I'm planning to replace my stock air cleaner element with the K&N HD -1508 element. This should be a direct replacement for the stock element with the added advantages of better filtering and improved air flow.

The info at the K&N website didn't mention any necessary mapping changes so I am assuming no tuning would be necessary with this change. Would that be correct?

 

You can generaly change exhaust or intake on a stock bike with no mapping but both would probably require a flash to the ECM.

 

That is a direct replacement for the factory air cleaner, if there is any flow increase it will be very little. The biggest gain is the ability to clean it vs throw it away like the stock filter.

 

Just out of curiosity, why would you remove a superior filter and replace it with a more expensive filter that doesn't filter as well?

Edit: I guess I can't just leave my comment at face value. Here's a chart of filtering efficiency from an independent test. Filter efficiency is filter's overall capacity to filter out dirt:



This is accumulative capacity (dirt holding capacity before reaching restrictive limit):



Filters are like motor oil. People tend to believe marketing hype and reason that if they are paying more they are getting more. More often than not, it's not true.

Edit2: Here's a link to an entire article addressing filters:

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

 

Yeah, seems to be the standard to go to these filters here and at most sites.

I normally hang out on light-duty diesel sites and, until recently, co-owned a major one for many years. A significant portion of our members ran regular oil analyses through Blackstone. They found switching to a re-useable filter (most were K&N) resulted in raised silicon levels in the oil. That means dirt was getting in.

The members of the site were concerned enough they had a K&N rep respond to the findings. The K&N rep stated people probably weren't seating the filter's seals right or were messing up the oiling process. The members did not accept this finding well, as they were comprised of relatively well-skilled do-it-yourselfers who felt they were smart enough to put one of these filters in the right way.

As a result of the above, I run stock filters in all my vehicles.

Bill

 

old thread, but very enlightening post. Thanks.