WARNING: This article may cause drowsiness. Do not operate any machinery after reading this material. Large doses of this information has been known to cause lethargy in laboratory animals.

Topless V1100

There is six inches of snow on the ground outside, the temperature is in the single figures, the wind speed is double digits. The wind chill factor? I don't even want to think about it. What do we do about it around here in New Hampshire when it is too cold to ride? We use the time to tear our bikes down and make whatever improvements we can, so we can make the most of our short riding season when it comes around again.

I bought my V-Star 1100 Custom because of the raked-out hot rod look and the handling and performance it inherited from its ancestor, the Virago. The problem is, since the model is so new, there are scant few options in the after market to make things better. So we must compromise, and adapt what is available, or wait ..... and wait... Oh what the hell, let's go to the garage and get started! We'll make the stuff up as we go along!

The most improvement for the least amount of money can be had by opening up the engine's respiratory system. Decreasing the back pressure in the exhaust system by way of many of the slip on muffler systems available helps the engine exhale more easily. Lessening or eliminating the nearly asthmatic conditions found in the factory airbox improves the engine's ability to inhale. All this results in more air getting processed more easily. In order to maintain the proper fuel/air mixture, we need also to allow the carburetors to deliver fuel to the mix at a faster rate. In other words, we need to "rejet" to keep the ideal balance.

There are a few options already out for the exhaust system. The bike we are performing this surgery on has been fitted with a set of Cobra 2" drags with HP+ baffles. Other manufacturers have already brought similar slip on muffler systems to the market. Cobra sells a rejet kit (by Dynojet) complete with the jets for use with slip on mufflers (while maintaining the factory airbox). There are no jets in this kit for use with any replacement filter systems. In fact, there are none available yet, although Baron's is planning to release a BAK for the V11 in the future.

So, this project starts off with two major objectives. 1) Design and fabricate a filter kit to replace or improve the factory airbox. 2) Figure out the correct jet sizes and needle settings to make the total system work best.

TAK - Topless Air Kit

Air-Intake Hose

As you can see, the weak link in the factory's respiratory system is the rather small oval duct which connects the filter contained in the round plasti-chrome housing (on the right side of the bike) to the airbox plenum found under the tank. The cross section of this duct is a mere 3 sq. in., which is smaller than either of the carburetor inlets alone. Combine that to the fact that the filtered air must travel about 22" and make about four right angle turns before entering one of the carburetors, then the need for improvement becomes obvious.

The next problem is in the carburetor type and location itself. The V-Star 1100 crams two side draft carburetors between the cylinders, which leaves no room to directly fit clamp-on filters. This problem doesn't exist in the down-draft carbureted V-Star 650 or the Royal Star which has its inlet flanges conveniently located on top, under the fuel tank . Even the big brother to the Star line, the Road Star has the advantage of a single side draft carb facing outward, with plenty of room to clamp on to the flange. For the V-Star 1100, it would be necessary to find some method of adapting the female clamp-on flange of the K&N filter to the female end of the 90 degree duct which connects the carbs to the airbox. This seemed to be the only way to locate the filters in the only place they would fit -- under the tank, where the airbox is currently located.

Top-Down View

When the tank was off, I removed the airbox to get a better look at the possibilities. After taking the top off the airbox, I noticed that there were two rubber velocity stacks located inside the box. They presented themselves as a solution to the problem. I would try to clamp a piece of metal tubing into the inside of this rubber piece to create a male adapter for the filter to clamp to. The bottom of the airbox would serve as a platform for the two filters, as well as for the crankcase breather. It sounded perfect! This base would serve as a heat shield from the engine, and as a sound baffle to help quiet the honking and snorting of the induction system. Everything would attach to one piece so maintenance of the carbs would be easier. Life was good! Pictures were taken, plans were drawn, and parts were ordered. I couldn't wait for the parts to arrive. The name was already confidently chosen -- TAK, Topless Air Kit.

The First Moment of Truth

OK every project has to have a few glitches right? When the parts arrived from Dennis Kirk a few days later, I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I tore open the packages, took lots of pictures, and began assembling the parts according to plan. Boxes were all over the place, little Styrofoam packing stuff flying around, tools, directions, everything everywhere. I assembled my little masterpiece and brought it to the garage to fit it to the machine. The carbs went back on, the TAK (we were on a first name basis now) was attached, the tank was lifted into place and gently lowered into position (no foreplay).

What followed was one of those defining moments in every venture. There was resistance. The tank was up about 1/2 inch in the back and wouldn't settle into the mounting position. Something was amiss. The top of the rear filter was too tall to fit under the tank. The filters were spec'd as 2 3/4 inches high. This did not include the flange itself, as I thought it had. As a result, the rear filter was 1/2 inch too high to fit under the fuel tank. Back to the drawing board!

I checked for a filter size that would have the same inside diameter and would be 2 1/2 inches in height or less. Any other ID size would not maintain a constant cross section and laminar flow from the filter to the carburetor flange. I found no such filter size anywhere. The bottom of the airbox had to be scrapped. The Topless Air Kit had to also go bottomless.

Meanwhile, Back at the Wrench

Let's back up a bit and take it from the beginning. This project involves a little bit of most of the major systems on the V1100. Therefore, a factory service manual is strongly recommended. I will list all of the parts completely later in this article. Obviously, a fairly complete set of metric tools will be required, a little basic skill, and a certain amount of patience.

First, before attempting any major service, it is wise to disconnect the battery leads and place bike safely and securely on a center lift or on blocks. Using the illustrations and instructions on page 3-3 and 3-4 of the manual, remove the pillion seat, seat bracket, and front seat. Turn fuel spigot off, remove the fuel line from the spigot. Plug end of fuel line with a bolt or golf tee. Remove rear bolts holding tank down. Disconnect the electrical coupler which connects the instrument cluster leads to the harness. This connector is under the igniter plate. I did not find it necessary to remove the igniter plate nor the mudguard, just lifting the plate up a bit revealed the connector plug enough to disconnect it. Make sure the handle bars are approximately centered. Lift the rear of the tank up slightly and rearward to remove from the bike. Place tank safely out of the way.

Page 5-1 of the manual outlines the steps to remove the carburetors. Loosen all of the hose clamps to the rubber ducts from the air filter housing on right side of bike and the two 90 degree ducts connecting the airbox to the carburetors. Remove the chrome air filter assembly from right side of bike. Disconnect the breather hose from front of underside of airbox. Remove the bolt retaining the rear of the airbox. Lift airbox clear of bike. Store the airbox for safe keeping. None of the parts will be needed (as it turns out)

Remove the plasti-chrome cover from left side of carburetor assembly. Disconnect the two electrical connectors captioned #6 and #7 located behind the steering head, which are the carburetor heater and throttle position sensor leads. Disconnect and plug the two fuel lines. Slacken the throttle cable adjustments at the handlebar end and disconnect the throttle cables from carburetor ends. Disconnect the starter cable from carburetor by loosening the pinch screw at carburetor end of the cable and releasing the cable nipple from its fitting. Loosen clamps to both intake boots at carburetors.

Now everything is disconnected. Release the carburetor assembly from the engine by rotating the entire assembly counter clockwise as viewed form above to clear the units from the intake boots. Remove both carburetors together as one unit from left side of engine. Do not separate the carbs. Do not remove or disturb the throttle position sensor from the right carb. Try to keep every thing level and remove to a safe area to drain the fuel from the float bowls. Loosen drain screws on bottom of each float bowl to drain fuel. Before proceeding any further, spray carbs with a degreaser or general purpose cleaner. Scrub with an old toothbrush or soft scrub brush and rinse thoroughly to remove any dirt or other contaminants before opening up the carbs.