Honda recommends opening up the airbox when the HRC kit is installed on the XR650R. Some people with just the power up kit installed have also reported good results with gains of a few horsepower above 4,500 RPM's. The increased air intake may lean out the bike a bit, so be sure to jet your bike accordingly. Honda recommends using the #185 main jet with this mod. For the wire mesh, Honda recommends #30 which is woven gauze 0.15mm~0.3mm wire with 0.85mm spacing. While this mod is inexpensive, it does have some drawbacks such as increased noise from the intake, the air filter gets dirtier quicker andit's more difficult to wash your bike.

If you decide to do this mod, make sure you don't cut out any of the plastic supports ribs and leave enough room around them so the side cover structure isn't compromised. You can use a straight edge and a scribe on the backside of the panel next to the plastic ribs to make your marks. A drill can be used for the corners to leave a nice radius. A Dremel tool with a cut off saw or die grinder can then be used to cut the tough plastic, which is surprisingly thick in some sections. If you have a deburring tool for plastic, you can take care of business a little more quickly, but a file, sand paper & scotch bright pads also does the job of removing the burs and cleaning up the surface. Honda recommends a #30 mesh screen on the backside. Some people rivet the screen in place while others have had good luck bonding it to the backside. Another person who was interested in this mod decided to be a little creative and drilled out his side cover with a designon it (below), this too may also be effective.

Credits: Submitted by qadsan and edited by 4Strokes.com