Ram Air Intake

[Blazes Boylan]

I just installed the Motodemic headlight conversion kit on my 2022 Street Triple. Someone posed a question on another forum about removing the air intake snorkel and this got me thinking that I'd been rash. (It's winter here and there's not much to do but tinker with my motorcycles.) I'm not a form over function guy and had I thought about it beforehand I probably wouldn't have installed the kit. In my ignorance I assumed I was making a simple aesthetic change but now I'm wondering how much it might affect the air density and fuel mixture. This opens up a big can of worms about whether ram air on a production bike is more fashion than function (to put it in the words of Kevin Cameron). This is my first sport bike and I don't want to be degrading the performance before I've even ridden it much.

 

[atomsplitter]

Ram air would only affect fuel mapping if it actually increased air pressure in the airbox (or throttle body venturi). To get the full effect of ram air the bike has to be going fast enough to maintain a positive pressure in the airbox/venturi (around 140mph+). If you had dyno'd the bike before your change you would have seen a 0% increase in HP and torque after the mod, because ram air only works if the bike is moving forward and air is being "pushed" into the airbox/venturi. Under normal riding conditions (highway speed and below) it has no effect at all.

Fuel mapping can be affected by changing the exhaust, not the intake, in most instances. Unless you plan on adding a turbo or super charger the maps will be fine. Change the exhaust and all bets are off. Your engine is essentially an air pump, i.e. suck, squeeze, blow. Changing where or how the suck part works has little effect because the blow part hasn't changed. Change the blow and the suck part gets affected. In stock form the engine is run very lean from the factory to meet emission standards and lowering exhaust back pressure with freer flowing silencers will cause it to run so lean it loses power and may not idle. That's why when you buy aftermarket exhaust systems you have to remap the FI tables.

 

[Blazes Boylan]

Ram air would only affect fuel mapping if it actually increased air pressure in the airbox (or throttle body venturi). To get the full effect of ram air the bike has to be going fast enough to maintain a positive pressure in the airbox/venturi (around 140mph+). If you had dyno'd the bike before your change you would have seen a 0% increase in HP and torque after the mod, because ram air only works if the bike is moving forward and air is being "pushed" into the airbox/venturi. Under normal riding conditions (highway speed and below) it has no effect at all.

Fuel mapping can be affected by changing the exhaust, not the intake, in most instances. Unless you plan on adding a turbo or super charger the maps will be fine. Change the exhaust and all bets are off. Your engine is essentially an air pump, i.e. suck, squeeze, blow. Changing where or how the suck part works has little effect because the blow part hasn't changed. Change the blow and the suck part gets affected. In stock form the engine is run very lean from the factory to meet emission standards and lowering exhaust back pressure with freer flowing silencers will cause it to run so lean it loses power and may not idle. That's why when you buy aftermarket exhaust systems you have to remap the FI tables.

Thanks much. From the little I’ve read it doesn’t seem like it will make a noticeable difference. Nevertheless I’m a little irritated with myself for pulling off the snorkel without pausing to ask myself what exactly it does. My Interceptor is so simple; the street triple is a whole other beast.

 

[sikatri]

Thanks much. From the little I’ve read it doesn’t seem like it will make a noticeable difference. Nevertheless I’m a little irritated with myself for pulling off the snorkel without pausing to ask myself what exactly it does. My Interceptor is so simple; the street triple is a whole other beast.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Atomsplitter sums it up. As long as you have kept the air flow open and not totally blocked it’ll likely be okay. Take it for a spin and see how it runs.

 

[JerryP]

Seems to me that over my years watching Triumph design from 1966 and on that the adding intake restrictions (airbox) has been to restrict intake noise as demanded by federal guidelines. In the 60's many of us simply removed the air cleaners and went to straight pipes. Performance did increase as seen in 1/4 mile times. Modern Triumph bikes have airbox design to quell intake noise and do hamper performance somewhat. I have removed 865, 900, snorkel while at the same time opening up exhaust pipes. Have seen the following: Warm up idle a bit rough even in warm climate, however low end torque and smooth take off somewhat increased. The newest Triumphs are able to adjust to these restrictions as the ECU can do a 20 minute tune to "reset" it's air/fuel variations. The Free Spirit modification, along with low restriction air filter and partial snorkel excision (See Triumph Hacks) and optional 2:1 Triumph Scrambler slip on seems optional for the smaller 900 series Scrambler. A look at Del Boys vid concerning the 1200 is worth watching. Hey, it is so much fun to modify these bikes as you can always reverse the process. This is simply my opinion and experience and in no way an authorization or instruction as to motorcycle modification.

 

[sikatri]

Although a slightly different animal, I deleted the airbox on my 2005 Thruxton. After the mods, I did a recommended jet upgrade. The newer versions with electronics tend to be adjusted differently as noted. I don’t miss the box on mine as replacing or even cleaning the air filter was a pain it the butt. LoL. At least in my location regulatory requirements didn’t prohibit me from doing the mod. Check your location first though.