airbox fab.

Originally, I had thought to just attach a couple pod filters to the carb, but there's not enough room with the monoshock there. Plus I've read that pod filters can make it a real pain to get the jetting correct. Also, with no aft attachment place, the carbs are more prone to wiggling. So I decided to use the existing air boots on the inlet side and attach them to an airbox of my own design.

The original airbox was rotted out from neglect and had all sorts of ugly bits that would normally be obscured by side panels. So here's an attempt to make a cleaner airbox with a bit more filter surface area for sucking.

Construction approach was to do a final layup around a male mold and cut around the circumference to lift the halves off. Using this technique allowed me to do a small layup around this circumference beforehand, so that I had a good mold to make a joint piece from.

Anyway, here's the foam plug getting shaped:



The plug waxed and ready for the layup:


Here is the joint piece assembly:


Layup done, vacuum bagged to minimize voids:



Outer surface need a bit of fairing once the resin cured:

I marked the circumferential cut with masking tape and took my DREMEL OF FEAR to it:

BAM!!!

Fitting the two halves together with the joint interior, then epoxying the joint to the forward side



I fabbed up a little backfire screen that the air filter will rest against. This is still twice the surface area than the stocker. Ought to be good enough for the time being



I then made a spring loaded "cage" that will be used to press against the foam filter element along the edges to form a reasonably tight seal along the backfire screen edges.

Here's where it sits now; hope it fits!