Yamaha 1.8L Upgraded intake filters

[anmut]

$80 for OEM? I was looking the other day and couldn't find anything less than $120. For an AIR FILTER... unreal.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Might try a Riva filter on mine. They're like $128 vs. $80 for the oem filter. I know the oil used on K&N style filters can cause sensor issues. My Dad when he was still here, a 30+ year Ford mechanic saw issues with these.

I’m not surprised by that, just gotta be careful not to over oil the filters. The RIVA ones come with a green type of oil on them as opposed to the red, dunno what difference that is. But, they are not over oiled.

When I talked with the Yamaha dealer up in Bismarck the parts guy told me that they had never even sold a OEM replacement air filter for the TR-1s and I’m guessing for the 1.8L either. Unless you got caught in a Haboob while on Lake Mead / Powell / Havasu etc.. we operate in a dust free environment as @212s stated.

As I mentioned in another thread about deleting the ribbon or other engine modifications, I have yet to see a dyno chart with separate graphs showing stock, and then the different level of modifications.

As far as air filters go, K&N make claims of a certain level of efficiency, but K&N does not show the results of a ISO 5100 test the way S&B air filters does for each application of their filters.

Here is a great air filter test I read years ago. K&N was not happy about this test, but the truth stings a bit sometimes. K&N even tried to get them to pull the test down but the author refused and then asked K&N to show him their test facilities and the tests on their air filters, no response from K&N. K&N used to be made a lot better, now if you hold one up to the sun it looks like a star field.

https://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

After I read this test, and I was running a K&N on my truck, I went out to my truck and took apart the duct after the air filter and ran my finger around the inside then rubbed it on my front teeth and rubbed my teeth together, I could feel the grit that had passed through the K&N. Right then and there I removed that $400 intake system and put the stock one back on. Several thousands of miles later I did the same test with the OEM air filter and zero grit.

 

[MillsyMO]

I did see an advantage by going to the RIVA drop in K&N style filter. I usually operate my boat at 5000’ above MSL with density altitudes as high as 9000’ with a resulting 27% horsepower loss so every bit of air that I can get into the engines is helpful. Rated rpm for boats TR-1 engines is 8000 roms and I usually saw about 7400 rpm’s with the oem filters.

Before purchasing the RIVA filters I made back to back 2 mile runs across my lake, one run in each direction, the first with the oem filters in place, then I removed the filters altogether. I picked up 150-200 rpm’s in each direction with a small increase in speed.

After I installed the RIVA filters I tested them by repeating the same test except this time I tested the oem filters, no filters and then the RIVA filters. the results were the same with the oem filters vs no filters, 150-200 rpm gain, and the RIVA filters were the same as the no filters runs.

The RIVA filters are roughly $70 each, I think they’re worth it, but I’m also a bit of an edge case.

Another member here put a pressure differential device across oem filters and saw zero differential.

Also by getting rid of the oem filter housing you lose the highest intake of air in the engine bay. if you do happen to get water in the engine bay with just a straight cone filter in place you risk catastrophic engine failure as @Bogus mentions above.

I talked to one of the performance shops about the ribbon delete and they told me there would be zero gain by just deleting the ribbon.

The OP of this thread stated that the oem air filter was the issue, he said it was bunching up, what made it bunch up? Was it dirty? Oil fouled ? The point is the oem air filter did its job and just needed replacing. Another point is that if you are getting rated maximum rpm’s out of your engine there’s no point to deleting the ribbon, the ribbon itself is a safety device, also know as a backfire device, to prevent a fire.

I’m in MO @ roughly 800’ above sea level. From what I’ve read the 1.8L in my ar250 should be pulling around 7600 rpm’s but I only see 7k on starboard engine and 7100 on Port. I’m considering doing the delete and Riva filters to see if I can get it closer to the 7600 mark. My boat tops out at 45-46mph and others are claiming 50 at full rpm. I usually cruise around 30mph but wouldn’t mind the little extra top end when I’ve got the hammer down. I hadn’t done these upgrades yet bc boat was under warranty and I wasn’t for sure if it would void it or not so I plan on getting it done this summer now I’m out of warranty. I did disconnect the crank breather tube from my intake so it wasn’t spitting oil into my intake and installed a k&n mini filter on each of my motors.

 

[bubbasuwannee]

$80 for OEM? I was looking the other day and couldn't find anything less than $120. For an AIR FILTER... unreal.

This is for the 1.8L motors.

 

[bubbasuwannee]

I’m not surprised by that, just gotta be careful not to over oil the filters. The RIVA ones come with a green type of oil on them as opposed to the red, dunno what difference that is. But, they are not over oiled.

