Narrow Air Cleaner (2019)

I believe I have found a good alternative narrow element.

I started at the K&N page for their alternative as identified by Marsh and looked to the fitment list, I randomly selected the Suzuki and then did a UK Ebay search. This is the listing I bought off

The seller was good enough to check for flexibility before I placed the order and his assessment was correct, the actual filter that arrived has a black rubber seal both sides not orange and the inner reinforcement ring is more thin gauge mesh than the no doubt generic listing photo.



It is marked 'Purolator A27986 008' but a search on this comes up blank, A27986 filter does give hits and alternatives but no doubt the reinforcement will need checking before purchase.

i found a round foam air filter to fit the HD's. Its flexible enough to be shapeable, does not fill the entire ham cam shape and will require trimming about 1/4" of the outer mesh of the ham can.
https://www.denniskirk.com/s-and-s-cycle/air-filter-element-17-0079.pH18409.prd/H18409.sku

i'll get a picture maybe later today

a slightly larger filter, more in keeping with a narrowed ham can shape is the S&S dual throat filter element

currently listed on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/p/171236974?iid=333341587685

marshg246 said:

I'm going to experiment with a couple of old rusty ones I have. I don't have a band saw and I'm not sure I'm steady enough to use a cutoff wheel to do it these days. I plan to try my stepson's table saw with a metal cutting blade or my tile saw again with a metal cutting blade. Holding it against the fence while rotating around the blade will work - I hope.

Nice OEM-sized ones only cost about $15 delivered to the US as a part of larger orders so it's not a big deal to cut down a few. I certainly will never again pay RGM 49 pounds for one delivered!

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angle grinder with thin blade and suitable rounded wood support if needed.

I am going to add some foam to fill the bottom, so it won't slide down.

marshg246 said:

UK verses US English. They are set screws in UK English as they are fully threaded hex head bolts. In US English, This is a set screw:

View attachment 12893

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AKA grub screw in US English.

I wouldn't go with a smaller than stock air filter

850commando said:

I am going to add some foam to fill the bottom, so it won't slide down.

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I don't understand the point of this. If you are retaining the Ham Can housing, why not use the standard filter as opposed to reducing the filter surface/possibly reducing airflow? I realize that the OEM filter setup is not the easiest filter to change but it's not really that big of a deal when you consider that, at most, it's an annual requirement. Based on the way these bikes are typically used, mileage-wise it's more likely an every 4-5 year requirement.

Point is allow shorter stack height on the hamcan which will make carb removals easier going forward and that seems to be needed several times per season.

Update, using the same ebay UK listing I bought 2 more filter elements, what turned up was another Purolator and a Mahle.

So they are a clearing house for old stocks so there is potential for a too stiff version to turn up but the Mahle will work equally as well with only sunglasses needed .

kommando said:

Update, using the same ebay UK listing I bought 2 more filter elements, what turned up was another Purolator and a Mahle.

So they are a clearing house for old stocks so there is potential for a too stiff version to turn up but the Mahle will work equally as well with only sunglasses needed .

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Thanks kommando. LX157 does cross reference to lots of other makes of filter..

http://www.niparts.com/s_FBEB42/LX157.html

https://www.teilehaber.de/itm/luftfilter-wix-wa6394-src5974006.html

Cheers,

cliffa

71 posts?

marshg246 said:

The "hamcan" air cleaner is difficult to get on and off by yourself.

View attachment 12889

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The pix shows the boot adaptors on the carbs BACKWARDS? Carb boot installations would be signifiacantly more difficult to install.

The very first statement I full disagree with. I find it super easy to do. What am I missing?
2-7/16 hex bolts and the air clean is out . Still super easy even if the 74 front panel has the snorkle.
FWIW it should only come out the timing side and should NEVER be pulled out the primary side...early commando S, then 71-74 air cleaner mount key switch. Not hard even for combat breather rubber hose (200000+ for Les).

"I don't like having to remove the air cleaner and front cover just to change the Amal banjo filters."???

I routinely pull concentric fuel connections off with a socket, short extension and 1/4 drive ratchet. and reinstall them without any drama?
With the method I use it then is quite easy to "also" work on MKIII with no drama.

Learning how to take out and replace boots is key. If it takes more than 1-2 minutes per boot then you may have missed one of my tech seminars at the east coast national rallies. First thing might be how correctly install the boot adaptors on the carbs and why!
First showing was at the 1995 Grape Country Rallye, Reading Center N.Y.
By then I had already working on nortons for 7 years and was still a green horn back then

Correct tools and technique make the norton easy to work on...for me!

dynodave said:

71 posts?



The pix shows the boot adaptors on the carbs BACKWARDS? Carb boot installations would be signifiacantly more difficult to install.

The very first statement I full disagree with. I find it super easy to do. What am I missing?
2-7/16 hex bolts and the air clean is out . Still super easy even if the 74 front panel has the snorkle.
FWIW it should only come out the timing side and should NEVER be pulled out the primary side...early commando S, then 71-74 air cleaner mount key switch. Not hard even for combat breather rubber hose (200000+ for Les).

