the mod a while back. I had all plastic welded.

Lower part cut:


Flapper cut-out:



Plastic welding lower part:


I also decided to improve the "seal" betwen the small tunnel between airbox and right ramair channel. The upper part has a much better surface to seal against.

New seal (no comments about the colur ;))


A schema what you can remove along with the flapper. Everything marked red can be removed, red bar means you have to block a vacuum line / cover what you cut out.


Greetings
Rufer
 
#32 ·
so let me just get this right,..you cap off the where the hose is on the rear throttle body,...and remove all that is in red on the diagram,... but what about where the vcsv is,... do you just leave it unplugged? :O then leave the unused plug taped up somewhere??? the little white plug which attaches onto the vcsv in the diagram...........?.........?...........?
 
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