[size=14]Okay okay okay,...

I finally did something about the RYCA-supplied air filter.  The problem was it would almost fit, but not quite.  It fit well enough so that if it were jammed in place and the hose clamps torqued down enough, it probably would have stayed in place.  It just bothered me, though, that the carb wasn't fully "popped" into its place in the intake rubber, and the filter was just a little cockeyed as it was torqued down onto the carb.

At first I tried just relieving various clearance problems around the edge of the filter.  I peened the frame crosspiece up about 1/8" as well as grinding off part of each nut welded to the frame crosspiece that holds the tank down, and, grinding off a lot of the head of each hold down bolt.  I also ground away some of the RYCA battery box (the upper/forward) part that interfered with the filter.  That is the box on the right in the pic below.  That didn't work well enough.

So,.. I got adventurous.  I added a couple of tabs to the frame just aft of the frame crosspiece.  
  --- It was simple.  I found a large seatbelt washer, cut it into fourths, and MIG welded each fourth into the frame.  (two on each bike)
  --- Then I cut that upper/forward part of the battery box back.  I put some blue tape on the modded area just to make it more illustrative for the pics.  That is the box on the left in the pic below.

Then I tested for a fit, and, ...YAY!  The carb is fully popped into place and the filter fully fits on the carb, which just touches the peened up part of the frame crosspiece.

Instead of using the RYCA bolting scheme,.. I'll use the stock system to hold the tank down, making sure the bolts don't poke through the stock welded on nuts, or they will hit the filter.  Two additional bolts will fit into the holes drilled through my welded-on tabs, and drilled into the battery box.

For those who don't have access to a welder, you might consider making a tab in the same location cut out of a piece of aluminum angle and pop-riveting it into place.  I was heading down this path for a while.  I actually made one tab.  But then I changed my mind and decided to weld it all in.

Now,... what to do about the breather,.....




Cute, huh?  This how I clamped the tab into place so I could tackweld it.





Two tabs welded into place.  All that red signage underneath is just to keep tiny hot chunks of metal off the bike whilst welding.






Here are the two boxes.  The one on the right shows my first attempt to get enough clearance, with some of it relieved where it interfered with the filter.  The one on the left has been cut back to fit onto the new tabs.  The tape is just there to emphasize the changes.





The next two pics show how the filter just fits now, and how the box is bolted in.





This last pic shows how the stock welded-in tank hold-down nuts are ground off to clear the filter.  The pic also shows how the cut-down upper-forward part of the battery box bolts in place.

The tank/seat mounting tabs need to stay in place. The material between the captured nuts might be able to go.

wombat wrote on 10/24/11 at 05:52:28:


"No need to go through all that."  We each have our own whims. I didn't want to discard the expensive RYCA-supplied filter.  Also, with the metal backside, it lines up with the solution I'm going to use for the crankcase breather as well. What took the most time was me just pondering, and trying this and trying that.  Now that I know a way to get the situation handled, I'll bet the second bike will take maybe an hour to cut down the battery box (10 min with a hacksaw), weld in the fourth-of-a-washer pieces (30 min), drill the holes (5 min), and tidy it up (whatever min).

"Going through all that" is not a very big deal if you have a washer to cut into fourths and a MIG welder, or even a cheapo flux-core welder you can buy at Harbor Freight brand new for the cost of a couple of K&N filters.

I'd like to see some pics of your Uni filter set up.

I just peeled the chrome off the plastic.  It took a while and it needed some sanding to smooth it up for a few coats of wetsanded scratch-fill primer.

Wombat said:
Quote:


It was already scratched in a few places with loose edges, so I just started there and began to peel,... sort of like getting the shell off a stubborn boiled egg.  Mostly I just used my fingers to peel it off, once I got it started.  I used a knife to lift up an edge to get it peeling again sometimes.

skeebo wrote on 10/26/11 at 17:48:27:


Thanks for the comment.

That is a slick solution.

Gyrobob wrote on 10/27/11 at 06:54:11:

It looks like maybe you can rotate the PCV valve counterclockwise and make the elbow snug up to the frame and no longer a low point. Even if not, I bet any dribbles of oil will just work their way through the elbow without your having to drill a hole in it.  That would also eliminate the chance of dust getting sucked into the clean side of your filter.

Great work.  I envy those welds.