Custom Air Scoops- I decided to build these scoops after seeing some on ebay for sale. They are actually a really good idea when you think about it. Putting scoops on your quad will increase airflow over the engines cooling fins thus decreasing the running temperature and increasing horsepower after long rides.
I started making my scoops by taking my plastics off my quad to make the frame easier to get to. Then I took some cardboard from a cerial box and started cutting and bending it to look like the scoops I wanted. This is actually the hardest part, you have to decide first how you can make them fit in the quad, then you have do decide how you want them to look, and lastly you have to incorporate mounting holes and brackets into the design. Once I had a working model of my scoops, I went to the hardware store and bought a sheet of aluminum and some stainless steel nuts and bolts. I traced the pattern onto the aluminum with a permenant marker, and started cutting it with tin snips. It's a little hard to cut the complex shape of the scoop out with tin snips, but if your patient, it all works out After all the cutting was done, I sanded the edges down with some sandpaper to give them a nice clean looking edge. After the sanding was done, it was off the the shop vice to bend the scoop to the proper angles. After I got done bending it, I remembered that I had to still drill mounting holes in the aluminum, which was going to be pretty hard since it was already bent. Once I got the holes drilled, I mounted up the scoop to see what it looked like. When I was convinced it was what I wanted, I traced the second scoop onto the aluminum and cut it out. This time I remembered to drill the holes before I started bending. After I drilled the holes, I made all the bends in the scoop, but made them go the opposite direction of the first ones, since this was the other side of the scoop. I mounted this one up and got my first look at the entire assembly looked like. I was very happy with the results, and after a little Mothers polish on the aluminum, you can barely tell they're not professionally made!
When I got to the motocross track for the first time this season, I could definatly tell that I had more power after five or so laps than I did the season before, mainly because of my cooler running engine curtesy of my custom air scoops. I would recommend this mod to anyone who is looking for something to do on a rainy day when you can't ride, or anyone who has problems with a hot-running engine. |