When I talked with the Yamaha dealer up in Bismarck the parts guy told me that they had never even sold a OEM replacement air filter for the TR-1s and I’m guessing for the 1.8L either. Unless you got caught in a Haboob while on Lake Mead / Powell / Havasu etc.. we operate in a dust free environment as @212s stated.

As I mentioned in another thread about deleting the ribbon or other engine modifications, I have yet to see a dyno chart with separate graphs showing stock, and then the different level of modifications.

As far as air filters go, K&N make claims of a certain level of efficiency, but K&N does not show the results of a ISO 5100 test the way S&B air filters does for each application of their filters.

Here is a great air filter test I read years ago. K&N was not happy about this test, but the truth stings a bit sometimes. K&N even tried to get them to pull the test down but the author refused and then asked K&N to show him their test facilities and the tests on their air filters, no response from K&N. K&N used to be made a lot better, now if you hold one up to the sun it looks like a star field.

https://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

After I read this test, and I was running a K&N on my truck, I went out to my truck and took apart the duct after the air filter and ran my finger around the inside then rubbed it on my front teeth and rubbed my teeth together, I could feel the grit that had passed through the K&N. Right then and there I removed that $400 intake system and put the stock one back on. Several thousands of miles later I did the same test with the OEM air filter and zero grit.

From what I saw, the Riva is made by K&N so they are definitely more porous and prone to let more stuff past the filter element. I stopped using K&N stuff on my vehicles years ago because of this. The dry performance filters have been the only ones I've used in recent years, but mainly have been sticking with the OEM paper filters on our Raptors and Edge ST. Wondering if I should keep the paper on my Yamaha as well.

 

[anmut]

This is for the 1.8L motors.

That's what I have...

 

[bubbasuwannee]

That's what I have...

My mistake. I was seeing the 1.8 PWC air filters which are cheaper. Looks like the boat specific 1.8L filters are almost 2x the price. Definitely makes more sense to go with a performance filter in this case.

 

[212s]

I did see an advantage by going to the RIVA drop in K&N style filter. I usually operate my boat at 5000’ above MSL with density altitudes as high as 9000’ with a resulting 27% horsepower loss so every bit of air that I can get into the engines is helpful. Rated rpm for boats TR-1 engines is 8000 roms and I usually saw about 7400 rpm’s with the oem filters.

Yeah for high altitude, impellers and intake mods would help.
Also for the model year, Yamaha changed the intake size and the ribbons are much bigger with later models. Not sure when that changed, but from what I understand the larger intake ribbons make the delete obsolete so I dropped the idea of pulling mine. Also if you have supercharged engines, the delete makes little difference as the intake is pressurized, which also helps with high altitude boating.
Maybe you should get some SC's installed?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Yeah for high altitude, impellers and intake mods would help.
Also for the model year, Yamaha changed the intake size and the ribbons are much bigger with later models. Not sure when that changed, but from what I understand the larger intake ribbons make the delete obsolete so I dropped the idea of pulling mine. Also if you have supercharged engines, the delete makes little difference as the intake is pressurized, which also helps with high altitude boating.
Maybe you should get some SC's installed?

Would love the turbocharged version of the TR-1 that they put in the snow mobiles.

 

[TimW451]

The least expensive I could find the Riva filter was here, $119.95, free shipping, & 15% off first order.

https://aomc.mx/RIVA-AIR-FILTER-YAMAHA-SVHO-SHO-HO.html?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’m in MO @ roughly 800’ above sea level. From what I’ve read the 1.8L in my ar250 should be pulling around 7600 rpm’s but I only see 7k on starboard engine and 7100 on Port. I’m considering doing the delete and Riva filters to see if I can get it closer to the 7600 mark. My boat tops out at 45-46mph and others are claiming 50 at full rpm. I usually cruise around 30mph but wouldn’t mind the little extra top end when I’ve got the hammer down. I hadn’t done these upgrades yet bc boat was under warranty and I wasn’t for sure if it would void it or not so I plan on getting it done this summer now I’m out of warranty. I did disconnect the crank breather tube from my intake so it wasn’t spitting oil into my intake and installed a k&n mini filter on each of my motors.

A couple of things;

-Even at 800’ above mean sea level if it’s really hot and humid that can push the density altitude up into the 2000’ range.
-Have you tried changing the spark plugs? That seems to have helped quite a few people.
-Is the oil level correct? Not too high ?
-Im not sure how your pcv is set up, but have you checked the air filters for oil contamination?
-Next time you are out, try removing the air filters making a couple of runs and see if that makes a difference, that’s what I did and found 150-200 more rpm’s.
-Make sure all the sound insulation is secure around the air filter inlets as there has been a couple of incidents of that insulation coming loose and Gets pulled over during operation then settles back when not in operation, make sure it’s secure by putting your hands on it.
-Are you using the correct octane fuel which I think is 86 for your engines?

