Ok, lots of talk about oil filters....but nothing on air cleaners. The stock one looks crappy, so who uses K&N or Omni Sponge? K&N does let dirt through, but I cant find a Omni sponge filter for the FJR. They seem better. All dirt bikes use them, and they dont pack down like K&N gauze ones do. So give me somefeedback. I got 10K so soon I will need one.
Air Cleaner
- Thread starter maddawg46
- Start date
Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:
nusman68
Well-known member
maddawg46--
I have read previous answers to your question. As I recall, nearly all (95%)responses were 'stick with the factory filter', as Yamaha apparently did their homework w/regard to airbox capacity/volume/etc. and nothing was to be gained by going to aftermarket. Look for confirmation on this from the Feej veterans like Warchild, SkooterG, Radman, Ramblin, etc.
Regards,
Brad
I have read previous answers to your question. As I recall, nearly all (95%)responses were 'stick with the factory filter', as Yamaha apparently did their homework w/regard to airbox capacity/volume/etc. and nothing was to be gained by going to aftermarket. Look for confirmation on this from the Feej veterans like Warchild, SkooterG, Radman, Ramblin, etc.
Regards,
Brad
Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
Um.... well, not from me, truth be told. I run a K&N filter in my FJR. My Blackbird as well.
It has little-to-nothing to do with performance issues.... even my ultra-sensitive butt-dyno can't tell a difference in engine performance between the two filters.
I run one primarily for the maintenance longevity.
I don't want to buy expensive air filter 2-3 times a year, which is what I'd have to do sticking with stock paper filters. The K&N is essentially a one-time buy for the lifetime of the bike.
Last edited by a moderator:
nusman68
Well-known member
-thanks for 'setting me straight' there WC... I had remembered various 'veterans' responded; could not recall exactly who. Great info., as usual. :good:
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
Stcok air filter from Yamaha is about $20.00 and you throw it away every 10k or so. K&N is about $60.00 with shipping and lasts the life of the bike. Saves you some time on maintenance as well.
radman
R.I.P. Our Motorcycling Friend
Uni has a filter now, typical oiled foam. I have one of the first, gotten through a group buy kinda deal from the Limey forum. So far, so good. I haven't pulled it since initial install, a couple months and a few thousand miles ago, so I can't comment on it's cleaning ability yet, but Uni's have usually been pretty good for me. I will be pulling it soon in prep for a long cruise to the Williamsburg area, I will be checking to see how clean the airbox is then.
mech 1 twa
Well-known member
I like K-N air filter. End seal is different than stock. I use dirt bike trick, grease ends of filter and install carefully. Stops any dirt from end sealing areas. Just a little coating is enough.
markjenn
Well-known member
I'm very skeptical that the K&N does as good a job filtering as the stock paper filter. Data consistently shows that paper filters do the best job cleaning the air over foam or the gauze that K&N uses.
I'd advise sticking to stock. At $20 very 8K miles, you're looking at a running cost of a quarter of a cent per mile, compared to a nickle or more per mile for tires. IOW, if you can keep your FJR in tires, you shouldn't even notice the cost of paper air filters and you get the piece of mind of knowing that you're using what has repeatedly been shown to be the best filter for engine longevity.
- Mark
I'd advise sticking to stock. At $20 very 8K miles, you're looking at a running cost of a quarter of a cent per mile, compared to a nickle or more per mile for tires. IOW, if you can keep your FJR in tires, you shouldn't even notice the cost of paper air filters and you get the piece of mind of knowing that you're using what has repeatedly been shown to be the best filter for engine longevity.
- Mark
Stock. Ive run plenty of K&N's to know that the film in the intake boot that is evident after long term use of metal mesh filters....got right past the filter. On my Ford, on my bikes doesnt matter, they let dirt by. Eventually anough will build up and you can wipe your finger through the film :huh: Yuk.
Stick with paper.
Stick with paper.
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
So, how about a web site for one of these Uni's Or Where did the group get them and how much did they cost?
radman
R.I.P. Our Motorcycling Friend
https://www.unifilter.com/index.htm
Filter NU-3255 $34.95
Oil&Cleaner kit UFM-400 $12.95
The pitch-
Uni High Performance Air Filters Facts
Open cell industrial grade filter foam represents the latest advance in air filtration technology. This section describes how and why it works so well when compared to the other three types also in common use. An optimum air filtering system is very inexpensive insurance against untimely replacement of rings, valves, bearings, and fouled spark plugs. These items represent very significant maintenance costs. Additional benefits are provided by higher performance, better gas mileage, and lower emission products.
