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My Uni filter just crumbled, more or less


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Hey Guys,

 

  My '97 has been sitting for a while and I decided to get it running, seems the carbs were a bit clogged and it wouldn't start.  Popped them off, checked the bowls, cleaned out the jets, etc.  Got it to start again after I got it all back together.  I warmed it up on the choke, and after I took it off it would run, albeit a little rough.  I figured she just needed to clear her throat.  I let it run a little while longer and shut her off.  That was 2 months ago. 

  Now keep in mind I've not started her up for 6 months before and she was able to clear the phlegm and get running while after I topped off the battery. 

  I went in the garage last week to get her started and she would only run on choke.  I thought, hmm surely they can't be clogged again?  There was no junk in the bowls that may have been disturbed to clog anything back up (I wiped them out real well before disassembling). 

  I go back in today, resigned to the fact that they need to come off again.  Lo and behold, after I got the airbox apart I got to looking at the air filter and the damn thing would come apart from rubbing your hands on it.  I oiled it down with what was I thought to be the right oil, but maybe I went applied it with a  heavy hand?  Anyway, not sure if that's ever happened to anyone before.  This bike was running a bit hot the first couple years which has since been addressed.  But surely the heat couldn't have been that bad that it compromised the filter like this?  I don't know. 

  Luckily there were no chunks missing that may have been ingested by the motor.  Just an fyi on my experience with the Uni filter.

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  • Member Contributer

How old was the filter?  I don't have any experience with a Uni in a '97, but I did open the airbox on a 1970 CT70 that hadn't been run for years.  The stock air filter (basically a foam brick blocking the intake path) looked fine if a bit discoloured.  As soon as I touched it disintegrated as though it was made of brown sugar.  I hadn't started the engine so nothing was sucked into the carb.  I just assumed it was the result of age and oil acting on the foam filter element.

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I've had uni filters do this on me before. Literally disolve after cleaning, literally.  My 10 year old still gets a kick out of it because all we had left was the frame of the filter, lmao

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  • Member Contributer

They do that...

 

UNI used to sell bulk foam filter material, which I have used before to replace crumbled foam.  Clear hot glue works well to keep it in place.  

 

Another option might be to buy a new or used K&N filter for a truck or something and trim the element to fit the VFR UNI (or OEM) filter holder opening.  Gauze-type filters don't seem to disintegrate over time like foam filters.

 

Ciao,

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