After a dusty back-road ride with the new air filter a check reveals the Air-box leaks! A previous ride with the stock filter looked suspicious but not conclusive.
The new foam air filter is over 1 inch thick and that may be contributing to the leaking air-box because it is more difficult to pull air through it. By comparison a common POD foam filter is about ½ inch. That increases the pressure inside the air-box to pull air from any leaks. The foam appears to also be finer or more PPI (foam spaces) than the UNI filter material which is 65 PPI. This 1-inch generator foam filter could be as much as 80 PPI with smaller pores better filtration but more resistance to air flow.
Dust into the engine is not acceptable, the Team went after removing the air box to find the problem. NOT a task for the faint of heart as it is difficult to remove, the rear half of the exhaust comes off and many disconnections and removal of electronics as the air-box is a mounting plate with many components riveted through the plastic sidewalls. Disconnected it is not easy to get out of the frame and requires a bend side wise to come out. PIA but this team has taken out a Magician Air-box which is more than a warm up for this job
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The air-box has three main parts that screw together with rubber gaskets for each part. If a gasket does not fit tight that would be an issue. The Air-box did not show any obvious point of entry but the most suspicious area is the first connection or top of the main box that fits over the large bottom box.
The Team elected to seal the first or bottom section cover gasket and the air filter gasket where it fits to the air-box with hylomar (Megadan tip-Hylomar). The filter cover was not sealed as any leaks would still be filtered. We also sealed around any rivet points and placed sealer behind the right-side electronics plate and thread lock on the bolts that go into the air-box.
Thoughts: Testing will tell, if that fixes the problem. She ran 56 mph on the WOT course so could be that thick filter is starving the motor for air up top. Performance wise, the sweet spot might be one layer of UNI foam 65 PPI and on top a layer of 30 PPI both oiled but that test is for another day and depends on the air-box proving to be dust-proof.