With an engine operating at the optimum air-fuel ratio of 15 or 16 to 1 (air volume to gasoline vapor volume), it normally means that 10,000 to 15,000 "gallons" of air are sucked into the cylinders for every gallon of liquid gasoline in the tank. The exact volume of air, of course, depends on the engine displacement, RPM, and miles per gallon. For example, a 2800cc engine turning 2600 RPM at 55 MPH got 26 miles per gallon, and used 23,000 gallons of air per gallon of gasoline in the tank. You can imagine what 23,000 gallons of air and dust going into your engine every half hour would do if you had no air filtration at all.
Paper Filtration
Pleated paper elements are used by more vehicles than any other type for these reasons:
1. They are the least expensive for the manufacturer to install as original equipment from the factory.
2. For the largest percentage of operating conditions (street and highway driving) they perform well enough to satisfy the owner/driver at minimal acceptable levels.
3. The elements are dry, easy to handle, and convenient to replace.
4. Since they are "throw away" items (cannot be cleaned for reuse), they represent a large and profitable part of the replacement market, while occupying our landfills.
Paper filters are a stacked matting of fibers creating a random weave approximately 1/2mm thick, and rely on the "screening" effect to stop dirt particles. Airflow per square inch is so poor that the paper must be pleated using many feet of material to make a filter. All dirt or dust particles must be caught on the surface or not at all. Each time a particle is caught, it stops up a hole. From the moment you start your engine, you have a rapidly decreasing air flow rate. Paper also has two other big drawbacks for off-road use. Any moisture reaching the element causes the fibers to swell, reducing airflow even more. Another is the possibility of rupture. Paper is not a very strong material, especially where it is creased to form each pleat. Intake manifold backfires, or cleaning attempts with compressed air, usually rupture the paper leaving the filter ineffective.
Pleated Gauze or Fabric Filtration
This is another screen type that is only 1mm thick. If the dirt is not stopped on the surface, it is not stopped at all. These filters are sold on the pretense that they maintain an oil curtain for the air to pass through, thereby catching all dirt particles. It is impossible to maintain an oil curtain. The oil soaks the threads of the gauze or cloth, but does not span the openings; otherwise, the air could not get through. The dirt particles that do hit the threads have a good chance of being caught; the others simply go through. The reason the filter does not look dirty on the inside is because the dirt went into the engine. You can easily demonstrate this fact yourself by coating the inside of your housing or carb throat with a thin layer of grease to trap some of the dirt not caught by the filter or you can place a foam filter inside the gauze element to prove the same thing.
The one advantage that this type of element has over paper is greatly reduced airflow restriction; however, poor filtration efficiency is the price you pay. When dirt builds up, filtering action improves, but now the airflow is poor like paper elements.
Open Cell Filter Foam
The development of this special foam represented a major advancement in air filtration technology. Foam air filters now combine great airflow capability, huge dust holding capacity, and very high filtration efficiency for extremely small particles.
Fully reticulated (open pore) foam is a honeycomb of tiny, interlocking cells of uniform size, which create an impossible journey for dirt particles since there are no straight-through passageways. Each passageway (16 to 25mm long) is like hundreds of very small centrifugal/oil bath filters connected one to another. In this way, foam traps and holds the particles throughout the entire volume of foam. This is why they are referred to as "full depth" filters in contrast to the paper or gauze elements, which are screens, or "surface type" filters. The cell strands stop the dirt, while the oil film holds the dirt like fly paper until removed for cleaning.
Filter NU-3255 $34.95
Oil&Cleaner kit UFM-400 $12.95
The pitch-
Uni High Performance Air Filters Facts
Open cell industrial grade filter foam represents the latest advance in air filtration technology. This section describes how and why it works so well when compared to the other three types also in common use. An optimum air filtering system is very inexpensive insurance against untimely replacement of rings, valves, bearings, and fouled spark plugs. These items represent very significant maintenance costs. Additional benefits are provided by higher performance, better gas mileage, and lower emission products.
With an engine operating at the optimum air-fuel ratio of 15 or 16 to 1 (air volume to gasoline vapor volume), it normally means that 10,000 to 15,000 "gallons" of air are sucked into the cylinders for every gallon of liquid gasoline in the tank. The exact volume of air, of course, depends on the engine displacement, RPM, and miles per gallon. For example, a 2800cc engine turning 2600 RPM at 55 MPH got 26 miles per gallon, and used 23,000 gallons of air per gallon of gasoline in the tank. You can imagine what 23,000 gallons of air and dust going into your engine every half hour would do if you had no air filtration at all.
Paper Filtration
Pleated paper elements are used by more vehicles than any other type for these reasons:
1. They are the least expensive for the manufacturer to install as original equipment from the factory.
2. For the largest percentage of operating conditions (street and highway driving) they perform well enough to satisfy the owner/driver at minimal acceptable levels.