Your engines are not achieving rated rpm’s which I thought was 7400 for the 1.8L based on various boat test.com tests of boats with the 1.8L engines, but you’re close. Depending on how and what you use your boat for a slight pitch adjustment on the impellers would get you to rated rpm’s and would get you better pulling performance for tubing, sport boating etc. In my case, the re pitch got me more speed via an increase of roughly 500-600 rpm’s and better pull at the cost of .3-.5 mpg and that trade off was well worth it.

A lot of things can influence speed, weight of cargo and people in the boat and the distribution of that weight, fuel load, hull cleanliness, wind, chop, and the aforementioned atmospheric conditions, at 45-46 mph you’re really close to that magic 50 mph number you’ve read about, but, look into what those that have achieved that number, were they at 20% fuel, little to no cargo, no wind or a tail wind, cool weather condition all factors for optimum speed.

While I get your desire to pick up that 4-5 mph, I’m not sure the juice Is worth the squeeze to dig into the engines to remove the ribbon without some concrete data showing that there is 5 mph of performance there. If your speed is falling off a lot while making turns while towing or making turns while sport boating then having a little less pitch in your impellers will get you some more torque, engines at rated rpm. If you go that route I highly recommend getting another set of impellers and keep your oem ones for spares.

 

[bubbasuwannee]

The least expensive I could find the Riva filter was here, $119.95, free shipping, & 15% off first order.

https://aomc.mx/RIVA-AIR-FILTER-YAMAHA-SVHO-SHO-HO.html?

Nice! I tried to get the 15% coupon, but they haven't sent it yet.

 

[MillsyMO]

A couple of things;

-Even at 800’ above mean sea level if it’s really hot and humid that can push the density altitude up into the 2000’ range.
-Have you tried changing the spark plugs? That seems to have helped quite a few people.
-Is the oil level correct? Not too high ?
-Im not sure how your pcv is set up, but have you checked the air filters for oil contamination?
-Next time you are out, try removing the air filters making a couple of runs and see if that makes a difference, that’s what I did and found 150-200 more rpm’s.
-Make sure all the sound insulation is secure around the air filter inlets as there has been a couple of incidents of that insulation coming loose and Gets pulled over during operation then settles back when not in operation, make sure it’s secure by putting your hands on it.
-Are you using the correct octane fuel which I think is 86 for your engines?

Your engines are not achieving rated rpm’s which I thought was 7400 for the 1.8L based on various boat test.com tests of boats with the 1.8L engines, but you’re close. Depending on how and what you use your boat for a slight pitch adjustment on the impellers would get you to rated rpm’s and would get you better pulling performance for tubing, sport boating etc. In my case, the re pitch got me more speed via an increase of roughly 500-600 rpm’s and better pull at the cost of .3-.5 mpg and that trade off was well worth it.

A lot of things can influence speed, weight of cargo and people in the boat and the distribution of that weight, fuel load, hull cleanliness, wind, chop, and the aforementioned atmospheric conditions, at 45-46 mph you’re really close to that magic 50 mph number you’ve read about, but, look into what those that have achieved that number, were they at 20% fuel, little to no cargo, no wind or a tail wind, cool weather condition all factors for optimum speed.

While I get your desire to pick up that 4-5 mph, I’m not sure the juice Is worth the squeeze to dig into the engines to remove the ribbon without some concrete data showing that there is 5 mph of performance there. If your speed is falling off a lot while making turns while towing or making turns while sport boating then having a little less pitch in your impellers will get you some more torque, engines at rated rpm. If you go that route I highly recommend getting another set of impellers and keep your oem ones for spares.

