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Air filter

738 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Voyager 
#1 ·
Has anyone tried adding an aftermarket air filter at the intake and removing the stock filter element only, leaving the intake system intact. This way the filter could be changed without taking Tupperware off.
 
#2 ·
There is not a lot of room under the hood for something like that. The small cone type may not provide enough air flow and a larger cone may not fit. It is an interesting idea but most of those types of filters I mentioned are reusable high flow oiled type that that many have rejected due to the additional larger dirt particles they let in along with the extra air that is not needed. Many want to protect the cylinders nikasil coating from larger abrasive particles so also reject the K&N washable oiled filters made as direct replacements for the OEM paper. Personally I have 3 K&N that have been removed from other LT's including the one that came with mine replaced with the paper type. Unless you are really riding in lots of airborne dirt, you can get away with more than the 6K change interval. I just checked mine and it passes light freely and is not discolored from dirt so I am leaving it in for another year. It passes far more air than the engine needs.

I have heard of someone fabricated a new larger diameter lead tube thinking that it would allow more air but without before and after dyno tests as proof of concept, I doubt it really did anything other than make more noise. If you undertake it, make sure you post pictures of your efforts and the components used as some may find it beneficial to not have to pull the tank to swap the air filter and want to duplicate it if it is a viable plan. It is time consuming.
 
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#3 ·
I ran my last one 24K and it looked almost like new. I’ve run 80K in my cars with no issue. Much depends on where you ride. I ride mostly on paved roads in an area known more for rain than sun so not a lot of dust. I suspect if you lived in the desert southwest and rode on dirt roads all day behind other vehicles, then 6-12K might be all you can stand. I also ran my last fuel filter 48K miles with no ill affects.

I think BMW’s recommendations for maintenance are generally super conservative and probably would handle worst case conditions. If you ride in much better conditions, as I generally do, I think you can greatly increase the maintenance intervals with little risk of issue.
 
#4 ·
I would think one might be able to put a cone filter on the end of the snorkel.
I would probably run it in conjunction with the factory filter.
Over on the motorbrick site, the general consensus is that the filter is designed to go 100k w/o service.
A k100 filter is about twice size of the LT, but the LT is buried and probably more protected than the k100, so probably the same life expectancy.
 
#5 ·
I suspect the time required to fabricate an effective snorkel filter would be as much as a couple of changes of the factory filter. And given that you need to remove the Tupperware for other things such as valve clearance checks and fuel filter changes, it really isn’t that big a deal to change the air filter as well.

An extra filter will be more restriction which won’t help performance or fuel economy either.
 
#6 ·
I have a cone filter in my K1300GT and it is always dirty when I change it compared to the LT filter (which I don't always change). I ride the LT at least twice as much as I ride the GT.
 
#7 ·
I'm not wanting to remove any part of the intake other than the filter element. As far as air flow restriction, I believe only a finite amount of air can flow through the stock intake tube so as long as I don't restrict the airflow and add a cone type air filter to the intake snout, shouldn't that work? I'd be leaving all the sensors intact as well as the entire intake system.
 
#8 ·
Every restriction added to the intake or exhaust makes a difference. Whether it is enough to matter, all depends on your expectations.
 
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