Every 3-Wheeler is a beautiful machine as it comes out of the Malvern factory. But really few are identical. The aspect configurations are almost infinite. Morgan offers you a large palette of colours for the body, and even the possibility of choosing your bespoke colour. And an enormous choice of leather colours; plus different ways to stich the leather: pleated, quilted or squared. And you can also choose a contrast colour stitching. Then you have two kinds of dashboards: the standard and the classic – also known as “Heritage” dashboard – and this last one offers different wooden panels. And this is just the base… From there, you can choose the colour of the mudguards; the wheels can be black, body colour painted, or any other colour of your choice, or chromed; then come the decals; etc. Impressive.
Then come the OEM options: steering wheels, exhausts, air intake filters… Really finding two 3-Wheelers identical is rare.
AM and I played that game very soon, changing the standard steering wheel for a wooden one (see post Hangar works #1 – The steering wheel). And now we decided to change the air intake filter unit.
The original one is a simple black cover, hiding completely the air filter, with reduced air intake area. We like it, but we’ve seen other options that attired our attention.
The engine’s manufacturer S&S gives you some options, associated with their Stealth Air Cleaner kit. This kit mounts an air filter with larger intake and totally open and exposed to the exterior, with just a front plate.
The front plate choices for the Stealth Air Intake kit are the following ones:
AM and I chose the chromed Muscle Cover, as its looks with the lanyards catching the pins holding the cover are, in our opinion, more vintage. At least more our 3-Wheeler aesthetics.
The change of the standard air intake kit is very simple. You have just to consider two peculiarities.
The first one is that the S&S is an American engine, so all its screws and fixings are imperial sized. So, you need to have imperial-sized Allen keys. Also, to tight the Muscle Cover screws you’ll need a classic ½” wrench, but a 13mm will also do the job as it’s very similar in size. And of course, a crescent wrench would do the job too. To complete the tools for this change, you’ll need a pair of scissors, a flat head screwdriver and thread locker liquid.
The Allen key sizes you’ll need are 5/16 – ¼ – 7/32 – 3/16 and 5/32.
Following the easy instructions supplied with the Stealth Air Intake kit and the Muscle Cover, it should take you half an hour to do this job in the garage.
There is only one thing you should consider, and this is that you need to remove the big black upper cover of the S&S engine to properly tight the new kit. And this big black cover is fixed to the cooling fan behind the engine (if your 3-Wheeler is equipped with it).
You just must pay attention to the small steel tubes that guide the long screws of the top. Be careful they don’t fall while removing it.
Here is the final result.
The Stealth Air Intake with the Muscle Cover is less voluminous than the original black bowl. So, apart allowing a bigger air intake to the engine, it will for sure allow a better air flow around the cylinder heads, which is positive for the cooling of the engine.
We love the new look of our little rocket!
Hola Commander Javier,
I have recently bought a M3W and would like to replace the air intake cover with the Muscle cover. I have found a company in the UK where I am based who sell one (https://www.hogparts.co.uk) – will this bolt straight on are there any other parts required.
Gracias and a happy new year
Hello Gareth!
You need two parts: the stealth air filter and the muscle cover. I can’t see in the description of the link that the filter is included (but I might be wrong and it is?). It may be just the cover. The standard filter mounted in the 3-Wheeler does not fit the muscle cover, so you really need the stealth filter too.