2010+ Yamaha YZ 450 Intake

[SLDHVN]

I have gotten alot of PM's about the intake on my 11 Yz 450f from other snowbikers wondering about how I have it set up. This is just a run down of how mine is, not by any means the "only" way to do it or the "right" way, it is just what works for me. It has taken lots of trial and error, and was not something I came up with in one sitting, more of a finding each weak spot kind of process.

So....to begin with I have the Outerwears prefilter that is just for the 10+ Yz's, it fits snug.

I run the T-Sled prefilter over that just for a little extra.

I took my stock airbox off completely and used hot glue in every nook and cranny I could find.
I run the stock backfire screen and the small foam filter that is on it underneath the cage with the two prefilters on it.

I also have some outerwears filters over my intakes on the front of the shrouds. They are not installed all pretty like, but they work and have been through a ton of abuse, so no complaints here. This keeps snow from packing the shrouds full of snow.

Another problem I found was as you bust through deep drifts the shrouds like to flex outward from the chassis. This lets snow in from underneath the shrouds and is the next main concern. My fix was to run this flexible plastic strip I had from one shroud, around the frame, to the other shroud. It helped make the shrouds alot more firm and keeps them in where they need to be.

All of the above helped a lot, but didn't completely fix snow from getting in the airbox. I had tried many different things, but I still had a feeling snow was getting in from underneath the shrouds, between the top of the radiators and the bottom seal from shroud to airbox. There is just a flimsy piece of plastic "fin" in there and it will easily flex when pushed on from underneath(i.e. deep day when the snow can push up from below).

So my next thought was how can I seal this area off? Yep silicone would work but it was a PITA to get just right unless you took the whole airbox off again....no.

My solution was redneck as all hell(and i kind of like it that way), but it worked for me, and most people who know me know that i prefer function over looks.

The spray foam was sitting on the counter and I couldnt help myself, I sprayed a bead up the underside of the shroud and let it sit overnight. It obviously expanded way more than I anticipated so I trimmed it a bit with a knife and tried it for a ride. It was deep the next day, really deep. I checked my airbox at the end of the day expecting it to be full as usual, but to my surprise it was nice and clean. After a dozen or so more rides with excellent snow days, my airbox is still clean, and that was the goal. The pics suck, I will try to get better ones later.

Could you do a pod style set up, ya probably, but then you have this huge gaping hole where your airbox used to be, your fuel tank wouldnt have much support when sitting on the bike, and you have to buy more parts and figure out how to tune your fuel map for the change in flow. Also, I was advised by some folks(folks with much more experience than myself on the matter) that it was not a good idea to do that since the airbox is designed to feed the engine the right amount of air as far as "turbulence and velocity" is concerned. Why reinvent the wheel?
Im good, I paid enough for the bike, and its not a sled, it doesnt need another 2k in parts to run well.

So there you go, thats how I did it. It works well, and I have no complaints. Is it pretty? Not as nice as some people would have it, but that doesnt bother me, I never really did enjoy polishing the tunnel on my sleds either.

I keep seeing alot of somewhat naysayers on the new Yammy platform and it makes me wonder if these folks have ridden/wrenched on the bike in the dirt and snow. I dont see any difference in performance from a kawi, to a honda, to a ktm in the 450 class so far, so I am happy. I will admit I have been dissapointed a few times with this bike when I was stopped out in the mountains to clean my airbox out. That sucks, and its not like you just take the seat off and clean it out, theres 4 more bolts just to get to the airbox.

Now, with a snow free airbox I can ride all day in handlebar deep snow and come home to find a clean airbox. I do like all of the 450 class bikes, and they all have their pros and cons, but to me it is personal preference and they all do the same thing, and none of them "blow eachother out of the water" peformance wise.

Another suggestion is the tuning, ask your local Yammy dealer if they have the Yamaha GYTR tuner(if you dont want to buy it), if they do, get the Jay Marmont Race Map from ThumperTalk. It leans out the bike ande makes it pull way harder from bottom to top!

Hopefully this will give the Yamaha guys some more ideas. Thanks for reading my long winded post. If you other yamaha guys have your own recipe, lets see it, I would love to see what works for everyone.

Im gonna go have a beer now

 

[gunnin88]

Thank you so much for the write up!! I work in the autobody industry so I can get my hands on some prety trick materials for sealing the box and I even have black spray foam. I am going to order up the pre filter today and now I will have a neat spring project in preperation for next years snow season. resent:

 

[gunnin88]

you run the same airfilter in the dusty summer?

 

[cbrnorm]

I have tried all of that SH!T, dont waste your time... remove air box and install a hose with a pod and a "sock" or outer wear on it. IT IS LOUD but it works better than what you have there. That WILL plug up and melted snow WILL drip staight into you engine.... Trust me:cheer2:

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

yammie stuff

road all winter with my pal on his 010 and in early season we spent some days in the elbow deep fluff, yes some snow in his box that you want to clean out before you put it in a warm garage. Never had a running problem.

Tried snorkle and airbox mod on my carbed wr. Ran the same, but less icing problems with my air box mod than snorkle ? Different days, different snow ?

 

[SLDHVN]

you run the same airfilter in the dusty summer?

I have a few times, but i went back to the normal foam filter. Obviously i leave the prefilter on the shrouds though.

I have tried all of that SH!T, dont waste your time... remove air box and install a hose with a pod and a "sock" or outer wear on it. IT IS LOUD but it works better than what you have there. That WILL plug up and melted snow WILL drip staight into you engine.... Trust me:cheer2:

Was this on the new yamaha platform? Im curious to see some pics if so.

I have yet to get snow in my airbox with this set up so mine seems to be working fine. Its good to check your bike over after every ride anyways so no big deal there.

