more work on airbox

OK took some time while the tank glue-up dried to finish and test out the fit of the air intake adapter. Worked pretty good but I am going to have to put a slight "elbow" for the inlet flange to orient the air filter a little upwards and a little inwards for better tire clearance. I'm wondering if 6,1/2" long filter is really necessary but If I can get it to fit, then no worries.

losing the foam

OK! a few CC of acetone into the inlet duct and it just sort of devours the foam:



A few minutes of clawing away at the inside with a long screw driver and I've got most of the guts barfed out the intake orifice. The PVA melts with the acetone as well, so the tape that sealed the foam inside peeled from the walls pretty easily. any remainder will come off in a hot water bath...here's my new shower toy:

airbox layup

OK, wrapped the foam mold up in packing tape and treated with PVA. Also remembered to glue a stick into one of the entry points so that I have something to hold onto while carrying on with the goopy mess:

intake intake intake

While all that was going on I was spending time on a new airbox assembly using a 6x3.5" K&N Pod filter attaching to a much smaller "plenum" than my original design. I did this because the older airbox I had fabbed was taking up too much room for the battery and the exhaust pipe.

Here's the profile, that glowing white thing is a polystyrene foam plug for the mold. I used some sticks to locate the angle of where the intake rubbers mate to the airbox because they have some protrusions which would make it difficult to orient the airbox plug once the final assembly is insatlled. (the rubber is resting atop the frame in this picture). This will be a male mold. I'll do the final layup around this foam piece and then pour a little acetone into the intake hole to melt away the foam like butter! It's known as the "lost foam" method:


Here's a view of how all the big pieces will be oriented, filter on left, batt on right. I'll fabricate another fiberglass assembly to house the battery and electricals once the airbox plenum is situated.