Pod air filters on 81 XJ650?

I know a few of you have installed pod filters on your bikes and I am also interested in this mod. Please respond with the bike type and size, and pod filter size. Also include if you have stock exhaust and if you rejet the carbs. I think this can be good info all in a central post.

 

I used 52mm emgo filters and have been very happy with them. I run a Mac 4-1 exhaust and have swapped out the pilot jets and am running happy.

 

You have to pull your engine to remove the airbox intact, or cut it up with a Sawsall. My PO hit the battery box in that hack job. I have a 4 into 1 and pods and someone put 118 jets in place of the 120 ' s.

I plan on installing a factory airbox and 120 jets. 650 jets are 110 ?
Also 4 into 1 , you lose 1 1/2 inch ground clearance, and could block the filter, making oil changes take forever.

 

I didn't pull the engine to get my air box out. just the carbs when i pulled them off to clean them. it came right out... may be mine is different?

 

Has anyone installed the pod filters without jetting? If so how's it running?

 

Hello,
I bought a set of pod filters off of ebay. Running them for 5,000 miles now stock jetting & stock exhaust. No problems thus far.
50 mpg as well.
I have a dyno jet kit but haven't installed it yet. Gas is high as hell. May hold off a while.
George

 

Nice. What bike do you ride?

 

Pod filters have got to be the #1 topic for newcomers here.


Some people hate them and will tell you they are not worth the hassle, and can never get their bike to run right. Others (myself included) have had great success and love them. I have not rejetted, but colortuned my bike perfectly and it runs like a dream with pods and a totally open exhaust. I think people are short on skill, patience, tools or all 3.

 

My bike is a 1981 XJ650. had 3600 miles when I got it 6 months ago. Now has ~8800.

 

Kevineleven, that is the exact reaction I have gotten. I have a problem with cold starts but also want to install pods on my 81 xj650. I do not want to worsen my problem at the same time though.

Btw, love your bike!

 

If you're having trouble with cold starts then the enrichment circuits probably aren't clean.

 

i installed pods without jetting and im running perfect and i havent even synched em.

 

I will try cleaning the enrichment circuits and give you an update MiCarl, thanks for the tip.

 

Here's a tool I made to clean the port in the bowl. Had one today so plugged up I couldn't break it free.

I stripped back a piece of 16 gauge stranded wire. Cut out half the strands. Took 1 bristle from a wire brush. Twisted the stranded wire onto it with about 5/16" sticking out. Soldered. Worked like a charm.

I'll sell it to you for 5 cents

 

Sorry for the thread derail, but what does one do about enrichment circuits that aren't clean? I have pod filters (installed by P.O., most likely NOT re-jetted) and my bike won't start cold. Let it sit in the sun for an hour or so and it fires right up, but wants to idle too low, even at full choke. Any advice on items for a novice to check? (Oh, BTW, it's a 1982 XJ Maxim 650).

 

Mine has a routine I go through to get it started on cold days. 1/4 choke, 3 twists of the throttle, and it'll fire, and stall. 3 more twists and it's on. I let it warm up anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes, and its good to kill the choke and roll. You might want to crank up your idle a bit, maybe 1/2 turn to get it idling, then slowlyback it down to 1050 rpm.

 

So after removing the air box and installing the pod filters I cannot for the life of me get the bike to start. Checked all cables and bolts twice, still no fire. She is turning over but just wont fire. I pulled the carbs and will start the cleaning process tomorrow.

 

Try a little starting fluid to get it running, then see how it acts after it warms up. You may have knocked something loose, electrical or otherwise in removing the airbox.

 

Clean the enrichment passages in the bowls!!! It solved my problem, which was hard starting when cold.

 

I think what happened was I still had carb cleaner left in my carbs from a few squirts. I took the carbs off and did what I thought was a decent cleaning. I took some pics and will post tomorrow. Ill be putting the carbs back on this week also and will update then.

 

know what works great for this? if you play guitar, save the left over scraps of strings from the headstock. strings like g b and e fit perfectly into the little holes and valves of carbs for cleaning

 

Guitar strings works very well for cleaning those small passages. Also, the fine wire pulled out of a wire brush is the right size too. My wire brush is missing a few now! PD

 

haha, right on. As far as pods go, are those sets of 4 for $29.99 on eBay any good? I just can't see shelling out 140+ for K&N's...

 

Thats what I bought. They look good, and seem ok, but I have not installed yet. Still cleaning my carbs!

 

I'll scoop em up then.

 

I just got the one's off of ebay, it took 2 days to come in i was surprised. Haven't installed them yet. Just got finished taking the stock air box out, that thing was a bitch. But these cheap pods do look good so far.

 

I just got my pods from ebay 4 for $36 shipped.. they work great! Didn't have to adjust anything.. except cut out the airbox with a sawzall (5minutes) .. I got 52mm.. I shoulda got 51mm... 52s fit, but they are a tight squeeze.. then I went to shucks auto and picked up a breather for the oil - $10..

 

I did so but I know my carbs are running rich right now because I still haven't torn them down. When I do I will definitely re-jet them so that I don't have to tweak the choke all the time.

 

When I installed pod filters and a stainless steel Supertrapp 4-1 exhaust system I had to go up a step on the pilot jets and the main jets to make them richer but LOWER the tapered needle a notch because it was too rich in the midrange. Installing less restrictive pod filters will tend to make it leaner but a less restrictive muffler system might make it richer so they tend to cancel out somewhat but not always at the same RPMs so I still had to adjust the jets and tapered needle to get the mixture correct across the entire range of RPM's from idle to full throttle.

 

I am thinking about going to the pod filters as well. My airbox has seen better days. It’s warped where the intake boots go into it and so the some of the intake boots go on a bit farther than others but also I have larger jets installed already into the carbs. 122 mains and I believe 38 pilot jets if my memory serves me. Which I think is closer to the 750 jet sizing. I struggle with the choke now that I have the fuel level set correctly. If I lower the fuel level the choke works fine but the idle suffers significantly. With no filters connected the bike runs great both on the stand and a on the road. I didn’t go far with no filter as concern for sucking up something I don’t want in my engine but it had no flat spots and pulls hard.

My main concern with some of the pod filters and others should watch out for this is that they sometimes have a lip inside that can block the intake that acts on the slide. That will cause all sorts of problems.

Also as someone else mentioned you need to watch carefully and only make one change at a time to see how the bike responds. For example you’ve added a higher flowing exhaust check the spark plug color carefully to make sure your not too lean, run the bike note any spots of concern ride it at a steady pace check for surging or flat spots slowly roll on throttle is there any hesitation etc. then see what happens if you go from cruise to wide open again checking for hesitation or areas where the bike has a issue accelerating. Note the rpm when this occurs as well as the throttle position. CV carbs make that a bit more difficult to figure but you can get the feel for it.

For me I may just go for it. But I am going to wait till I have the ignition system up to par first. One piece at a time.

As it was put before patience and testing are key here. Slapping parts on and going down the road may not always give the best results.

 

Holy thread resurrection Batman!
But, I like much of what you say, and might add that a slightly rich flat spot feels very much like a slightly weak flat spot until you open the enrichment, and that the slide springs in the Hitachi 650 carbs are very weak, and prone to rise with pods, making the mixture weak, whereas mikunis have heavier springs and are less prone to this.
Many years ago whilst messing about with SU carbs in minis I started to make a hall switch (switches actually) sensor that I could clamp on the carb, that would tell me from the outside what the slide was doing. I never finished it...