Some people have requested info on how I modified my air box. It's the same thing others have done here as well. I didn't come up with the idea, and I'm not sure who did, but it works well.
There is no arguing that the BEST solution for more air is the FREAK kit, but that will also set you back a little over $300 with shipping. Maybe some day I'll go there, but for now this is what I have done.
For starters, I have a Uni filter, which will let in quite a bit more air than the stock filter. Of course the stock air box is fairly constricted, so a Uni filter alone does very little. The good part is that a Uni is only $32.
First I did the standard routine of pulling out the top snorkel, and then removing the two inner snorkels. To remove the top snorkel, remove your seat and look at the top of your air box. It's right there. Remove the 3 screws holding the air filter in and pull the top out. The rubber part is the snorkel. Now you just work the snorkel part free from the oval lid that screws back on.
To remove the inner snorkels, pull out the air filter and look inside of your air box. You should be able to feel the two rubber hoses heading toward the front of your air box. Just grab onto them with a pliers and pull. You'll have to pull kind of hard and possibly wiggle it at the same tiem, but you shouldn't hurt anything by doing this.
At this point, everything you have done is reversible. The rest of what I am about to explain is not really reversible.
Next, I cut out the bottom of the Uni filter. I found a hole saw best for this. I think I used an 1 1/4" one. I drilled two overlapping holes next to each other, and then cut the rest out with a small hand saw on my Swiss army knife. Then I placed the air filter back in the air box and traced around the cut out hole on the bottom of the air box. I cut that out of the bottom of the air box using the same method as the Uni with the hole saw.
This will basically allow you to pull in twice as much air as before. The difference when I did this was dramatic. It was even more than pulling the snorkels. I honestly couldn't believe the difference. The Uni filter will keep the dirt and crap out, and it seals around the bottom of the box - so I'm not worried about sucking anything in. I don't think the stock filter will actually create a nice seal like the Uni does, but I'm not sure.
The last thing I did was to remove the plastic wall/barrier where the inner snorkels connected inside of the air box. This wall constricts the air down to where the snorkels mounted. I removed the wall using several tools, and a bunch of patience. I don't really know the best tool for this job, but if I had a Dremmel - I think that would have been it.
In this picture, you are looking through the hole in the top of the air box. You can see some of where I cut the top of the wall off, and you can see the hole for the bottom of the Uni filter. It's the best picture I could manage. Make sure you clean out your air box VERY well when you are done!
This is a picture with the snorkel obviously out, the Uni filter in, and the hole cut through the bottom. You can see right through to the swing arm and can see how it will pull air in from the top and bottom.
After doing all of this, I don't know if I can justify a freak kit. Going from stock to the freak is worth it. However, when going from this modified air box to a freak, I don't know if the difference would be that dramatic. I can't speak from experience on that though. I'm *very* happy with how it works right now. This cost me 1/10th of what the freak costs, and the difference between this and stock is HUGE.
