ArtD

Thanks!! I'm doing all sorts of mods, etc at this moment, hopefully this will be one of the + things. If it does not run right, and that will be with Todd's computer tuning software used to set the TPS , and the brass fitting for the temp sensor installed with thermal grease, then I can always put the box back on, and drill the holes in the back of it as per several past threads. I know that I'm violating the axiom of "don't change more than one thing at a time", but when I pulled the box off, there was raw fuel in the inlets, the mileage sucks, and I'm fouling Iridium plugs. This is with the factory Ti cans and the racebox control unit. My thoughts are that getting more air in can't hurt. I figure that I will not have done anything that can't be "undone"

Its that little sender thingie with a couple of wires mounted in the air filter box, right? What does it do? If I tie it out of the way in an area of somewhat calm air, will it still do whatever it is supposed to do?

Hey guys, hope everyone had a happy T-day! And if your not in the USA, that you found an excuse to party anyway Ok, if one wanted to install pod type/K&N air filters on a 2004 V11, where does the Air pressure sensor go? What do you do with it? Btw, this is NOT starting a "why would you want to do that" thread, lets just treat it as a hypothetical Thanks

I'll get it done now 4sure, thanks guys!

Thats EXACTLY the method that I am going to use unless there is some interesting trick that I don't know of, which is not only possible, but highly probable Thanks for the confirmation!!

Ok folks, it is just me, or has something quite bad happened to the search feature? It used to work sooo nice, now, its become quite dysfunctional!! On that note, I'm getting ready to change the rear spring on the Italia. Besides the 500+ dollar factory Ohlins spring tool, is there any quick trick to compress the spring so that the lock collar can be then removed? As an aside, this could be done without removing the entire coilover from the bike, right? I was thinking about the old "use 10 hose clamps" trick, but perhaps there is a better way. And PLEASE, don't tell me to "do a search", after a wasted hour, this is where I have ended up, posting on what undoubtably has been discussed before because I can't find it!! Oh well, Thanks!!!

Hey everybody, sorry to clog up the forum with this. I want to get one of Roper's windage trays. All of the emails that I'm trying to send to him seem to be bouncing. Or, whatever he is trying to send me is bouncing, who knows what the hell it is. Pete, if you read this PLEASE give me your contact info so that I can pay you for one. Whatever email you are using is bouncing back! Contact me here in the forum Email with the amount and your paypal email. Or, if its ok, please post it!! There used to be a payment thread, but its been deleated, I can't find it doing a search. I want to get this on b4 the weather gets good, this year I have some serious riding plans and I want to get this taken care of! Thanks

Its totally dysfunctional, it does not work!!! All you can do is go to the "official" MG site from that download. My guess is that it was somehow linked to some sort of dealer access only, and MG dis-abled it Paul, if you have downloaded it, PLEASE put it up on that awsome site of yours

Thanks Graham, would love to see the pic, I think I've got it. I'm going to give this a shot, and I have a very good stretch of road that I know my speeds at quite well I'm pretty sure that I can get a very good "real world" test of it, I think. I figure that the worse that can happen is that I screw up a couple of airbox parts which are easy enough to come by. I guess what threw me a bit was the following from Phil's earlier post here: "Once you totally remove the air box but retain the std bell mouths on the injector bodies the gains above 6300 do not taper off as above with the gain being approx 5hp at 8000 or so." I sort of shot from the hip and mentally substituted K&N's for what I'm assuming would be the rubber bellmouth runners...but then runners can be a good thing....... you can drive urself nuts

I'm almost there

When it comes to making ANYTHING go faster, there are very, very few "free lunches". Airflow is one of these few 'free lunches". If you would read the excellent articles on Ram Air posted early on in this thread you will see that there are very real and substantial HP and Torque gains thru intake air flow. And, unlike just about EVERYTHING else that has to do with modifying for performance, these gains do NOT come at the expense of fuel mileage, rideability, engine life etc. From all of the excellent information thru-out this thread, its pretty obvious that there is a fair amount of FREE power with these bikes in reguards to intake airflow Of course, that does not mean that the EFFORT to get the abovementioned power OUT of the "air" is free The other "downside" is, that the finished product definantly will not look as neat as a pair of K&N pods Personally, I'm still "up in the air" (I couldn't help it) I'm sure I'll do somthing even if its wrong

This is all VERY interesting! Were any of these tests then followed up by any track testing with a stock baseline to campare the midifications to? sometimes things do not show up on a dyno, but smooth out and/or alter the power curve and thus you can go faster where it counts. Am I right that what might acually work the best then would be K&N pods? Would that aproximate removing the airbox yet retaining the rubber bellmouths on the injectors? And then increasing the bellmouth to 50mm and drilling the three holes at the rear to balance the box out seems to be annother viable alternative.It seems then that there is a little ram air effect with the stock air box but not much. When you look at the amount of hp that the Jap bikes create with their state of the art boxes, it seems that there is a bunch of hp waiting there The minor problem is digging it out