"I don't like having to remove the air cleaner and front cover just to change the Amal banjo filters."???

I routinely pull concentric fuel connections off with a socket, short extension and 1/4 drive ratchet. and reinstall them without any drama?
With the method I use it then is quite easy to "also" work on MKIII with no drama.

Learning how to take out and replace boots is key. If it takes more than 1-2 minutes per boot then you may have missed one of my tech seminars at the east coast national rallies. First thing might be how correctly install the boot adaptors on the carbs and why!
First showing was at the 1995 Grape Country Rallye, Reading Center N.Y.
By then I had already working on nortons for 7 years and was still a green horn back then

Correct tools and technique make the norton easy to work on...for me!

Click to expand...

dynodave said:

71 posts?



The pix shows the boot adaptors on the carbs BACKWARDS? Carb boot installations would be signifiacantly more difficult to install.

The very first statement I full disagree with. I find it super easy to do. What am I missing?
2-7/16 hex bolts and the air clean is out . Still super easy even if the 74 front panel has the snorkle.
FWIW it should only come out the timing side and should NEVER be pulled out the primary side...early commando S, then 71-74 air cleaner mount key switch. Not hard even for combat breather rubber hose (200000+ for Les).

"I don't like having to remove the air cleaner and front cover just to change the Amal banjo filters."???

I routinely pull concentric fuel connections off with a socket, short extension and 1/4 drive ratchet. and reinstall them without any drama?
With the method I use it then is quite easy to "also" work on MKIII with no drama.

Learning how to take out and replace boots is key. If it takes more than 1-2 minutes per boot then you may have missed one of my tech seminars at the east coast national rallies. First thing might be how correctly install the boot adaptors on the carbs and why!
First showing was at the 1995 Grape Country Rallye, Reading Center N.Y.
By then I had already working on nortons for 7 years and was still a green horn back then

Correct tools and technique make the norton easy to work on...for me!

Click to expand...

The adapters are turned around so that the lip goes in the slot in the boots. For the narrow ham can, that is correct - otherwise the boots are too short.

Good for you that this is all so easy. Maybe you don't have XXL hands and maybe your joints still work correctly.

illf8ed said:

AKA grub screw in US English.

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It’s a grub screw in UK English too.

I realize that this is an old thread, but I never stopped working the problem. The other day I was trying to finish a customer's bike by myself and simply could not get the air cleaner installed. I gave up and took the narrow filter from the 850 I have for sale so I could get his bike done. That left me with an unsaleable bike so I was determined to find a narrow filter rather than order one from the UK.

Twice, I've asked K&N for a quote to make a narrower version of their Norton filter for the hamcan (NO-0100). Twice they've told me they would and twice they never got back to me. Weird that they have a custom filter program, but are apparently not interesting in making custom sales. Maybe an order of 100 was too small for them.

So, I ordered all the different K&N filters that stood a chance of working. The E-1015 filter is the only one I bought that will work. It is 2-7/16" tall, flexible so it will conform to the shape, doesn't block anything, and is a very snug fit in the standard filter gauze. To use it, you cut ~ 1/2" off the gauze. The 1/2" you gain makes it much easier to install the filter. I wish I could find one 2-1/8" to 2-1/4" tall but I haven't ben able to.

johnm said:

That’s a grub screw in New Zealand

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And in Australia

"The other day I was trying to finish a customer's bike by myself and simply could not get the air cleaner installed."

I'll agree that the OEM filter can be a bit fiddly and it seems to vary from bike to bike. I have not had any particular trouble installing a new OEM filter on my '73 but the repeated complaints of the difficulty leads me to conclude that bike-to-bike dimensions/tolerances/setup has an effect on the clearances involved. Not sure what changes can/would occur over time to cause that - only thing that comes to mind are the iso rubbers/maybe the head steady. If the tranny was moved forward, it would also reduce the working room but I don't see how that's possible - the primary chain would have to be shortened to do that.

As DynoDave explained, the process is pretty straightforward so, it seems to me the ONLY things that can explain the problem is dimensional changes over time or not following the procedure. Since the procedure is posted here numerous times and is in the shop manual, it seems unlikely to me that the incorrect procedure would be a problem...

I have the RGM narrow hamcan filter assembly and I do find that it makes carb removals much easier. I have had a lot of troubles with my carbs so I have really appreciated this.
If anyone wants to make this change, it seems to me that the least expensive route is to buy the thinner element from RGM and cut the Perforated cover down in thickness to suit - a relatively easy job with saw or cutting disc.

If the perforated cover was cut into two pieces (left and right or top and bottom) then clipped together using something like these case catches wouldn't that make it a lot easier?

Good idea, the Amal filters have such a clip for perforated surrounds.

kommando said:

Good idea, the Amal filters have such a clip for perforated surrounds.

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AHA, thanks kommando I knew I'd seen those kind of clips somewhere, but was racking my brains (that didn't take long)