Good Luck

 

[gunnin88]

I took apart lastnight. I am just going to run screen over the front air holes and then the outerwear over the stock filter. I can't see how any mesurable amount of snow could get past a screen and the outerwear. Few areas need to be sealed for sure. tempting to block off the front air holes and cut new ones in the top.

 

[SLDHVN]

I took apart lastnight. I am just going to run screen over the front air holes and then the outerwear over the stock filter. I can't see how any mesurable amount of snow could get past a screen and the outerwear. Few areas need to be sealed for sure. tempting to block off the front air holes and cut new ones in the top.

if its heavier type snow im sure it will be fin, really fine snow will probably get through a little bit tho. i also considered blocking off the stock openings and making new ones.

 

[JimBridger]

Just did my intake shrouds. I'll probably add another frogzskin insert, but i only had one for each side at the time.

I took my airbox apart and sealed the "skeleton" peice that screws onto the boot assembly with oil resistant gasket maker, then sealed off the entire shroud with some black silicone and a small tin piece to cover the shroud's original intake hole. I first used a piece of cardboard to make a template then traced it onto a piece of tin, cut it out and used a self tapping screw to hold it in place. where the shroud meets the airbox, my wife had the idea to use quilt batting, I thought it should work so I did it. Now i'm excited for winter to test it out!

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[derekn]

I ran the ts outerwear over the foam filter last year and put some outerwears screen over the shrowd intakes last year. I could never get the outerwears to stay stuck on the intake, I epoxied them but they still came off often. I ran in knew deep (when you're sitting on the bike) snow and never had an issue. But here in WA our snow is a lil wetter than most other states! This year I bought the Flo-> air filter and foam pre filters for the summer. I'm gonna run them in the winter as well and try that.


http://motocross.transworld.net/1000122134/news/yamaha-yz450f-flo-air-filter-with-shroud-filters/

 

[JimBridger]

Those flo filters look like a great idea! I took mine out to the sand dunes yesterday, and found out two things.

1. It works amazing. There was no sand in my airbox. :thumb:

2. I def need to put in another insert or two. My bike overheated from lack of airflow.

 

[torkd]

Just did my intake shrouds. I'll probably add another frogzskin insert, but i only had one for each side at the time.

I took my airbox apart and sealed the "skeleton" peice that screws onto the boot assembly with oil resistant gasket maker, then sealed off the entire shroud with some black silicone and a small tin piece to cover the shroud's original intake hole. I first used a piece of cardboard to make a template then traced it onto a piece of tin, cut it out and used a self tapping screw to hold it in place. where the shroud meets the airbox, my wife had the idea to use quilt batting, I thought it should work so I did it. Now i'm excited for winter to test it out!

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I'm not sure where you guys are located or how cold it gets there, but I'll be riding in -20 to -30 degrees Celsius the majority of the time. Have you ran into any problems with the bike not running in that cold of weather? It would suck to get to the staging area 3 hours away and the darn bike not start.

 

[KAWGRN]

i think you will need more flo rites on the outside and one on the inside, when I did mine it ran rich, the florites dont flow as much as we think I had three on the outside and 2 on the inside and I did away with the foam on the air cleaner,good job by the way!

 

[JimBridger]

I used the plastic flo rites, and they have already cracked the retaining ring. I called slp and they said on my application I would be better suited to use the rubber mounted flo rites.

Since the rubber flow rites are different size than the plastic ones, I'm going to buy a different shroud and try a new idea.

I'm going to drill a bunch of cheese grater style holes in the shroud, then cover it with the precut-adhesive frog skin material (F0061 part # on frogzskin.com). I figured the cheese grater style my not be able to be punctured as easily in a tip over-tree branch situation as a big opening like the flow rites are. We'll figure out what works best. Lol. I'll have pictures up in the next few weeks. I was pretty close to buying a bd turbo kit but I just can't justify the price on such a machine specific accessory. The bike and the timbersled are both fairly liquid assets, but the charger is not.

 

[JimBridger]

Here is my latest version of the 2010+yz intake. I sealed the factory openings and used quilt batting around the shroud-airbox joint. Used the 2"x4.5" frogzskin universal piece. (I think the part number is in a previous post of mine.) Seems like it will work good. With the(26) 1/2" holes, I roughly have 5.1sq" of opening on each shroud. The stock opening is roughly 4-4.5 sq". (Total guess on stock opening since it's such an odd shape.)

 

[JimBridger]

I forgot to mention that the Flow-rites I used are only 2.76sq" each.

 

[torkd]

Here is my latest version of the 2010+yz intake. I sealed the factory openings and used quilt batting around the shroud-airbox joint. Used the 2"x4.5" frogzskin universal piece. (I think the part number is in a previous post of mine.) Seems like it will work good. With the(26) 1/2" holes, I roughly have 5.1sq" of opening on each shroud. The stock opening is roughly 4-4.5 sq". (Total guess on stock opening since it's such an odd shape.)

I'll be running the same thing but with two 3 inch round frog skins on each side. Try to get as much air as possible. I like the look of the rectangle too though.

 

[jrusher]

Here is my latest version of the 2010+yz intake. I sealed the factory openings and used quilt batting around the shroud-airbox joint. Used the 2"x4.5" frogzskin universal piece. (I think the part number is in a previous post of mine.) Seems like it will work good. With the(26) 1/2" holes, I roughly have 5.1sq" of opening on each shroud. The stock opening is roughly 4-4.5 sq". (Total guess on stock opening since it's such an odd shape

Looks great! I think I'll do the same instead of trying to block off the front openings with frog skin.. I might make a custom shaped aluminum frame for the frogskin and extend the length as much as possible on the shroud