Great stuff here!! Every one of these articles confirms my gut feeling that the STOCK airbox on the v11 series puts out more power than ANYTHING else, including hacking holes in the damn thing, throwing parts of it away, etc. As for "It doesn't make much difference until you exceed 120", to that I would say, "yes (comma) but"........ notice how in the Kawi test their manometer starting showing pressure at 70mph! Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I spend a fair amount of time at or above 70 What every one of those tests showed was, modern Motorcycle airboxes look like crap and make serious HP :!: Now... did the Guzzi boys do any testing to come up with their Box for the V11's?? I think there was some engineering involved, I'll believe that until I see proof to the contrary. Notice how all of the tests tried to duplicate speed riding not just smoking tires on the local guru's dyno? Bottom line: I admit, the K&N pods LOOK slicker than Owl crap, but, are they REALLY better, from a performance viewpoint? Does a lustly "honk" from the vicinity of what used to be an airbox mean the motor is happier? As for paper vs K&N, go to the K&N site and take a peek at the FAQ's, and read K&N's interpatation of the federal warranty laws. Notice how nowhere do they say "our filters filter better than the stock filters". You use K&N filters for two reasons: One- over the long haul, if you keep the vehical (or bike) for many years and many miles, you will save money on filter replacement costs; and Two- they will flow more air then a stock paper air filter will. End of story. My very humble seems to be use the stock box with a K&N or BMC filter PROPERLY lubricated........except when going for rides on dirt roads covered with the volcanic ash of Mt St Helens

Ok Greg (and everyone else), I'm going to throw out a couple if questions and observations: Is it possible that the bone stock set-up with the snorkels is acually faster in the real world? It seems to me that stock there is a ram air effect that, at speed would tend to force cool air into the box, if I'm wrong here, why? Forget the dyno babble, last time I checked, Dyno's have not been spotted circulating the racetrack Has anyone ever done a TRACK TEST and/or 1/4 mile comparison between the stock airbox, a cut-up box, and individual K&N pods ?back to back, one after the other against the stopwatch? And on that subject for a moment, is there any difference between K&N filters and the BMC's? Back to the Air box issue, what about the crankcase venting sustem? Doesn't the vacum of the stock box help draw out some of the pressure? When you cut up the box, and/or install indivudal pods, don't you loose some of that? As a personal note, I have used K&N filters for many years on various race cars. But that has nothing to do with engines that you want to run for 10's of thousands of miles without having to tear appart! I have never used them on a street engine that I ever lived with long enough to see any effects either positive or negative.

Yes, its a very simple direct bolt in deal, straight to the stock heim joint. It comes with a heim on the damper. You need to slide the Bracket/Damper around a bit to center it ,checking lock to lock. They tell you to screw it in all the way, and then gradually back it off until it feels right. I'm at 5 clicks out, that feels pretty good to me virtually all the time.

From a rider with limited skills, my I pulled a perfectly good Ohlins off my Italia and replaced it with an Active Hyperpro about a month ago. Why? Because with the stock Ohlins I could not get a "feel" that felt right to me at all speeds. I have about 500miles , maybe a little more on the hyperpro and I am very happy with it. After some tinkering with the settings it feels very consistant, and by that I mean not too heavy at low speeds, not too light at 100+ mph. And yes, it feels MUCH better in the wind and on bridges

Thanks Paul!!!! I think that once I get it and get going on it, most of it will be self explanitory BTW, I think that this http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/adapte...r_sandwich.html would enable the oil cooler to be used if one wanted to do so. Personally I think that the oil coolers on these bikes do absolutly nothing. Back a few years ago Circle Track Magazine tested oil coolers by putting 2 temperature guages, one before and one after varous oil coolers mounted on a stock car, and then track testing them. Most all of them did nothing. I can't see how that thing on the V11's not much bigger than a pack of smokes could do much either. I think the large fins on the new sump will do fine. Am I right about what to do aboutn the kickstand bracket? Use a 93-95 Daytona?

