Get your air filter, some silicone caulking, and a caulking gun: Assemble the air filter into the housing: Apply a thin bead of silicone and wipe it smooth with your finger: Let dry completely and re-install.
I had quite the day drinking beer and working on the Terra. New chain, sprockets, oil/filter change, put the bike all back together from the valve fiasco and messed with a new air filter and this too.
Looks like it already stopped a fly! Haha! Great Idea, I have been using grease and it seemed to work but I think this should be better, especially across the top where there is no plastic frame.
what a stupid design. How many times will manufactures try and make cartridge filters work on dirt bikes
Maybe I'm just lucky, but I had my filter out over the weekend, and the box was clean as can be. I've got over 3000 miles, probably 500 of that has been on really dusty gravel roads. Or maybe, there was a change on the filter carrier that I was lucky enough to get? I didn't look at it all that closely after noticing the air box would pass a white glove test, but I did note the seal on mine does not have a gap in it. I'll pull it back out and check the carrier, but it seems really odd that mine was so clean.
Mine is clean as well, but only 800 or so miles so far. I also haven't ridden in dusty conditions yet. I think the design of the carrier and air box is intended to use the upper side edge of the sealing material on the filter as the seal for this edge of the filter, not the front surface. If the filter happens to be sitting correctly, it has a chance of sealing okay. Way too many ways for it to not seal up though, so you may get lucky, but I wouldn't bet on it. The design also appears to depend highly on the inside lower carrier screw to force the sealing surface of the filter against the flanges. It's definitely not a direct method of making the seal tight. It may work well to simply ditch the carrier from the front plastic and then figure out how to directly hold the filter up and against the flanges using a more direct method. Not quite sure how to do this yet such that it would withstand the vibrations.
What about ditching the airbox and using a "pod" syle filter mounted directly on the throttlebody. Ugh...too much stuff attaches to the airbox so I guess that would not really work either.
If I had my way I would trash the paper filter and carrier and have a integrated one piece washable filter that sits up high. The location to get air from is good. Just maybe put a wee bit more thought into the design. Heck I think the guy that designed this one must have just changed his Briggs & Stratton air filter on his lawn mower.
So I'm sitting here contemplating what to do about this air filter. I also want to do a conical filter. This would solve the issue of not sealing the incoming air. I may have a solution. If a cut was made in the air box along this line the structure of the box would be there for mounting bodywork and such. A 90* elbow with a silicone coupler with a K&N on the end. Thread in a nipple for the crankcase breather and IAT sensor.
In this photo you can see all the mounts would remain. By the way, I do realize the fact I would be eliminating the fording capabilities of the bike. I live in Las Vegas, so it's not too big of a concern to me.
Also I have tried the system of silicone, but honestly I do not really like. The material is put on the silicone is very refractory and saw that after a while the silicone is removed. I would not want any part of it were sucked into it. Prefer who put a second sponge in front.
