Fuel Customs Intake Systems and Installation

         

Fuel Customs Intake Systems: To Lid or Not to Lid, That is the Question

When it comes to extracting hidden power from your quad, there are a few areas that get commonly targeted. Usually riders open up the air box, install a freer flowing exhaust and make fuel adjustments accordingly. However, there are inherent dangers of popping off the lid to an air box that include offering airborne debris, contaminants, mud, and water access to the one place (besides your mouth) where you don’t want it- into the engine.

Enter the aftermarket intake system from Fuel Customs: Beginning with an 8-ply pleated-style filter element, a minimalist air box, and a custom air boot, their systems aim to find the middle ground in offering up performance typically associated with leaving the air box lid removed but without sacrificing your engine’s protection from the elements.

We’ve had great results running their kits on the Yamaha Raptor 700 and only recently discovered that they offer similar kits for most performance oriented ATVs including the Kawasaki KFX450 and Honda TRX450R.

Installation

While calling it a completely effortless task may be downplaying the installation process a bit much, we’re confident any backyard mechanic with a bit of skill and patience should have little trouble mounting the Fuel Customs system to their ATV. The kits include the required mounting brackets and clamps for each model although you should be aware that the kits offered do not necessarily include all of the same components from one ATV model to the next. For example, the Kawasaki and Yamaha kits include a completely redesigned air box to maximize intake efficiency while other kits (such as the one for the Honda) make use of the OEM air box. The reason for this is that many hours of testing by the crew of Fuel Customs revealed that the stock air box really wasn’t the issue for reduced intake efficiency on several models. You know the motto- no sense fixing what isn’t broken.

That said, what Fuel Customs does “fix” are the key areas proven to restrict intake airflow such as the air boot separating the air filter from the carburetor (on non-fuel injected models of course). It’s been proven that many characteristics of an engine’s output can be altered simply by changing the shape or length of this oft overlooked area of the intake system.

Clear concise installation instructions are included in the kit and we’ve managed to install them in under 45-minutes time without doing a rush job in the process.

In the Real World

So what does it feel like to blast off on an otherwise stock machine after the Fuel Customs Intake has been installed? Surprisingly, the increase in performance can be expected to be felt immediately, and all across the spread of power. The best way to describe it would be to compare it to the type of increases expected in ditching the air box lid. However, in back to back tests, our machines proved to be breathing even freer with the intake system installed (not to mention the increased mental security in knowing your engine’s still being protected).

Whether or not jetting/ fuel map alteration will be required to fully benefit from this relatively inexpensive modification (0) depends upon the conditions/ elevation and state of current tune of the ATV in question. We’ve found the answers to such things along with model availability and ordering info on Fuel Customs’ website: http://www.fuelcustoms.com