My boat has hit 45-46mph consistently since break in. The power is amazing and I’m completely happy with that and wouldn’t want to trade that for top end. Even with a full gas tank and boat full of adults it still runs 40mph. My old boat would run about 54mph but would fall on its face with a boat full of adults and tubing with those same folks in my boat would be out of the question. We had 18 people in it and still pulling wakeboarders, so the power is great I just wouldn’t mind the few extra mph on the top end if it’s easily achievable. I have roughly 89 hrs on it now so I’ll be changing the plugs soon. As far as oil level yes I check it often and it’s spot on.
PCV filters are still clean as I check them every time I check the oil.
I plan on pulling the air filters out next time we’re out (probably tomorrow) and see if it makes a difference. I’ll also check the sound insulation ti make sure it’s properly secure. I hadn’t thought of that.
As far as humidity and heat it doesn’t seam to matter. It runs the same mph on a 60 degree April day as it did yesterday when it was 101 degrees out.
There was a tiny bit of slack in the throttle cables in the engine compartment so I was hopeful tightening that up would help it pull the extra rpm’s out of the engine but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
Thanks for all the information and suggestions.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

My boat has hit 45-46mph consistently since break in. The power is amazing and I’m completely happy with that and wouldn’t want to trade that for top end. Even with a full gas tank and boat full of adults it still runs 40mph. My old boat would run about 54mph but would fall on its face with a boat full of adults and tubing with those same folks in my boat would be out of the question. We had 18 people in it and still pulling wakeboarders, so the power is great I just wouldn’t mind the few extra mph on the top end if it’s easily achievable. I have roughly 89 hrs on it now so I’ll be changing the plugs soon. As far as oil level yes I check it often and it’s spot on.
PCV filters are still clean as I check them every time I check the oil.
I plan on pulling the air filters out next time we’re out (probably tomorrow) and see if it makes a difference. I’ll also check the sound insulation ti make sure it’s properly secure. I hadn’t thought of that.
As far as humidity and heat it doesn’t seam to matter. It runs the same mph on a 60 degree April day as it did yesterday when it was 101 degrees out.
There was a tiny bit of slack in the throttle cables in the engine compartment so I was hopeful tightening that up would help it pull the extra rpm’s out of the engine but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
Thanks for all the information and suggestions.

Glad to hear your boat is performing so well over all, sounds like you, your family and friends are really enjoying your boat which awesome!

A lot of folks have found extra rpm’s with new plugs.

Also, as @212s mentioned the later model years had an increase in size of the intake tract and a larger ribbon was installed making the delete obsolete.

The throttle cables drive potentiometers, once the potentiometer has reached full output then that’s it, making it rotate further doesn’t change the output, the only way to really adjust the potentiometer is to use some specialized connectors and a multimeter and follow the procedure in the service manual. I took the slack out of mine and there was no change either, but it never hurts to try!

I just read another post yesterday about the insulation laying up against the intake..there has been a couple of people who found the insulation would get sucked into the intake at higher rpm’s then lay back into position once the rpm’s dropped back down. That would be maddening!

Be sure you are running 86(?check your manual) octane fuel. A lot of people think that 91-93 octane fuel has more power, it does not, it has the same amount of btu’s as 86 octane has, and 91-93 will actually hurt performance and make it run hotter in an engine designed to run on 86 octane. What 91-93 octane fuel does have is a higher anti knock / detonation resistance for use in engines with higher compression ratios / cylinder pressure like the super charged version of the engines in your boat. In engines that don’t have the higher compression / cylinder pressure like your engines, 91-93 octane burns too slow and doesn’t create the same peak pressure that 86 octane would, and the burn lasts longer which raises the heat in the cylinder and on top of the piston. It’s not a huge difference, but you are down to chasing a few hundred rpm’s and every little bit can count. If you can, run non ethanol fuel, it does have more btu’s per gallon than ethanol laced fuel does by virtue of not having a 10% concentration of ethanol which has roughly 44,000 btu’s per gallon versus gasoline and its 95,000 btu’s per gallon, and you don’t have the alcohol and it’s hygroscopic nature to attract and absorb water from the atmosphere.

Hope you get out on the water today!

 

[MillsyMO]

Glad to hear your boat is performing so well over all, sounds like you, your family and friends are really enjoying your boat which awesome!

A lot of folks have found extra rpm’s with new plugs.

Also, as @212s mentioned the later model years had an increase in size of the intake tract and a larger ribbon was installed making the delete obsolete.

The throttle cables drive potentiometers, once the potentiometer has reached full output then that’s it, making it rotate further doesn’t change the output, the only way to really adjust the potentiometer is to use some specialized connectors and a multimeter and follow the procedure in the service manual. I took the slack out of mine and there was no change either, but it never hurts to try!

I just read another post yesterday about the insulation laying up against the intake..there has been a couple of people who found the insulation would get sucked into the intake at higher rpm’s then lay back into position once the rpm’s dropped back down. That would be maddening!

