Scooterize a Vulcan 800 Airbox

Here's my take on the infamous Scooterize mod for a friend's Vulcan 800. I'm not going into all the details of fitting it onto the bike, because the Russian Wolf's write-up has all that covered. I've refered to this write-up a few times putting on aftermarket airboxes on 800's, but this is the first time I have mod'ed a stock box. The big things I do a bit different is I didn't cut everything in the airbox flush and use weatherstripping and I made the backing plate large enough to cover the large crankcase port.

So here goes. Okie Smoke donated a takeoff airbox to work on, so the bike down time would be minimized.

Cut off the snorkel part with a dremel and cutoff wheel.



Now the inside ridge(index finger) has to be cut off. Note the crazy cuts by my thumb, oops.


Like a glove, that's why I didn't do any more cuting or use the weather strip behind it.


Tried to sand everything flush on the backside. It ended up more or less knocking down the high spots, but that should be enough.


I got a 26 gauge piece of sheet metal for the backing plate.


The mounting hole on the plate in 15/16 inch, but of course my choices where 3/4 inch step bit or 1 1/4 inch hole saw. The hole is bigger, but that shouldn't matter.


I hit the metal with the sander, cleaned it brake cleaner, and sprayed one side black.


While that dries, it's time to cut up the dog dish cover. I wanted to get creative with this and not do the typical straight cut, so I marked it into quarters.


Bierkan helped me figure how to lay this out. I marked around the dish at 1 1/2 from the bottom edge, the marked a radius from the centerline down the to the edge at all four marks.



I marked the second side of the first scallop by eye.


Then made I template to do the other three.



Time to cut again.



I sanded the edges with the dremel and a sanding drum, once all four openings were cut.


Now for some okie chrome on the raw edges to prevent rust on the edges.


I left the blue tape on, so the paint only went on the edges that had been cut.


The paint is dry on the inside of the backing plate cover, so I'll start into finishing it up.


I pre-drilled and screwed the first screw in to hold everything in place.


I marked the painted side with a silver pen.


I took everything back apart and cut off the excess.


Perfect fit.


I pre-drilled holes for the screws on the edges and rivets across the middle.


Now to put plenty black silcone on the high spots and everywhere. I'll wear disposable glove when working this much silicon next time.


Sealed, screwed, riveted, and cleaned off for paint.


I put a little more silicon on the inside.


More black paint, I know you won't see it, but still.


I like it. Hopefully, I'll get this on the bike this week and he'll like.