3. The elements are dry, easy to handle, and convenient to replace.
4. Since they are "throw away" items (cannot be cleaned for reuse), they represent a large and profitable part of the replacement market, while occupying our landfills.
Paper filters are a stacked matting of fibers creating a random weave approximately 1/2mm thick, and rely on the "screening" effect to stop dirt particles. Airflow per square inch is so poor that the paper must be pleated using many feet of material to make a filter. All dirt or dust particles must be caught on the surface or not at all. Each time a particle is caught, it stops up a hole. From the moment you start your engine, you have a rapidly decreasing air flow rate. Paper also has two other big drawbacks for off-road use. Any moisture reaching the element causes the fibers to swell, reducing airflow even more. Another is the possibility of rupture. Paper is not a very strong material, especially where it is creased to form each pleat. Intake manifold backfires, or cleaning attempts with compressed air, usually rupture the paper leaving the filter ineffective.
Pleated Gauze or Fabric Filtration
This is another screen type that is only 1mm thick. If the dirt is not stopped on the surface, it is not stopped at all. These filters are sold on the pretense that they maintain an oil curtain for the air to pass through, thereby catching all dirt particles. It is impossible to maintain an oil curtain. The oil soaks the threads of the gauze or cloth, but does not span the openings; otherwise, the air could not get through. The dirt particles that do hit the threads have a good chance of being caught; the others simply go through. The reason the filter does not look dirty on the inside is because the dirt went into the engine. You can easily demonstrate this fact yourself by coating the inside of your housing or carb throat with a thin layer of grease to trap some of the dirt not caught by the filter or you can place a foam filter inside the gauze element to prove the same thing.
The one advantage that this type of element has over paper is greatly reduced airflow restriction; however, poor filtration efficiency is the price you pay. When dirt builds up, filtering action improves, but now the airflow is poor like paper elements.
Open Cell Filter Foam
The development of this special foam represented a major advancement in air filtration technology. Foam air filters now combine great airflow capability, huge dust holding capacity, and very high filtration efficiency for extremely small particles.
Fully reticulated (open pore) foam is a honeycomb of tiny, interlocking cells of uniform size, which create an impossible journey for dirt particles since there are no straight-through passageways. Each passageway (16 to 25mm long) is like hundreds of very small centrifugal/oil bath filters connected one to another. In this way, foam traps and holds the particles throughout the entire volume of foam. This is why they are referred to as "full depth" filters in contrast to the paper or gauze elements, which are screens, or "surface type" filters. The cell strands stop the dirt, while the oil film holds the dirt like fly paper until removed for cleaning.
quicksilver
So.., how fast does that thing go?
The stock filter failed the white glove test in the air box. The intake box was very dirty after 10K mls.
After several thousand miles the Uni filter , airbox passes the wipe down test.
Not a spec of dirt anywhere.
Done deal. B)
After several thousand miles the Uni filter , airbox passes the wipe down test.
Not a spec of dirt anywhere.
Done deal. B)
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
Thank you. I think I'm going to try one.
markjenn
Well-known member
The Uni "pitch" is actually a pretty good representation of the mechanics of the different filter types. What is doesn't say is that the filtering efficiency of paper goes up as the filter loads, but oiled foam goes down. The paper filter on the FJR is large enough that under reasonable conditions, you won't get a significant restriction between replacement intervals and filtering efficiency is always high. The filtering efficiency of oiled foam is pretty good initially, but declines steadily during use.
But I think oiled foam is good way to go IF you clean and re-oil it often. Personally I would never consider going any longer than a few thousand miles before cleaning and re-oiling. And how well an oiled foam filter works is highly dependent on your technique of cleaning and re-oiling - it's actually somewhat tricky and many folks do it wrong.
- Mark
But I think oiled foam is good way to go IF you clean and re-oil it often. Personally I would never consider going any longer than a few thousand miles before cleaning and re-oiling. And how well an oiled foam filter works is highly dependent on your technique of cleaning and re-oiling - it's actually somewhat tricky and many folks do it wrong.
- Mark
leebunyard
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2005
- Messages
- 131
- Reaction score
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I think the Uni Filters are better than K&N myself, my son and I have used Uni Filters on our dirt bikes for years.
Question: I notice that the application chart at the Uni Filter website shows the FJR1300 filter to be for a 2005 model. Does anyone know for sure if this will also fit the '04 FJR1300??
Thanks.
Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)
Question: I notice that the application chart at the Uni Filter website shows the FJR1300 filter to be for a 2005 model. Does anyone know for sure if this will also fit the '04 FJR1300??
Thanks.
Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)