Be sure you are running 86(?check your manual) octane fuel. A lot of people think that 91-93 octane fuel has more power, it does not, it has the same amount of btu’s as 86 octane has, and 91-93 will actually hurt performance and make it run hotter in an engine designed to run on 86 octane. What 91-93 octane fuel does have is a higher anti knock / detonation resistance for use in engines with higher compression ratios / cylinder pressure like the super charged version of the engines in your boat. In engines that don’t have the higher compression / cylinder pressure like your engines, 91-93 octane burns too slow and doesn’t create the same peak pressure that 86 octane would, and the burn lasts longer which raises the heat in the cylinder and on top of the piston. It’s not a huge difference, but you are down to chasing a few hundred rpm’s and every little bit can count. If you can, run non ethanol fuel, it does have more btu’s per gallon than ethanol laced fuel does by virtue of not having a 10% concentration of ethanol which has roughly 44,000 btu’s per gallon versus gasoline and its 95,000 btu’s per gallon, and you don’t have the alcohol and it’s hygroscopic nature to attract and absorb water from the atmosphere.

Hope you get out on the water today!

Yes I run 87 octane in it. I’ve never seen ethanol free 87 octane around me they only have it in 91 or 93 octane. I’ll keep my eye out and ask around to see if it is available. I’ll change my plugs out soon and hopefully that will make the difference.
Like I said before if it’s easily achievable by checking a few things and making sure I’m up to date on proper maintenance then great. If not it’s not a big deal as I’m extremely happy with the new boat.

 

[212s]

I have roughly 89 hrs on it now so I’ll be changing the plugs soon.

You only need to check the plugs every 100 hours or yearly. No need to replace them if they're good and within spec. I didn't change mine until 201 hours and they were still within spec and boat ran 53mph every time. My new plugs I'll probably run them to 300 hours. The 1.8 engines seem to run well with older plugs as long as they're within spec. The TR-1 engines are more sensitive to plugs. However you might have a bad plug. The colour and condition of the plug will tell you a lot about what's happening inside the combustion chamber. They should all look similar to this with no excessive wear or deposits:


Click to enlarge.

I plan on pulling the air filters out

Unless they're dirty and clogged, it likely won't make a difference as they're not very restrictive.

As far as humidity and heat it doesn’t seam to matter. It runs the same mph on a 60 degree April day as it did yesterday when it was 101 degrees out.

Same here...temp doesn't seem to make much difference at my altitude of 243 feet. At 800 you're losing almost 3% horsepower compared to none for me under 300 feet. 3% loss would mean about 7300 rpm.

There was a tiny bit of slack in the throttle cables in the engine compartment so I was hopeful tightening that up would help it pull the extra rpm’s out of the engine but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

Same here...I snugged them up but WOT is still hit just shy of the throttle being maxed. Max rpm for me is just over 7600 on both engines running normal 87 fuel with 10% ethanol. I ran 89 ethanol free in one tank and it made no difference at all.

Check your intake tunnels to ensure they're smooth - you might be losing a bit due to mild cavitation if the intake sealant is not smooth or missing.

 

[MillsyMO]

I just got back from the lake and I couldn’t get the filters out of the box. I’ll get it done in my shop where I have tools take the boot off. I couldn’t move it back far enough to see what I was doing and I didn’t want to rip it trying to get it out. (I’ve been known to tear sh*t up with a bit too much force from time to time )
My boat hits full rpm’s at a little past half throttle. The rest of the throttle is useless. I had 4 adults, 1 child, awning out, and only about 30% fuel. It ran 43mph which is normal for my boat. 45mph after we dropped the other family off and it was just me and my wife, roughly 340#’s total and around 20% fuel.
I’ve only ran premium fuel in it once and that was bc that’s all I could buy at the Marina. It didn’t seem to effect the way it ran either neg or pos.
I have never even looked at the plugs but without looking in the manual I’m pretty sure it suggested to change them every 100hrs. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to change them if it needs it or not especially after break in.
I forgot to take a photo of my PCV setup but basically I just unplugged the hose from the intake and zip tied a k&n mini filter in it and zip tied a rubber cap over the intake hole. I didn’t do that for performance but longevity of the motor. I’ve seen first hand the carbon build up on piston heads from the oil puking into the intake from those hoses. EPA requires it but it ruins your engine from the carbon buildup. It can even score the cylinder walls when it gets enough of it built up on the piston head.

 

[MillsyMO]

Any specific plug for these 1.8L engines? I found a Yamaha dealer on eBay selling 4 qts yamahaLube, OEM oil filter, and 4 NGK plugs for $83x2 shipped to my house. I’ve always ran NGK plugs in my dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, and automobiles and have always been happy with them but wanted to see if anyone knows if one runs better than the other in these 1.8L engines.

 

[212s]

Any specific plug for these 1.8L engines?

The NGK plugs are good, specifically the LFR6A for normally aspirated engines.