All pods are not the same

Thanks for following up on this for us, Jeff.

That's customer service!

I think this is an important find by Daniel - you occasionally hear pod filters don't work, but no one has been able to put their finger on the problem why some bikes suffer and others don't.

The person I spoke with at Emgo fully understood the problem once I explained it and it's encouraging they at least listen and have taken the issue up to product management. The ironic thing is these filters have been produced for years and it's taken this long to find the problem - it's hard to imagine how many of these filters have been sold...

I'm going to rip the boot off the end of one of my Emgo pods and see if I can notice any blockage.

Are stock airboxes the best thing to use?
It seem like a bunch of problems come around when we mess with the air inlet

Seems that someone in the aftermarket would make a stock airbox replacement. I use Z1 airboxes on my test bike as they remain pliable and easy to install/remove. The 76 OEM airboxes were OK except for the rubber mounting flanges which tended to harden and make carb installs a misery. I have one of the chrome cheese grater box airboxes but have never used it. I am not sure how it rates against an OEM airbox for airflow and since I test carburetors, have never had a custom who used one of these filters so have never put mine on. I need to get some filter material for it anyway.

The 42mm type I am running do not appear to have the blockage problem.

This is not 100% "on topic", but it's related, especially if anyone has done some porting, invested in smoothbores etc., try checking out the carb boots/rubber manifolds and how they match up to the head... My experience is that they don't match up all that well (run your finger inside the boot/head and you can feel how they do/don't match), so you can end up with a restrictive airflow from the pods and a disturbed/restricted mixture going into the head. Maybe, like K & N for filters, there are some better manufacturers for boots?

If you are still running the original carb manifolds that came on the kz900, they are 26mm versus the 28mm version fitted to the Z1's. The aftermarket carb manifolds for the Z1/kz900/kz1000 are 28mm and a better choice for performance reasons.

Some performance shops will port both the head and carb manifolds at the same time to eliminate the lip.

I took a look at the cone stule emgo's on my GS1000.
They have the same cross sectional profile rubbers as those ovals at the beginning of this thread.

With the rubber up against the stop tabs on the BS34's which are on my GS1000, the orifices are shaded, but not blocked.

The portion of the rubbers profile shading the orifices is at least twice as far away along the carb throat axis as the radial 'shadow' overlap.

Bottom line, they are not going to affect airflow from the diaphragm or through the air jets, in my particular application.
YMMV.

Thanks again for the heads up. Lesson learned, will henceforth pay more attention to aftermarket parts.

-Duck

i run with the uni-filter pods,,, 80 LTD 28's,V&H pipe, 1075, 125mains,20pilots runs the nuts,,air/fuel screws 1 turn out

The problem that Daniel reported doesn't apply to VM carburetors. The Emgo pods partially or fully block the openings on CV carburetor venturi edge. Your 80 LTD has VM carbs so you are OK, even with Emgo pods.

I have an 82 spectre 750, is it worth the appx. $140.00 for the k&n pods versus the $40.00 for the engo ones? Will I have a problem with the emgo's like others are explaining?