As most of you know the new Ninjas seem to have quite a popular mod of removing the snorkel to go along with shimming the carbs. Well on the pregens it isn't quite so easy without going to a full cone filter setup. I decided I'd give a little DIY a try and see how I liked it.
I decided to modify the intake lid, as this obviously is the primary point which air enters the carbs. I'll save the DIY of removing the lid as I'm sure most people know how to do that much.
Basically I just removed the two plastic tubes on the lid to allow more air to flow into the carbs. I decided to do this as opposed to removing the lid entirely to allow me to keep the stock air box, filter, and keep the plastic bracket the holds the filter in place.
Anyway, here are the pics, don't mind the finished product, it was still wet from washing it after sanding.
Cut off one of the plastic cylinders.
Finished the second.
After the tubes were removed using a dremel cutting disc, I went back through with a grinding wheel and evened out the edges. The leftover, flappy plastic was removed with some light sanding with 300-600 grit sandpaper. To make sure no extra plastic was going to come off I took a lighter and heated the edges of the newly cut holes to melt down any rough edges and give it a smooth surface.
Shaped the new square holes and washed the intake lid.
Reinstalled on the bike.
Overall it seems to have a much more throaty tone at anything higher than 50% throttle. Idle seems to sound pretty much the same. It really growls up around the 9k mark. On the freeway you hardly notice much of a noise difference due to the wind noise.
I honestly can't say if it really helped other than the noise. Right now I'm still running the stock exhaust with the needles at one washer. I'm debating adding a second one for the time being - any thoughts on this are welcome. Eventually if I go with aftermarket pipes I'll probably add a third washer.