[Barra1975]

Hi All,

I'm currently restoring an NC23 CBR400RR-K Tri-Arm for a bit of project as it seems a pretty good bike to learn about bike mechanics on...

So, my (first) question is, what does an airbox do? (Aside from housing the airfilter!)

What effect will removing it and putting air filters directly onto the carbs have on the engine?

From reading MCN I understand that your modern sportsbikes (R6 and the like) get a performance increase from their Ram-Air airboxes by forcing air into the ignition chambers, but what about older bikes?!

Is an airbox a necessary item? Does it have any effect on the power of a bike?

Me, confused?

Please help?

 

[bladeracer]

Hi All,

I'm currently restoring an NC23 CBR400RR-K Tri-Arm for a bit of project as it seems a pretty good bike to learn about bike mechanics on...

So, my (first) question is, what does an airbox do? (Aside from housing the airfilter!)

What effect will removing it and putting air filters directly onto the carbs have on the engine?

From reading MCN I understand that your modern sportsbikes (R6 and the like) get a performance increase from their Ram-Air airboxes by forcing air into the ignition chambers, but what about older bikes?!

Is an airbox a necessary item? Does it have any effect on the power of a bike?

Me, confused?

Please help?

It grabs air so that regardless of your road speed the airspeed is constant so it's much easier to jet the carbs.
Generally I would consider the airbox to be essential, but it is possible to run without it if you put some time into jetting the carbs to do so.
You may see a couple of percent increase in peak power at the expense of less midrange.
I wouldn't bother myself, stick with the airbox and OEM filters.
Since you want to learn though you may enjoy trying to get it to work.