Topic: cb750F3 air box needed?

[forester55]

Hey everybody, I recently bought a 1978 cb750F3 and I am currently working on it with a buddy to try and get it up and running. Recently, we have taken apart the carbs and throughly cleaned them (which it needed) and upon installing them back to the engine, we realized that it did not have an airbox anymore. My question is, is the airbox needed? If so, why was it taken off in the first place? Also, can I use pod filters instead of the missing airbox or do I need to rejet the carbs to accomodate the new filters?

[HonderCB]

pods will require re-jetting and alot of tuning to get right.  If you can find a stock airbox you'd be better off

[bollingball]

 Quote: and upon installing them back to the engine, we realized that it did not have an airbox anymore

You are saying you did not notice the air box missing when you took the carbs off  Cut back on the Jim Beam (Anymore) Did someone come over and get it 
+1 on Honder

                                        Ken

[forester55]

Sorry guys, it looks like I left out the part that this is my first bike I also bought it knowing that it wasn't running properly and it needed some work done. Since I have bought it I have read through both the Honda shop manual and the Haynes manuals several times and have learned a lot! I still have a lot to learn but that's the fun part, and I was hoping to learn more from people who have been doing this for a long time. I also have a buddy who is good with small carbourated engines and he was willing to help and was ready for a challenge!

I guess the reason I didn't notice the airbox missing is because of most of the pics I had seen of cafe racers (which is what I'm turning it into). Lots of them have taken them off for some reason. Performance? Looks? We're curious. Can I get by without the filters or are they a must have and those other people are crazy?

Once again thanks for everyones help and advice and I will post some pics of her soon

[AbbyRider]

Seems to me that with the immense number of sohc owners building cafe racers there should be craploads of stock airboxes floating around. There are actually a few on eBay - looks like you can pick one up for less than $100. I guess the sellers need to pay for their new jet kits and pods.

[bollingball]

forester It is all in fun The other guys are not crazy. It just takes a lot of trial and error to get pods to work. They will never work as good as the oem air box. Lots of post here on pods so start reading and be prepared to change jets and other adjustments. Not my cup of tea. There are a lot of people looking for the oem box because they got tired of trying.

                                                   Ken

[HonderCB]

my bike came with pods and wasnts running properly.  After messing with them for a day i got fed up and ditched them for a stock air-box.  It runs great now.

Pods look cool, but your bike will never perform as good as what it will with the stock air-box.  It was designed by the bike engineers at honda for optimum performance with the carbs these bikes come with.  Pod filters are just a generic filter and were not designed specifiacally for your bike (or any bike)...although they will fit.

If your dead set on the looks of pods get used to pulling the carbs, buying new jets, fiddling with the fuel settings etc.  The problem is that no two bikes are the same.  Different brand pod filters, different exhausts, different carbs (depending on year of bike),  different engine mods (boring, headwork, etc) are all something that changes what settings exactly you will need to run on your carbs.  it can be a pain in the azz, and some guys spend a lot of time fiddling trying to get the bike to run as good as it did with the stock box, and never quite get it right.

[Flying J]

Yup, same story for me. I have run pods to eventually go back to running the stock airbox.My very first bike was a 750F. You dont need pods to make it a cafe racer.

You will never know how well your bike can run untill you use the stock air box. The Cb550 that im working on had torn boots so i took the stock box off and im running pods until the new rubbers come in. The bike runs like crap. My buddy has the same bike and it is unbelievably fast compared to mine. But if i didnt have him around for comparison I would never no that the way my bike is running is so far from what it could be.

My suggestion is to get the stock box and run it while you tinker with making it a cafe. Then when your good and ready put on a set of pods and sell it.