Pod Woes, Air Boxes, Carb Swaps

[millsmobile]

I've read everything I can find about pod filters on dohc bikes, and seems the overwhelming consensus is... don't. So the question is, what next? The '79 bike I purchased has pods on it and "just needs a tune". (valve clearances are a mess, plus that cracked "D" cap, and this post is assuming once I sort that out the pods will be the next hurdle) I don't have the original air box, there's no side panels or covers, and I don't plan on putting any covers on it. Are there any legit alternatives that work? I see there's a cool looking filter from Cognito Moto, but they're also recommending a jetting kit and drilling the slides, so same problems basically. Has anyone made a cooler looking airbox type thing for their bike? If I'm following correctly this engine needs some resistance on the intake side to create enough vacuum to operate the slides. And the stock air box is essentially velocity stacks inside a box with a filter. So can that be recreated with something that wouldn't' look like poop on a bike with no covers? Or maybe putting some distance between the carbs and the filters with intake piping? Or are there any slick ways to install a factory airbox and make it look decent? And on the other end, if I need to buy a carb rebuild kit, jet kit, and a new filter system that could easily be 1/2 the price of just getting new carbs for the bike and I might still not have it right. Cycle X has a sale on a Mikuni setup and I'm wondering if that would save me a lot of future headache, especially if I might consider building a motor to put in this bike.

 

[brettp]

The mikuni setup (dual carb) is the only way to go, I think. There may be a Keihin set up similar but I don't know. Changing the carbs is the best option for pods.

 

[brettp]

I looked up cycle-x. If you are looking at CA-0098 it will not work with DOHC.

 

[millsmobile]

Probably should have specified, looking at the quad setup.

 

[brettp]

I looked at that too. Over 1,100 bucks!

 

[brettp]

You could buy the Murray carbs intake and mikuni carbs separately. Might save money

 

[millsmobile]

I looked at that too. Over 1,100 bucks!

Yah it's twice as many carbs though haha. Maybe I'm just excited about Mikuni because I had triples on my Datsun Z back in the day haha, but the money isn't burning a hole in my pocket and I'm hoping for something cheaper. Willing to pay to avoid months of headache though.

 

[SenseAmidMadness]

If you're willing to pay $650 the Murray's setup is pretty great from everything I've heard.
The expensive Cycle X setup will both save you months of headache and net you more horsepower, if that's what you want and are willing to spend on. You can't go wrong with that as they've sold plenty of them and had plenty of success with them on the racetrack. The money you spend pays for all the work they did already and for their support with any needed tweaks.

Cognito Moto may be close with their slide drilling recommendation. It's a permanent modification, unfortunately, so if it doesn't work right you're boned unless you have spare slides or have a lathe (making press-fit inserts) to restore the holes to their previous size. I've never looked into it. I'd want to read personal testimonies from people who've bought it and did their process.

There is one other option I've heard of -- there are, supposedly, Suzuki GSXR carbs from the late 80's and early 90's that have the same or very close spacing to ours, are much more receptive to pod filters, and can be had on Ebay for less than $200. You have to do rebuilding and maybe a tad bit of rejetting with those.
Again, I haven't looked deeply into it as my bike is almost entirely stock. But there are older threads on this forum talking about it.