Hi folks, I'm seriously thinking about putting one of the Moto-Spezial deep sumps on the Italia. And yes, I have DONE FORUM SEARCHES HERE AND READ THE THREADS ON THIS TOPIC!! If there is a step by step "how to" I missed it Here are my questions..... 1- Am I correct that the stock v11 "spacer plate" that contains the oil filter mount, oil cooler temperature relief valve, copper plumbing, etc gets removed when this sump is installed? All of the oil passages are then properly rounted by the new sump.....right? 2- The oil cooler lines get a plate or U- lines, etc that would allow oil to flow thru at all times, right? 3- what about the braided oil return line at the rear of the stock sump that goes to the frame? Does that get attached to the rear of the deep V sump in that threaded port? 4-What about the kickstand bracket? Am I right that I need to scrounge up one from a early 90s-Le Mans, I think- or fabricate somthing? 5- Do you then need a new dipstick, or do you use the stock one and fill it to the stock mark? 6- Does this pan come with any of the above answered in any sort of decent instructions (in English)? 7-What else do I need to know about this? A couple of quick observations and musings Why wasn't somthing like this put on from the factory for the V11 series? Is the V11 oiling system supposed to be an improvement over, say, the California system? As to why I think that for me a Deep Sump might be an improvment, I live on the Washington Coast, literly 90+% of my riding is mountain curves, hills, neat stuff like that If there is ANY truth to the oil starvation theories that have been kicked around here, I am in a riding enviorment to be getting it. The "death of a thousand cuts" would apply here, I think. Its pretty much always fairly mild here, I have a Temperature dipstick, even on summer days after a good ride its never been much over 80 degrees C, I think the oil cooler is simply decoration (and weight) around here. As a final thought, what I'm going to do is, if I do get this sump, I'm going to build a simple windage tray/baffle and put that on at the same time. I'm fairly certain that all of the above should solve any possible oiling problems, but I can't help but think that maybe I am missing somthing here that one of you guys can point out to me Or.......maybe not

One can only hope that he is in a better place. R.I.P.

Hi Folks, apparantly the racing bug that bit me long ago is very contagious, as it seems to have gotten into my motorcycle riding:) I want to go to a high performance riding school (I'm thinking about Freddie Spencer's school in Vegas) and then, assuming that I'm comfortable in that enviroment, want to do track days semi regularly. Notice I'm not crazy enough to acually want to start roadracing: at my age and level of experiance that would be a quick trip to someplace that I really don't want to visit! Track days will be fine. And of course I could not bear to take my gorgeous Italia out there and then lay it down. I'm going to need somthing else. My question to you guys is-what is the best bike for track days? Or perhaps I should say, whats the best bike for ME for track days? The track bike has to be (in my mind anyway) like my racecars always have been- I keep them as nice as I can, but they are going to get torn up a bit at times. Money IS an object, 25,000 dollar Duc's and MV's are out. And it needs to be somthing that a "newbie" can gain confidence on, not somthing that you need to be a racer already to get anything out of it. I'm going to be doing all the work, ease of maintainence and parts cost needs to be factored in. So dollar for dollar, what is the best bang for the buck for my situation? One of the Rice rockets? Which one and why? A Ducati? Aprilia? Buell? Perhaps a modified V11?Personally I would love to go that route, and I do feel very comfortable on my Italia. Honestly I don't see how one of our V11's can be make competitive without spending a fortune and it would still be nowhere near the sub 400 lbs 140+hp of some of the new Japanese and Italian bikes that are built for just this purpose. Maybe I should not even be thinking about figures like that. Spending 15 grand to be trounced by 8 does not add up in my book. But.....thats why I'm asking. Personal feel will be the huge deciding factor, it always is. Like everything, there is always "best/worst". and "good, better, best". There's a lot ot knowledge and experiance here in this group, and I'm old enough now to have finally realized that I don't know everything hence I acually listen and pay attention nowadays !!!

Here is Robbie Gordons site which has some pretty decent coverage. http://www.robbygordon.com/cms/publish/index.shtml Robbie is running a wild rear engine, carbon fiber bodied Hummer. In the first stage he came from 34th to 14th.

I think the recprocating weight and friction is way too high to overcome the advantages of the elimination of the valve spring, which is the major achillies heel of the piston based engine. Personally I have always thought the rotory engine has THE greatest potential from a performance point of view. The fact that every sanctioning body on earth either bans them outright or strangles them into parity or uselessnes confirms that, I think. Having said all the above, the mere fact that you have gotten this far is a tremendous achievment! Bravo!! Please post when you have gotten the beast running!

I'll take a set, Todd. I think having some semi-soft break-away bolts somewhere in the scheme of things would be a good idea.

Congratulations! I have a 2004 Italia which I got about 5 months ago, just before I moved to the Pacific NW. It had 52 miles, basically Brand new. I've put about 3700 trouble free miles on this magnificent machine, I can't say enough good things about it. To me she's perfect, I can't think of a thing that I would change. I have the Titanium exhaust with the factory hi-performance box, it fires right up and runs like the perveriable raped ape. The only problem I have experianced is that the Speedo cable broke around 900 miles. I'm about 3 hours from the nearest dealer, I just ordered a new cable and put it on myself. That is a problem area. There may be others, but nothing that I have seen or experianced. Do check nuts and bolts, I found that the front folks had loosened up a bit. I torqued the heads and set the valves at 600 miles and changed the oil and filter. Then at 1000 miles changed the gearbox and final drive fluids. I'm using Amsoil lubricants in the engine, gearbox and final drive, she shifts smooth as butter. I'm sure it will become your favoriate, my poor 2001 CA Special is not getting near enough attention