Maybe more mileage???

[Guest]

Okay so here is my thought...

I was driving yesterday, and happened upon a long red-light. I opened the "tank" compartment just for giggles, and noticed it was like an oven door opening after cooking a thanksgiving turkey... you get the point its hot in there... well the problem with that is that the ambient temp here is frequently above 90F, and the airbox is in there. Has anyone tried to put a "cold-air" system on the 1200, or even just a vent in the false tank to ease the oven like tendencies?

By cold air I mean run a hose or tube or equivalent to the two intake holes on the air box, possibly supported by an electric fan, or ram-air from one of the side vents by the "gills" or the ram air "air conditioning" vent by the turn signals.

I have been getting about 35-40 combined mileage, which is fine, but I miss my 60-70MPG from my yamaha. Granted its a heavier bike, and a larger engine on the same amount of gas.

Thoughts please.

Tyler

[roscoepc]

Good idea but the only thing I can see holding you back would be the room needed to run ducting to the air intake.

[William_86]

it started to worry me because i keep my camera, cellphone and ipod on the grovebox compartment, i dont know what could help i have no idea what is the real temperature in there but the cellphone and camera will almost burn to touch!!

[Guest]

it started to worry me because i keep my camera, cellphone and ipod on the grovebox compartment, i dont know what could help i have no idea what is the real temperature in there but the cellphone and camera will almost burn to touch!!

well i can see how, but i guess venting would have two benefits, gas mileage, and non cooking electronics in there. haha.

I also see how there might not be room for ducting, but I think im going to try it. I think im even going to assist the ducting with an electric fan Possibly a how to in the mix???

[Guest]

of course, I dont plan on being greedy with my findings. More thoughts anyone, maybe some alternative ideas??

[Guest]

of course, I dont plan on being greedy with my findings. More thoughts anyone, maybe some alternative ideas??

[detdrbuzzard]

when i had my 1200 i was thinking about running a cold air setup on it through the air intake on the fairing but that was going to be a winter project to see if it could be done

[Guest]

of course, I dont plan on being greedy with my findings. More thoughts anyone, maybe some alternative ideas??

just a thought maybe try and get the air from someplace so as not to get any rainwater in there?

[William_86]

doing a little research, my ipod safe temps:

Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

Non operating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
.

it is definitely hotter than 35 c right? =(

i beter find another place to keep my ipod if i want it to last me longer xD

[scty_p]

Hmmmmmm..... :| I'll think out loud here again :| .....

I've used shop-vac vacuum hose for ducting in the past. It is lightweight, flexible, rigid, available anywhere, comes in 1-1/4 inch and 2-1/2 inch sizes.

For a place that you can get cool air........what about behind the head light :?: It works for cars :?: Run the duct hose up to the head light pocket through the fairing "trough" to the air box :?: Or maybe the headlight opening feeds enough cool air to the "trough" so that air ducting would only have to be run to the fairing :?:

That's all I have for now but this is a great idea :!: I will look closer at the possibilities of doing this :!:

Gotta love great ideas, thanks for sharing :!:

[joe c]

"It could work"

[Feetup]

I think it is an excellent idea. Just a few thoughts on the no-nos. Don't pressurize the air box: cool air in the air box is good but the air pressure in the air box must not be any greater than the air pressure in the float bowls or serious leaning of the mixture will result. Any carburetted system with "Ram Air" pressurizes the entire carburetor including the float bowl vent, usually in a sort of box. The fuel injected models would be less susceptible to this but you could fool the mass air sensing circuit.
The heat within the false tank seems to be mostly coming from the air that has passed through the radiator, although some is most likely radiant heat off the engine block. It seems important not to impede flow through the radiator by placing a positive pressure behind it. Also, whatever air you duct into the false tank area must also have an exit.
Some form of heat shield/ duct work to prevent hot air from the rad from flowing into the false tank would seem like a good idea as well. It may well be of equal importance to direct the hot air away form the false tank and into the slip stream as adding fresh air. I am not really satisfied with the amount of hot air exiting the sharks gills. Even with the fan running it just seems to seep out everywhere. The big stamped upper engine mount seems to be the culprit here.
The cool air could be picked up from the vents or from just above the radiator between the forks. The fake vents in the lowers just below the horns could be opened up but again it would be important not to block the hot air venting from the rad. In fact I have questioned what effect air ramming into the horn vents has on the cooling. I believe it would be ideal for the poorboy alternators though.
I studied aerodynamics fairly extensively in university many years ago but just looking at the 1200 fairing etc. I can tell you that without some kind of wind tunnel or real world testing it would be very difficult to predict exactly where the areas of positive pressure will be. My experience with wind tunnel testing has been full of surprises. I have mused on some form of smoke generator to see where the turbulence is coming from. I admit to taping bits of wool around the windshield and fairing and going for a test drive, but I haven't reached any conclusions.

Tim

[Guest]

Funny you should say that, I am studying to be an aeronautical enineer. I dont have access to a wind tunnel that large though, sure wish I did.

This is what I've come up with so far.... may seem kinda tacky but

-Apply vents to the false tank
-Those fake front fender vents from cars would work if made to *might make legs hot*

-Duct from above radiator, under headlight and "chin" vent under headlight
-Thinking an air scoop from a kawasaki zx9r? *mounts under healights already*
-Duct with largest Diameter possible of vaccum hose or equivalent, and heat shield the ducting
-Electric fan in the false tank also ducted (negatively) to somewhere under the bike, or place where flesh burning will not occur

-Replace one of the "a/c" vents by the turn signals with a ram air style duct
-Larger electric fan perhaps, but Im thinking clearance issues with poorboy *doing it soon*
-Two OEM size electric fans blowing outward from the shark gills *GL1800 anyone?
-One OEM size fan blowing out the gills, and one smaller fan in the fake tank *both negative pressure*

[catman]

Now this is dangerous gound 8) >> what I mean is that there are several out there that have been or are thinking like me hock: When I started having issues with the regulator I measured the ambient heat under the flase tank and I was shocked to say the least- No wonder the voltage regulator has difficulties with dissapating heat when it is already smoking hot under there. I looked for several small 12v thin computer type fans but I couldn't find any that had enough CFM to make a dent in the heat under there.
So to comensate now= if I ride in town for a while, I start out of town or onto the highway and I place my left hand at the left front of the false tank in order to force or ram air under the front of the false tank> so is it doing any good...well I like to think so <<<<But I would love to see a better result or a permanent fix.
What I do know is that gas burns better if it is heated, I forget who it was but he super heated the gas on a Pontiac Fiero and with some other mods got a lot better mpg<<<< The down side is the air needs to be cool as previously suggested....In my opinion the engineers kind of failed this equation when the put the air filter in this location under false tank - but again where else would you put it on the 1200????? I am all in for some suggestions as I am all about having fun on my 1200SEI and getting great gas mileage too.

Tim

[Guest]

WAIT What If we could make an extension to the air box itself with an "external" filter of some kind. nothing too large or extravagant, just enough to offset the heat???

I need to stop, im going to get myself in trouble. :roll: :mrgreen: