Pods Question

Are these pods any good? They are super cheap which makes me wonder. Do they need to be oiled? Thanks

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Definitely better than nothing, but probably a " get what you pay for" type of thing. Can't go wrong with K&N, and they last a LONG time.

Those are disposable. I change mine out every year.

www.z1enterprises.com/SearchResult.aspx?All=True&KeyWords=pod

They are as good as any of the others out there. I was told bad things about the EMGO pods the same thing about 5 years ago. They are still in good shape. I have cleaned them at the beginning of each season with generic engine cleaner first and than in ZEP Citrus cleaner and it works beautifully.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that these "generic" pods have removable rubber boots, unlike the K&N pods. This allows you to take them off for cleaning and the rubber will not get chemically damaged during the cleaning process.

I've used K&N and UNI filters for years. The Uni's got hard and crumbled over the years. The K&N's also degraded. They don't last forever, cost a lot, and require a huge pain in the ass cleaning with expensive cleaner and oil. Using varying amounts of oil seemed to affect the running at first.

But what I hated the most was just trying to do something simple like adjusting the idle would get you a handful of goo.

The EMGO pods I've been running for the last few years have been awesome. Cheap... no cleaning... no extra costs, and after a couple years you just toss them. I don't think I'll ever go back to K&N and definitely never UNI.

I don't think you are supposed to clean them. They are supposedly just paper.

The ones in the photo look similar to EMGO pods, but not exactly so I don't know if they are the same.

I agree with everything that Lou said. The reason I believe they are EMGO is because they have the chrome base and no logo on the headpiece. I also would never use anything but. After 5 years I may or may not replace mine this year, but for $25 including shipping I think that I will buy the 34mm set and call it a day. Here are some pictures of the EMGO filter with the boot removed and than installed back. The nice part is that the boots are vulcanized rubber and can be restored if they get hard or start showing signs of cracking. Also, after five years, mine are showing no signs of corrosion of any kind.

Excellent photos, and as long as they are up there...

Notice on the inside of the rubber boot there is a reduced diameter. Someone (I don't remember who, it was a long time ago) reported that this "lip" may interfere with some ports on the air horn side of some carbs. My 550's don't have a problem with it, but I recall they blocked an opening of some sort. I think the remedy was to make sure there was a little clearance by not pushing the pod all the way onto the carb opening.

I don't remember if the issue was specifically for the Emgo's, or for any pods in general. I think my old UNI's also had the I.D. reduction inside.

I remember that also. If it is mounted properly than there is no interference at all. There is good 3/8" room between the side ports and the lip. The lip is also at a pretty good angle not to interfere. Here is a set of pictures with the boot mounted properly.

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Looks like plenty of clearance to me too. Maybe the other poster pushed them on too far.

and... as H1 vindicator said, I get mine at Z1.

The cheap pods have a larger amount of variation of air flow, then say the K&N ones. They also flow slightly more air then K&N's, and I've had some sets (cheapos) better than others.

We have verified this countless times on clients bikes when performing colortunes.

With the cheap filters, in order to obtain the exact same mixture balance (color) across all cylinders sometimes requires the screws being a 1/2 turn or more different then one another ( I agree this can also be attributed to carb blockage and wear, but this does happen on new carbed bikes too... even after balancing and perfect compression and valve clearances, PROPERLY JETTED!, etc.)

The K&N's have a better manufacturing QC and are often VERY close (small varience), maybe 1/4 turn difference across all cylinders.

THERE IS NO MAGIC SINGLE NUMBER OF "TURNS OUT" FOR ALL YOUR MIX/AIR SCREWS, they require PROPER tuning for max performance/best operation.

With that said, when tuned properly, the cheap ones work fine and I'm sort of 50/50 on the performance difference, I really think it comes down to jetting more. I use them myself, cause they're cheap, and if they get ratty after a few years, I just replace them.

Now you want to know how to tune them without a colortune plug DONT YA! :laugh:

Peace!



PS. Otto, KUDOS on those photos man, way to use that closeup feature! I wish everyone here knew that shite... :pinch: