ram air grommet hole?

Mythos

Mythos

Registered
I just finished my end of winter dust wipe/bolt check/fairing polish and I am reinstalling the side fairings-- WTH? There is a projection on the inside of the fairing that looks as though it should push into a rubber grommet that would plug the ram air tube. There is no grommet there as you can see from the photo--just a hole in the ram air tube that the projection aligns with. Same situation down lower, I see a hole in the side of the frame that aligns with a fairing projection but no rubber grommet.

ramairhole.jpg


There is one rubber grommet to accept the downward pointing projection that pushes into the top edge of the frame. Also one horizontal ptrojection/rubber grommet way down at the crankcase level. Are there supposed to be other grommets at the ram air tube and frame?
 
Yes there are supposed to be grommets in the holes.
 
well crap. Thanks fiend. 4000 miles. I feel dust inside there when I stick my pinky in. Glad I have a stock air filter in. I'm sure there is plenty of dust and crap that gets pushed up the ram air tubes anyway-----not much would come from inside the fairing. Still so stupid to not have the intake sealed as much as possible.
 
The rubber grommet is laying in the bottom of your ram air tube. There's a lower area where they settle. You can see it in your pic lower left. Tab the ram air tube and you can hear it in there. If you don't lube them well when reassembled they will push into the tubes. Mine are there as well. With as many places where the fairings connect I've thought about cutting that stud off and sealing up the hole in ram air tube. It would have to add at least 20 horsepower :laugh:
 
Had this happen just recently. I got mine out of the ram air tube by using my leaf lower to blow ait into the inlet and agitated the grommet by using a coat hanger bent to fit into the the tube from the airbox. She blew right out. I then used some gap filloing CA adhesive to hold the grommet in place so it wouldn't push through when the fairing is installed. Probably in my head but I felt a small difference in power above about 7000 RPM on my next ride.
 
I was just getting ready to say, check the airbox for them:laugh:

I used silicone spray on mine to make sure they popped in without pushing the grommet in
 
This happened on mine too. Buy a new one, put it in and forget about the old one. Its not like its gonna get by the air filter anyways. A little lube on them and more deliberate installation of the fairing will prevent this in the future.
 
Thanks for the responses. Reassuring to know that this has happened to others. The fairings are certainly fastened well enough without the gromets. I imagine the frame grommets fell inside of the frame just as the ram air tube grommets fell inside of the RA tube.

I am going to make a note of this and link to this thread for the future. I'll be taking off the airbox to get at these because it will drive me crazy knowing they are shaking around in there. Def will NOT be running the bike w/o an air filter.

I have smog plates here. Plan to remove PAIR and block the reed valves soon --I see that entails removing the airbox so I guess that will be the time to go hunting for my wayward gromets.:thumbsup:
 
Been a while and these holes have actually eaten another grommet. I've yet to get in there and grope around for them but I'm close. I just thought the thread about sealing the airbox has a lot of related info for anyone who will be looking for missing ram air grommets. https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/gen-ii-busa-information/115185-gen-ii-air-box-mod-set-straight.html#post3063514

I guess I should have been posting about the grommet search on this thread all along but all I can do now is link the two. Hope this helps someone in the future.
 
So I removed the ram air tube from each side since I had the plastics off anyway. I just had to take off the top cowl and the rest was easy. May have been easier to remove the tank, airbox cover and reach forward into the ram air if the palstics were on. Ti reach in through the front of the tubes would mean removing all the plastics anyway so no more work to just take off the tubes at that point.

Turned the tubes over and here is what rolled out. I will be adhering these in place with a little smear of silicone on the outside of the tube. Hope that keeps them where they belong.

Rrmairgrmtxtrct.jpg

Lramtubextrctn.jpg
 
Mythos with as well as the fairings are held and as many other points of connection I honestly think you could seal those holes up and snip the studs off the fairings. Those holes are right under where the entire seam is between nose and side piece. It can't possibly be holding much? Plus like I said if you seal them up it will add at least 20 horsepower :)
 
SpeedFiend said:
What a great way for ram air to escape. Think I'll get these sealed up before I head to Texas.
Click to expand...

Well, it is a matter of debate how important a perfect seal on the ram air is. The ram air effect doesn't come into play a lot until the bike gets moving pretty fast. Ram air is supposed to increase flow by pushing the air into the motor. The Engine develops plenty of suction at high speed to offset the pressure caused by ram air. IOW, the air is getting sucked in just as fast as it is getting rammed in. The net pressure increase is about nil. If you follow that line of thinking, the intake could be located on the sides of the bike or even under the fairings and work just as good as ram air induction. ....but I agree, regardless of how you feel about its effectiveness, if it is supposed to be a ram air system it should be sealed everywhere but where air comes in. If you ever get turboed, you will have so much air coming in that you will want all these little cracks filled in to take full advantage of the increase in airbox pressure.
 
Blanca Busa said:
Mythos with as well as the fairings are held and as many other points of connection I honestly think you could seal those holes up and snip the studs off the fairings. Those holes are right under where the entire seam is between nose and side piece. It can't possibly be holding much? Plus like I said if you seal them up it will add at least 20 horsepower :)
Click to expand...

I certainly did some pretty high speed without that grommet in there. They were gone from both sides the first time I removed the fairings and I kept running the bike a long time after that.

I'm sure you're right about that. There is no way those tubes will seal 100% with that grommet in them even if the projections are in place. It is pretty obvious that they do not fit very tight since it so common to find them pushed inside the tube. Might as well glue a piece of plastic over the hole and cut off te projection. ...but I could not bare to do that until absolutely necessary. Not with what new fairings cost.. Someday when I go turbo I will do that.

As a side note, The ZX-14 also has a fairing grommet (wellnut actually) stuck right through each side of the airbox. What are these motorcycle engineers smoking?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dobieman
Grommets
Replies
5
Views
864
Dobieman
Dobieman
W
Fairing Pin
Replies
12
Views
1,706
WESeib
W
E Zurcher
Really! Should this make a difference!
Replies
2
Views
850
squale147
squale147
T
Where did my grommets go???
Replies
8
Views
1,055
Toddvk
T
Mythos
How To Seal Ram Air Tubes, Gen 2
Replies
7
Views
6,603
Mythos
Mythos
Back
Top