Out of curiosity I removed my air intake grill from between the seats.  I was surprised fo find that the air intake pipe had a pre-filter on it.  I was even more surprised to see that the intake hole faces backwards and is incredibly small.  What are your thoughts on this?  My first instinct was to break out my Dremel and cut a whole in the front of the tube and ditch the pre-filter.  Do you think cutting a hole in the front of the intake will cause excessive noise?  I can see now why the other poster (can't remember his name) cut a hole in his bed.  Makes sense now.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I'm the guy that ported it to the outside. I opted to leave the prefilter off as it was already about half plugged. The thing to remember is these are designed to have a certain level of restriction and even the modifications I did going from about 2" to 2.25" could have had a negative reaction. It didn't...and I am happy about that.

There is quite a bit of room on the back side so don't worry about that being a problem. 

I just watched your video.  Good info.  I think for now I am just going to leave it as is and ditch the pre-filter.  Mine was very dirty, I'm surprise (not surprised) that it wasn't mentioned in the manual.  Owners should know that its there. 

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I just watched your video.  Good info.  I think for now I am just going to leave it as is and ditch the pre-filter.  Mine was very dirty, I'm surprise (not surprised) that it wasn't mentioned in the manual.  Owners should know that its there. 

I agree. I would not have known about it until I took the cover off.

There is a lot of talk about the intake system on the 800EX.  In my opinion I think its a solid setup. It's simple and it works.  As long as the boot between the filter and throttle body is tight there is nothing to worry about.  Even if you ran without the airbox lid and just ran the guard you would be protected.  Deep mud is a different story.  That being said  I feel that the airbox seals perfectly.  I took my drain hose off.  If I was gonna run deep mud I would re install it.  The intake is waterproof up to the intake grill inside the cab.  I don't plan on ever going that deep in water.  If I ever found myself in that situation I would shut it down way before water came close to being ingested.  Adding snorkels will only increase restriction.

I do however have two problems with the air intake system. 

1:  I think the intake pipe is too small.
2:  In my opinion the intake pulls in too much hot air.  Even when moving.

To resolve these issues I am going to drill a hole and install a grill in the bed like NMKawirider did.  I will then drill a hole in the front of the intake pipe.  Hopefully this will allow more heat to escape and more fresh air in.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this modification. 

There is a lot of talk about the intake system on the 800EX.  In my opinion I think its a solid setup. It's simple and it works.  As long as the boot between the filter and throttle body is tight there is nothing to worry about.  Even if you ran without the airbox lid and just ran the guard you would be protected.  Deep mud is a different story.  That being said  I feel that the airbox seals perfectly.  I took my drain hose off.  If I was gonna run deep mud I would re install it.  The intake is waterproof up to the intake grill inside the cab.  I don't plan on ever going that deep in water.  If I ever found myself in that situation I would shut it down way before water came close to being ingested.  Adding snorkels will only increase restriction.

I do however have two problems with the air intake system. 

1:  I think the intake pipe is too small.
2:  In my opinion the intake pulls in too much hot air.  Even when moving.

To resolve these issues I am going to drill a hole and install a grill in the bed like NMKawirider did.  I will then drill a hole in the front of the intake pipe.  Hopefully this will allow more heat to escape and more fresh air in.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this modification.

read my post about my airbox failure... its not as rock solid as you think.

I would not drill a hole in front. I'd just open it to the bed like NM did. Drilling a hole in front will only let hot air in, defeating the purpose.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I would not drill a hole in front. I'd just open it to the bed like NM did. Drilling a hole in front will only let hot air in, defeating the purpose.

I am pretty happy with that intake and the engine also likes the constant cooler air as well. The only thing I might do in the future is make a little hood to deflect any rain and run-off. You also have to be a bit careful blasting out the bed with a pressure washer.

Spaceman78, have you seen the setup behind the intake grill?  It's not what you expect.  I was surprised.  The opening faces the bed and their is barely enough room to get your fingers in behind it.  My thought was that drilling holes in the front of the air pipe and in the bed would cause more airflow in that area.  More options for cold air to enter the intake.  At idle it would let more heat out, and more cool air in.  While moving there would be all kinds of turbulence in that area.  Which is want I want.  The setup now seems to bleed heat off of the exhaust up and out of the intake grill all the time.  Once again this is just my opinion.  I want to hear everybody's input on this.

I've had my grill off. It's tight in there. I think NM has the right setup unless you want to snorkel.  If you cut holes in the front of the pipe and leave the grill open, any dust in the cab or water that splashes in can get in the intake. If you close the grill like NM, it'll pull hot air in. That's just my thoughts. I plan to go full snorkel.

I've had my grill off. It's tight in there. I think NM has the right setup unless you want to snorkel.  If you cut holes in the front of the pipe and leave the grill open, any dust in the cab or water that splashes in can get in the intake. If you close the grill like NM, it'll pull hot air in. That's just my thoughts. I plan to go full snorkel.

If and when you do your full snorkel. ...numerous photos at different stages of completion would be of great interest to me and I'm pretty sure others also! 

Don't worry. I plan to document the whole thing. It doesn't look like it will be too hard.