Ducati Monster Forum

I've had my 695 since December and a few weeks ago got an extra air box lid off ebay to mod. Is there any negative effects riding with just the modded air box? Any positive? All I know of are people using them with the full kit.

Thanks.

There's been a lot of discussion on airbox topics on the Tech forum, and a lot of opinions.  Might be worthwhile to do a search for the various threads.

+1, but here's the short answer;

Make sure you map it properly
It's louder at WOT
You may or may not lose a bit of smoothness in the low end
You should (if mapped) get more on the top end.

Thanks. I've looked through a bunch of posts on it and haven't really found concrete or semi-conrete on just using a modded airbox. Then again, I have the extra lid so I might aswell just see what happens.

I bought one on ebay, drilled two big holes in it and ran it for a while. I didn't remap it and had a stock exhaust on it. The opened up airbox sounded better when I was gunning it to merge on the freeway. That was the only "benefit". It didn't run noticeable better or worse. Just a tiny bit louder. I say chop the box you have, pop it on and see what you think. If you don't like it, list it on the parts for sale section and you should be able to sell it pretty quickly.

airbox cover? whats that?

+1

I rode for about a week with the open airbox before I had the DP ECU installed...it ran really rough during that time.

So what are the benefits of using the open airbox, besides a little bit more umph on the top end? Most of what I hear is negative-I guess unless mapped properly.

That's about it. It's has exactly the same benefit as open pipes. More HP on the top end at the expense of power lower down. Most people open the airbox for the sound, though. Just like slip on pipes. Most people get them for the extra growl. If you're not a noise guy and you're not racing your bike, then you really won't get much benefit from an open airbox.

The sound is awesome.

My bike has no problems down low, I'd like to let it breathe at high RPM

Unless you have a ram air system incorporated into the air box, it does nothing but muffle sound and provide a mount for an air filter. Opening up or removing the box provides more air flow and more air = more power throughout the rev range. I've experimented with various configurations of air filters and find that I get the most air flow from large individual pods. You will, of course, have to increase the fuel to match the new air flow.
Straight pipes only work well in a supercharged motor. A normally aspirated motor needs a certain amount of back pressure. Where and how that back pressure is created is a topic of endless debate.

It is not a win/lose proposition as you have described. There is  a lot to be gained at all RPMs, even down low, provided that you change the mapping to match the open airbox. 

True. But the gains at lower RPMs are more related to the remapping than they are to the open airbox. If you remap your bike you'll see gains down low because you are "fixing" the fueling restrictions that are in place in order to meet emissions requirements.

Approximately, how much is it to have your fuel system remapped and how bad do the mpgs suffer?

You need a Power Commander and about 3 hours on a dyno.  I don't know how it would affect your mpg, my S2R1K gets around 42 mpg unless I'm really flogging it.

I should have qualified my statement, but it thought it was obvious...  IMO there is nothing to be gained by opening the airbox unless the fueling is modified accordingly.  Without a change in fueling, it will likely run worse at all rpms because an already lean engine will be that much leaner.


Edited to add:  I understand that some have had good results by just opening the airbox, but when I had my bike dyno'd with the stock ECU, no PC, and open airbox,  it showed that the AFR was higher than 18.  I think it is really a crapshoot, so if you're not going to invest the time/money to do it right, you're better off not changing anything.

Thanks for the input. I think I'll just leave it stock for now instead of dealing with remapping it. The beautiful sound of chopped exhaust is good enough for me now anyways. Plus, there's no issues getting to the safe and legal limit on the freeway [leo].

yeah, the sound is cool for sure, but i tried it on mine (stock mapping) for a little while and had to go back to a stock lid; it made already present popping condition even worse.  maybe some day if i decide to get my ECU flashed, or go the pcIII route again...