Need some advice from the techies out there... long story short: the dealer installed SE air cleaner and remapped 3 weeks ago. Of course, nobody mentioned that the a/c has an ugly cast backing plate, and there is a chrome one available. So, I ordered the chrome plate, and asked the parts guys if I needed any new gaskets or o-rings when swapping it - and they said no, I could re-use what was there.

I just changed out the backing plate. The gasket on the intake looked ok (it stuck to the bike, not the backing plate). The o-rings were held in place with some kind of sticky adhesive. I removed them, cleaned off the adhesive, and re-used them on the new chrome plate.

Everything went together ok and the bike seems to function ok, but I'm wondering if the o-rings or gasket should have been changed? I'm not sure if the sticky stuff on the o-rings came with them new, or if the dealer used something to hold them in place during installation?

Do you think I am ok re-using these items, or should I order new ones??

Would appreciate any experience here. Thanks... Warren

 

Hello Warren888;

I also replaced the stock die cast backing plate with the chrome one. I really think that you are ok on the O-rings. The adhesive is just there to fix the O- rings position while assembly is in progress.

Zyklon

 

You should be alright. It's just an air cleaner. No oil issues or vacuum issues should be any problem at all.
As long as the ones your reused where intact.
r/ George

 

You're ok. The o-rings seal breather oil not intake air and the gasket is to keep dirt out - it's not on the engine side of the throttle plate.

 

thanks... I did check the o-rings and they looked ok. I was concerned if there is a chance of air leakage that might affect the mixture or cause dirt to enter the intake.

Everything seems to be running fine, so I'm not going to mess with it.

I will say that the newer backplate is very different from my friend's SE a/c kit. He has a 2002 deuce. His backing plate is small and the breathers are connected together with a metal tube, and a rubber tube acts as the drains for any blowby. The new design feeds blowby directly back into the intake at the throttle plate. I notice his drips oil quite regularly and it splatters on the engine. The newer design doesn't seem to get any drips - I don't see how it could (anything is sucked right back into the engine).

However, his looks a lot nicer!!

So - I'll take functionality over looks.