How do you remove the airbox?

I am cleaning up my '82 Seca, and I want to remove my air box. I just can't get it out. I have removed the starter, carbs, clutch cable holder and all the brackets around there.

Any ideas short of saws-all or unbolting the engine?

The bike is missing the air cleaner, and I was planning on installing pods.
I will cut the box if I need to, I just don't want to do it now. After the pods are installed, I plan on making a glove box out of the old airbox.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Kevin, you will need to unbolt the engine and slide it forward to eek out just enough room according to one of our members who's post I cannot recall. Sorry. I however, have never been able to remove one successfully (I broke mine) but I did not unbolt the engine either.
There you have it, prevailing wisdom is that it can't be done but one fellow offering that he successfully removed his. Use this information at your discretion. PLEASE don't break your airbox, some of us could use it. What size is your Seca? I'll offer up a few bucks for an intact unit that'll fit my 650 Max.

 

I haven't looked much at my XJ650s Airbox yet, but on my Kawasaki I had to push air ducts into the airbox (that go from the airbox to the carbs) to be able to get the airbox out.

 

I already removed them. I also took the trim covers off the sides.

 

You can't get it out without moving the lump, if it's in good nick, do that, if it's not, give it the chop.

 

i just took mine out last weekend. its not that hard once you get everything ready, you just need to push really hard. like you said take off the carbs, the starter, the airbox boots, and the engine side intake boots. then loosen the fuse panel and tci bracket and push it out of the way, and take out your battery and remove the battery box. once all that stuff is out of the way (it all comes out with just a few screws, very easy) make sure your airbox is unbolted from the frame from the 2 bolts in front of the fuse panel. now you should have enough room to push it forward, and out to the right side of the bike. youll probably have to turn it about half way through, but if you took everything off you'll have plenty of room to get your hands in and manipulate things. i ended up breaking off the overflow spout at the bottom of the airbox, so maybe itll be easier if you just cut it off flush with the box before you start. other than that just push hard and it should come right out. oh yeah dont forget to take off the filter cover before you start. theres a video of a guy removing his air box on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfcKX29l ... ture=email

if you do it this way you DO NOT have to move the engine around. the main part that will give you trouble is the top left corner of the box near the filter covers top left corner. its a sharp corner that gets caught on everything. just be mindful of it and push hard. the box will give enough without breaking

 

looks like the movie guy has the intake manifolds off too
if your going to use the airbox, is it necessary to take it out ?

 

The airbox will be in the way of your pods. The bike in the movie is a 650 Maxim- - the trick won't work on a 750 Seca, unless maybe you move the motor forward. Pod #4 will get rained on, and your "gloves" will get wet.

Did you look into "re-tuning for pods" ?? There's a few threads already on that subject.

 

After reading everything, it sounds like I should dump the pod idea and just get a K&N filter for my box.

I have read that there are suppose to be some rubber boots somewhere in my box. My box is empty. It has the first chamber that the rubber carb boots attach to, and there is a hole on the lid next to the fuse box. There is no rubber boot inside the box. Only the two chambers. One under the tank(as I stated above) and the one that holds the filter. There was no filter in it. I am missing part number 5G2-14437-00-00 DUCT.

If I don't install the duct, I am thinking I should increase the main jet 2 sizes if I do this. I think the idle should be fine if I raise the needle.

Any input on this?

Any

 

The boots in the airbox you may have read about are the RETRACTED intake boots, while installing the carbs. You then pull them out into their final position.

I think you should run the bike and see if you have a tuning issue, rather than fix a problem that you did not observe.
Meanwhile, you might be able to locate this duct.

You might even be able to make a working replacement of the same size and length.

 

Robert,I've got one if you're still looking.Just pay for shipping and it's yours.

 

I like how he's using rubber gloves to do his work, for what reason, i dont know.. to keep his hands clean?

and yet he's got a burning cigarette in his ear

 

Lopezfr2, if you had to break off the drain outlet, you have not removed the airbox intact, it's like saying I stopped the circular saw with my hand & only lost one finger.

