Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods To Ai or not to AI....

I have an 04 speedy, the pipes are already blue. Should I still do the AI thing? I'm thinking yes, and it is cheap enough, but if it doesn't improve performance or anything, then what would be the point?

Thanks...
Wendell

Wendell your pipes can be buffed and polished to look like new. Get rid of the AI unit, you don't need it. and if you decide to purchase aftermarket pipes you'll have extra insurance against bluing.

Remove the AI and link your vacume ports. You'll see a nice improvement in the idle characteristics.

That, and it's probably a heck of a lot easier to access the spark plugs. My bike came with AI already removed, so I never had to worry about it, but I can imagine it was kind of a PITA, with the AI still in place. Plus the idea of anything that adds more heat to the exhaust port on an air-cooled engine is anathema to me!

don't forget (to me anyway) the most important aspect...no more popping and backfiring when you decelerate...actually i still have the ocassional backfire, but it's infrequent...i can run her up to the rev limit in any gear and back off and let her wind down without all that crappy pop, pop, bang, bang...

I found that it seemed to run a bit cooler with the AI removed. I believe that the lowered exaust temps also lower the cylinder temps because of heat transfer. In any case, it ran cooler. The other difference was to the bad side......it started harder and took longer to warm up. This seems to be something that a few people have experienced and i believe it *may* be the california bikes that experience this due to the EVLS emissions system. Somehow the AI and that seem to be interconnected in some way and that may be why. As for blueling pipes, mine never did even thru about 1200-1500 miles with the AI intact. The cruisers have double walled pipes which shouldn't blue, so why yours are i don't know unless it's running abnormally hot.

But the way i see it the main reason to remove the AI is if you plan to add pipes and/or intake mods. Thats where the AI seems to be problematic.

get that thing off ASAP!!

There are vacuum fittings on the top side of the intake manifolds. The left one will be capped and the right one will also have a plastic cap or rubber hose on it depending on whether you have the California emissions system. Run a bit of hose between them in place of the caps and the idle wil smooth out. BUT, keep the caps! You will need to replace them to adjust or balance the carbs.

If you have the CA emissions stuff, get a nylon T fitting from your favorite autoparts store, clip the vacuum hose and insert the T to connect the balance hose.

Has anyone done a step by step procedure to show exactly how to do this? Maybe with pictures? Thanks.

Get this, I believe it comes with instructions....

AI removal kit

Then do this with the hose you have from removing the AI...




It's not hard at all to do......

Removing the AI was the very first Mod I did on my bike. And what a feeling of accomplishment! Looking back, it was simple, by the first time you take the tank off the bike, it's pretty cool! That being said, all I had was the instructions that came with it, and I was fine. I read them over a couple times first, to get familiar, and went from there.

I think this is more complicated than it seems and there are more issues involved than the discolouring of the pipes. Leaving it in seems to reduce the carbon deposits in the exhaust ports, which is probably a good thing. If you ride short distances most of the time, the added heat will help keep the insides of the silencers dry and that is also a good thing.
On longer rides, the insides of the pipes are subjected to a lot of heat, and that can't be good.
Injecting air and lighting off leftover fuel in the exhaust is sure to add extra heat to the exhaust valves, an that is probably bad.
Air injection increases the tendency for the exhaust to explode in the silencers, and that is usually not good for them.
The injectors are in the way of changing the sparkplugs.

So, if you take longer rides and keep the carburettors adjusted, there are more reasons to get rid of th AI than to keep it.
As for the discoloured pipes, I really don't understand all the fuss. When I started riding, anybody with pretty sparkly chrome pipes after they've had the bike over a week was laughed at because they obviously didn't get it to ride.

So what do your header pipes look like GB?

I dunno, but I bet they're a lot more colourful than the outer covers that hide them. The covers are a nice golden brown where they touch the heads and silencers.