K&N woes

[Jtx2005]

I removed my K&N today for cleaning and recharging.Followed the instructions with the recharger kit.Slapped that puppy back in and headed out to see how she rode.Started out feeling ok,Twisted the throttle up to about 8,000 and I stared stalling, only little bursts of power at those rpms! I decided it felt like she was starving for air,(opposite of what should be happening) so I pulled over and removed the rubber insert that sizes the hole down for stock pipe use.Seemed to run fine without that, but what the heck???? My exhaust is stock!! Is it possible to over-oil a K&N? i sprayed the intake side until I got a consistant red color as instructed. I'm scratching the ol noggin here!

[MXG286]

Did you let it throughly dry before riding? Did you bump the petcock to prime? possibly bump a hose off?

[katrips600]

hmmmm...was gonna get a k-n for mine but dont need those problems...at 76.00 bucks for a k-n hope it does more good than bad...

rips

[KatanaSoldier]

Yes! Very possible to over oil it! Now I say that for the one we had in our Mach 1 as I had to be careful when oiling it and then putting it back in the shaker cold air intake. Too much and it could throw off the sensor.

Now I am not sure about it specific to the Kat but very possible.


Wrenchers chime in here?

[reconstyle]

If your bike is 100% stock, and the carbs haven't been messed with, I'm surprised that the bike ran fine with the K&N in it. Usually that filter isn't used because it allows more air into the carbs and therefore they would need some tuning.

I had one on my kat with a dyno jet kit, ran like crap with it on there because of the extra air, took it off and it solved my problems.

[md86]

Wrenchers chime in here?

Nah , seems you guys got it about covered .

[Court93kat]

Lots of people seem to have issues with the K&N filters on Kats. The factory filter inside the factory airbox works very well even when you have made some modifications to the motor. It just flows well for these bikes. If you still have the factory filter, throw it in and see if it gets better.

[KatanaJim]

+1 to that.
I just went through this. I had a UNI brand oil soaked air filter. I was ready to start messing with the jetting, but decided to spend $50 on the stock filter, first. I solved all of my problems!

[KatanaJim]

SH!T, I just quoted myself...sorry!

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

I don't understand why people dislike the K&N. My bike is my first carburated motor, but if you can make a decent comparison, the Jets would act the closest to Injectors. If I added a turbocharger to my car, and therefore leaned out the A/F ratio by a large amount, I wouldn't say the turbocharger sucked, I'd say I need bigger injectors.

So if I've got it right, the K&N is just SO good, that it flows enough air to warrent a jet kit?

Let me know if I'm way off track in the jet vs injector comparison or anything else I said. It just seems like the things being said should be "If you're getting a K&N, get a jet kit too." instead of "Don't get the K&N".. right?

[KatanaSoldier]

Based on the headaches I have red about here, I would not put one on my Kat. Just me though. Now I run K & Ns in my truck and stang with no problems, so I don't have anything against them.

[steves]

I don't understand why people dislike the K&N. My bike is my first carburated motor, but if you can make a decent comparison, the Jets would act the closest to Injectors. If I added a turbocharger to my car, and therefore leaned out the A/F ratio by a large amount, I wouldn't say the turbocharger sucked, I'd say I need bigger injectors.

So if I've got it right, the K&N is just SO good, that it flows enough air to warrent a jet kit?

Let me know if I'm way off track in the jet vs injector comparison or anything else I said. It just seems like the things being said should be "If you're getting a K&N, get a jet kit too." instead of "Don't get the K&N".. right?

Because the stock airbox, with a paper filter provides the correct amount of resistence for the air flow through the system.

In fact, my Bandit is now jetted, and still uses a paper filter. Apparantly Suzuki did something right with the G2 bandits, and 98+ kat airbox designs.

A fuel injection system is not like a carborated system. In the FI system, it is computer controlled.... the computer can adjust air and fuel to take advantage of the higher flow air filter.

The carb system is (mostly) mechnaical and must be adjusted by hand.

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

I don't understand why people dislike the K&N. My bike is my first carburated motor, but if you can make a decent comparison, the Jets would act the closest to Injectors. If I added a turbocharger to my car, and therefore leaned out the A/F ratio by a large amount, I wouldn't say the turbocharger sucked, I'd say I need bigger injectors.

So if I've got it right, the K&N is just SO good, that it flows enough air to warrent a jet kit?

Let me know if I'm way off track in the jet vs injector comparison or anything else I said. It just seems like the things being said should be "If you're getting a K&N, get a jet kit too." instead of "Don't get the K&N".. right?

Because the stock airbox, with a paper filter provides the correct amount of resistence for the air flow through the system.

In fact, my Bandit is now jetted, and still uses a paper filter. Apparantly Suzuki did something right with the G2 bandits, and 98+ kat airbox designs.

Right, the stock air box gives a good amount of resistance for a stock setup, but in any Internal Combustion engine, you WANT more air. However, when you get more air, you also need more fuel to compensate.

In the FI system, it is computer controlled.... the computer can adjust air and fuel to take advantage of the higher flow air filter.

So what's wrong with putting in bigger jets, hooking it up to a wideband A/F gauge, and adjusting the A/F screws in accordance?

More air with more fuel to compensate = more power.

Where am I going wrong??

[reconstyle]

I think your on the right track, d3ad1ysp0rk. I'm sure you can fine tune the AF screws and find the right jets to make a K&N run right, but it's probably not worth your time or money to add that little amount of power that you will get.

Dale Walker over at holeshot uses K&N filters on most of his jet kits, but his kits are made specifically to use with them. He's spent a lot of hours fine tuning carbs to come up with the right jet/needle/af mixture to get the most out of it. To put it in perspective of how precise his kits are, he there are 2 or 3 different kinds of main and pilot jets he puts in his kit. Why? to compensate for higher elevations or high humidity. That man knows his stuff.

I had bought a dyno kit for my bike with a K&N filter, ran like crap with the K&N, put the stock one in, ran 100x better. I think people would rather just use the stock filter rather than fine tuning to get such little of a gain.

[steves]

[quote="d3ad1ysp0rk"]

Right, the stock air box gives a good amount of resistance for a stock setup, but in any Internal Combustion engine, you WANT more air. However, when you get more air, you also need more fuel to compensate.

In the FI system, it is computer controlled.... the computer can adjust air and fuel to take advantage of the higher flow air filter.

So what's wrong with putting in bigger jets, hooking it up to a wideband A/F gauge, and adjusting the A/F screws in accordance?

More air with more fuel to compensate = more power.

Where am I going wrong??

Are you talking about an FI or carb motor? You can't change the jets on an FI motor...
And yes, most if it ends up being tuning. I'm guessing, that it's less expensive to purchase Ivans or holeshot kits that are already tested with components in place, rather than trying to roll your own just to run a K&N filter...

And sometimes, you don't even need the added flow of the K&N filter to get the desired results.