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Rain umbrella for my air intake.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 2:04 pm
by TXscooterguy
As I was riding to Sturgis and in the middle of Nebraska on Highway 81, I encountered a nasty rain storm. There was no place to pull over -- no underpass, no rest area and not enough shoulder to feel safe stopped alongside the road. It rained so hard that it restricted the air intake and choked the motor. If I tried to ride over 40 MPH it would sputter and cut out. Once I got out of the storm the motor ran great. A smart person wouldn't have been riding in those conditions (but smart is not a term often applied to me). So I want to build a rain shield to fit over the air filter. Not sure how I'm going to attach it or how large a diameter it has to be to not restrict air flow when it's not pouring out. Any suggestions other than don't ride when it's raining that hard?

Re: Rain umbrella for my air intake.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 3:33 pm
by craig haymaker
Hi Dennis, clearance between the top of your air filter and the bottom of the lower triple tree could be an issue ? But by loosening the band clamps, there should be plenty of downward movement between filter to snorkel and snorkel to MAF inlet.
My thoughts Dennis, is to build a light gage metal cover, the same conical shape as your filter, to fit over it. But only in a larger tapered diameter to provide say 1- inch between the housing & filter throughout its length.
Use the filter's worm band clamp as the mounting point. Come off there with 3- 120 deg. spaced legs bent at each end, to go under the band clamp and the other, secured to the housing. I would then get it chromed.
You could probably sell a ton of these Dennis, LOL !
Craig H.

Re: Rain umbrella for my air intake.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 4:28 pm
by TXscooterguy
craig haymaker wrote:You could probably sell a ton of these Dennis, LOL !
Thanks Craig, but I don't think there are a ton of Boss Hoss riders silly enough to ride in those conditions. :-)

Re: Rain umbrella for my air intake.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:40 am
by TXscooterguy
Here's my current thought on my rain choked motor. I buy a baby moon hubcap and "JB Weld" three standoffs with alnico magnets on the ends. I would store this with my rain gear. If the storm is bad enough to warrant breaking out the rain gear, I'll attach the hubcap to the front of the air filter. When the rain gear gets stowed, the hubcap comes off. Thoughts?

Re: Rain umbrella for my air intake.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 1:25 pm
by Oldun
I've ridden V2 and V8 bikes in heavy rain. On my older BH I was able to just keep going as the intake was well shielded by the Mountain tank intake; the V2s would bog down in tropical downpours as you described though, until I 'borrowed' stockings from the Bride and stretched two thicknesses thereof over the front-facing Wimmer intakes I had on both the bikes. Didn't reduce power much but did seem to keep water off the filter element pretty well.