The solenoids and electrics stayed, everything else out, was just being cautious, yeah I've read up on that post I linked to, so I think I'm gonna go ahead and remove the rest now ! The doors just wiggle in and out - its definitely reversible !
If its dry I'm out on the bike tomorrow and if its wet I'm going to stay in and take the full system out, fairings off etc. also going to remove the resonators on the bottom of the tubes.
Sounds like a plan ! Let me know how much you take off and if you hit any stumbling blocks, might give me the push to yank the rest of it out ! lol
i phoned 3 or 4 dyno places today and a bloke i know who race preps/ sells race bikes. one of the tuners was ex raceways yamaha (the same lad who set my 09 R6 race bike up - as well as hudson kennaugh's bikes!) all said the flapper mod was pointless. there is no ram air effect at the speeds in which the flaps are closed anyway so your not getting any extra air into the airbox. any gains you see if any will be minimal. on the 04>07 bikes they saw gains but no difference in the 08 bikes. all it does is quieten the bike down at 'built up area' speeds the flat spot in fuelling (which is almost completely gone now due to exhaust and PCV) is fuelling and exhaust restriction - not anything to do with the airbox restriction. im not going to bother until or if i decide to track my bike instead in which case aftermarket tubes need to be fitted anyway
Its weird though because my dudes all say that it *is* worth it for linear power delivery - seasoned techs etc etc - even on 08 and up bikes as with the doors shut below 5000 rpm it does hamper the amount of air that can naturally flow into the airbox at that speed. I can't really say I feel any difference, and because I haven't dyno'd my bike before and after it'd be a pointless exercise just showing a dyno graph now if I did get one. I'm going to see if I can get in touch with someone in the European HRC office in Belgium and see if they will give us a definitive answer.
the HRC manual says to junk the whole system but i suppose that is for weight/space saving as well as the OE tubes cant be used with race fairings i was told that aftermarket tubes will flow better than OE but for the gains at low speed/rpm's the flapper mod gives it wasnt worth doing if i could see definitive proof that it does help the bike run better i would certainly do it but just about everyone ive spoken to says not to bother
I'm gonna get in touch with some bods at HRC Europe and ask if I can post his response online and then post it up, let's see what side they fall down on and get a conclusive finish. I trust the mechanics that I asked and I'm guessing the same for you, the yank forums all generally go for it but then I don't really trust much of what comes out of their mouths - only a few actually know what they're talking about. Will see what I can come back with from HRC - might fly off an email to a mate at Ten Kate and see what he says, they generally know their way around Hondas and he might have some input for me as well. Will get to the bottom of it !
That would be great I would be interested in a definitive answer either way I reckon race air duct would give gains but I can't see modifying the OE ones being all that beneficial I'm sure it's more a packaging and space reason they reccomemd removing them as oppose to performance gains Let us know if you get any info
