Ram Air Katana?

[eby132409]

I had seen a ram air going into the air intake of my buddies mustang and since then I have tried to devise a way, or find information on the subject. I had found a website that contained dyno tests of what is essentially Ram air : http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_9912_ram/index.html

Every since I came up on a few ideas that I thought might be possible and wondered what everyone else had to say about it.

1) Obviously the hose would have to be larger or at least the same size as the air intake hole. If I made it smaller it would be like sucking through a straw for air rather than snorkel.

2) The hose would have to be (on "k and n" air filters) at least 3 inches in diameter.

3) Because of the relatively large size of the hose there is not much place to put it inside the fairing, and I believe it wouldnt look to sharp on the outside.

4) Now I have found a hose that will work, it is a bendable durable plastic that I meant to have air pushed through it. The only problem is there is no where good to put it where it could get enough air to make a difference.

I just want to know what you have to think about that idea, it always seemed feasable it just wouldn't look good.

?

[StevieB]

Part 1 of the article includes info I was going to point out- ram air does not work until you approach or exceed about 100 mph. Also, you need a clean ram-air source, which means the intakes need to be something akin to out in front of the bike. NACA ducts (71 to 73 Mustang Mach 1 hoods used them) capture some air flowing along a smooth surface, but require an aeronautical engineer to provide a good design.

IMHO, ram air gives a low return on investment.

[hardlydangerous]

Also keep in mind the jetting changes.
it's not much of an issue with fuel injected engines that can automatically compensate for diffeent air flows.
The more air you stuff into the engine the leaner it becomes. A perfect mixture at 60mph will be lean with ram air at 120mph.
It will be a tuning nighmare for an amature tuner testing by seat-o-the-pants.

personally i think our air boxes are too far back and wrong style of carbs to use a ram air system. If you had a super sport bike with an air box on top of the engine with a short run to the front of the bike you would be ok.

If you do try it on the KAT I would strongly recommend you run a full set of EGT/CHT gauges and a dial-a-jet on each carb fir easy tuning

[KatanaSoldier]

I don't recommend altering the air intake in any way, at least on the Kat.

[Black_peter]

I don't recommend altering the air intake in any way, at least on the Kat.

Totally disagree..
I recommend modding every part of a Katana.. (well with in reason, I think the speedo needles are good enough stock. )
StevieB is closest. (I disagree about the engineer needed) +1 to NACA scoops if you keep the fairings.
The concept is simple, a few calculations and some empirical data you might get somewhere. What will it do across the RPM range is the harder thing to figure. You might end up with a mighty HP hump..

[eby132409]

Yea i found that the position of the airbox is the most difficult thing to overcome, and most of the time I won't be going 100mph so it isn't really worth it, but i figured you guys would definately have something to say about it. All in all I wouldn't do it personally I had just spent many work and school hours dreaming haha.

[Streaker]

Where would we be today without Dreams

[KatanaSoldier]

Yea i found that the position of the airbox is the most difficult thing to overcome, and most of the time I won't be going 100mph so it isn't really worth it, but i figured you guys would definately have something to say about it. All in all I wouldn't do it personally I had just spent many work and school hours dreaming haha.

More time for riding!