 

Mine was removed while stripping a parts bike.It was almost the last thing to come out,and even then we had to remove the starter to get it out intact.

 

The best advice, ...

Do what you need to do in order to remove the Airbox without damaging the Airbox.

You should keep the Airbox.
You might have a change of heart and want to reinstall it.
There are some who scrapped their Airboxes who wish they hadn't.

 

Yes I am. Thank you for keeping me in mind. I'll PM you with contact info.

 

Robert,I sent you a PM and an E-mail about the shipping costs but haven't heard back.Did you still need the air box?

 

Sorry Lorne, Just found your email in my Junk Email (which I never check). You went into the filter. I'm still needing it. I'll respond to your email.

 

I have an '83 XJ 550 Seca and I was wondering about getting an airbox back in. Anybody have any luck or know of any issues?

 

Meth, you'll need to remove the carbs, starter motor, and most probably the front engine mounting bolts (and loosen the rear engine mount bolt) so that the engine will tilt forward and down a bit, and then you should be able to shoe-horn the airbox back in place....

 

Are there any considerations on the exhaust? I've got an aftermarket Kerker exhaust. What about supporting the engine , or will it just pivot in the frame?

 

Yes, you will probably want to loosen the muffler mounts. The engine isn't going to be moving all that much, perhaps a few inches down at the very front (the remianing rear bolt will become the pivot point for the entire engine), but it doesn't take much additional room, once the starter and carbs are removed, to have enough clearance to manuever the airbox into the frame.

 

Ah I get what you're saying now. As for the starter, how am I going to get that off?


I'm guessing take the shift lever and the black panel off and the starter will slide out?

 

You could try "Driving-On" a 6-Point Socket and seeing if you get enough purchase to undo the fastener.

Use 6-Point Sockets!

Alternatively, modern technology has provided us with several Fancy-schmancy special tools that will grab-on to a rounded-off fastener and grab-a-hold of the rounded-off Hex Head and apply enough torque to break-off the Bolt and make the situation worse than it was when you just had a rounded-off Hex to deal with.

 

I just reinstalled the Air Box on my 750 Maxim, I pulled the carbs off and then the starter, then the two RH carb holders. The air box had to bend alittle bit but it went right in. Didn't have to unbolt the engine. It runs so much better and actually slightly rich. Going to color tune when the weather warms up. Thanks for the you tube link.

MN

 

Hey, Man!

You should expect the Bike to run Rick in frigid weather. The super-cold is lots more dense than warm air.
Fuel don't want to atomize when its as cold as ice.
The Diaphragms are less flexible and slower to close.

Just getting an XJ Engine to kick-over when the temperature is in low double digits is a miracle.

 

Hold on there... Len, are you tellling us you CAN R & R a 550 airbox without pulling the motor? I was under the distinct impression it couldn't be done.

 

There was a recent youtube on here that showed a guy doing it without dropping the front of the engine although he was doing a little yanking.

 

I have a heated garage. I only keep it at 40 but none the less it fired right up and when it warmed up I could see just a wiff of black smoke when I would rev it up. It idles nice and all the exhaust headers are running close to the same temp (infrared non contact thermometer) I'm going to go on a search at the local MC shops to find a 90 deg fuel filter for this one. The tank looks great inside and the carbs are clean so we want to keep it that way.

MN

 

Did it on a 550 Maxim, and even though the Maxim and Seca use different airboxes/frames, eyeballing things it looks like they are similar enough so that it could be done in the same way?

 

Here's hoping, I've actually got the Seca, but the airbox is off a maxim. Hope this doesn't screw me over too badly, but I'm thinking Chacal's suggestion should work. Because of all the snow I haven't been able to get back out to work on it for almost 3 weeks now.

 

Just as a small update I did finally manage to get the airbox in by tilting the engine.


Thus

and


thus.

Now I finally start the real work of seeing if this actually runs!

 

On my 86 xj700 I took a saw saw to it. Now I rock small air filters on the carbs looks slick

 

I used a hammer. Worked like a charm.

 

You should make every effort to SAVE the Airbox.

You might need it, ... later.

Someone might like to buy it, ... too!