I have been trying to figure out what I was going to do for the air cleaner on the 1988 Sportster Project. There are a lot of options out there, and I am trying to keep the cost down. The intake manifold I am using is from an earlier Sportster so the carburetor sticks out a little more than it would if it was stock so I needed to keep that in mind as well. I ended up modifying an inexpensive (about $22 delivered) aftermarket air cleaner for a VW bug.

This is the EMPI 9044 Air Cleaner with Gauze Element I ordered from Amazon.

The air cleaner has a 1″ flange that extends from the backing plate with a clamp to clamp it to the throat of a Volkswagon carburetor. I cut off the flange with a Dremel. Then used the back plate gasket as a template to drill the mounting holes to fit to the CV carburetor on the Sportster. There is also a vent hose connection on the air cleaner, I cut this off as well and replaced it with a 90 degree 3/8″ hose fitting for the vent from the gear case.

Attached the air cleaner to the carburetor with 1/4-20 socket head screws.

The air cleaner is only 2″ deep after cutting off the flange and it is 5 1/2″ round.

For the low cost and minimal effort I think it looks pretty good on there.

She is coming together. Going to try to finish up the fabrication of the sissybar this weekend…