My ZXR pictures

**R1** · 8th March 2005, 17:30

Originally Posted by John

But I never recal talk of it being anything major back then, even now it isnt that great, you gotta be moving to gain the extra presure in the airbox.

anyway, I though the first production bike with ram air was the Kawasaki's ZX-11 in the early 90's?

Na..... i had a 1990 zxr750sp, that had working ram air. on the the 89h1 i had the tubes only went in2 the tank not the airbox.

**R1** · 8th March 2005, 17:31

Originally Posted by Oscar

I think you'll find the whole "ram air" thing goes back to two stroke Suzuki's of the early seventies...

Production bikes?????

**Oscar** · 8th March 2005, 17:31

Suzuki introduced a trio of three-cylinder two-strokes in 1972: the air-cooled triples GT380 and GT550 and the new flagship, the liquid-cooled GT750. Both of the air-cooled models featured Suzuki new patented Ram Air cooling system that forced cool air under a aluminum shield mounted on the top of the cylinder heads and improve cooling. The system really worked and the GT models didn't suffer from the problems that usually are attached to air-cooled two-strokes: overheating engines and loosing power as a result of it.

**John** · 8th March 2005, 17:31

Well I know the one on my fairing definatly goes to the airbox, havnt had the tank off yet, but I dont care, the pipes do no harm.

But it makes the boy racers scared of me, because they think that my bike is soo cool that it creates petrol out of the atmosphere

**John** · 8th March 2005, 17:33

Originally Posted by Oscar

um dude, ram air cooling, i think its a different concept.

This ram air in kawasakis is for the pistons to breath better (induction into the air box), I know kawasaki started it first - I'm sure of it infact.

**Oscar** · 8th March 2005, 17:37

Originally Posted by John

um dude, ram air cooling, i think its a different concept.

This ram air in kawasakis is for the pistons to breath better (induction into the air box), I know kawasaki started it first - I'm sure of it infact.

Yes, I am quite aware of the difference.
The new concept is a way to pressurise the intake through the use of both forced induction and a still air chamber. Simply forcing air into the intake doesn't help.

**John** · 8th March 2005, 17:39

new patented Ram Air cooling system that forced cool air under a aluminum shield mounted on the top of the cylinder heads and improve cooling.

Am I missing something? thats completly different?..

Excuse my ignorance but you have lost me, I think its completely different.

The basic concept behind ram air is that a moving bike will stuff air into its forward-facing intake runners, resulting in a free supercharging effect. As speed increases more air is forced in, resulting in more power and, in turn, more speed. The faster you go, the faster you'll go.

**Oscar** · 8th March 2005, 17:46

Originally Posted by John

Am I missing something? thats completly different?..

Excuse my ignorance but you have lost me, I think its completely different.

No you're not, I just skipped from one to the other in a confusing fashion.
The concept of forcing induction using the airflow has been around for a least thirty years with cars...

**John** · 8th March 2005, 17:48

Oh ok, Well I'm reffering to it as inducting preasurised air into the airbox - allowing better presurised flow of air to the pistons.

And yes, Kawasaki DID start it on bikes.

**Oscar** · 8th March 2005, 17:56

Originally Posted by John

Oh ok, Well I'm reffering to it as inducting preasurised air into the airbox - allowing better presurised flow of air to the pistons.

And yes, Kawasaki DID start it on bikes.

Yes, they did, and it almost certainly works (but only at high speed).
See this: http://sportrider.com/tech/146_9508_ram/

As you can see in the article, the problem is measuring the gain - simply putting the bike on a dyno won't work as there is no additional pressure gain. There is also additional drag to factor in.

**Storm** · 8th March 2005, 18:08

Anyway, I reckon your bike looks shit hot

**MSTRS:Me** · 8th March 2005, 18:37

Originally Posted by Oscar

I think you'll find the whole "ram air" thing goes back to two stroke Suzuki's of the early seventies...

That was the GT125/185/250/380 'Ram Air' 2stroke twins. Basically the fins on the heads were wider at the front than at the back and sort of 'enclosed' in a sleeve. Theoretically this increased the amount of air flowing over the top of the engine. Those bikes were quite seriously fast in their day & cooling was always a big issue in high performance 2strokes.

**R1** · 8th March 2005, 18:38

Originally Posted by John

um dude, ram air cooling, i think its a different concept.

This ram air in kawasakis is for the pistons to breath better (induction into the air box), I know kawasaki started it first - I'm sure of it infact.

Yup...i searched the all knowing web and kawasaki were the first.