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DIY Additional Cold Air Intake

36K views 30 replies 16 participants last post by  Mendo 
#1 · (Edited)
Since I've been wanting to add an extra CAI duct to my car since getting the new FMIC I finally got around to it today.

Between the intercooler plumbing being in the way, their duct being so tiny and expensive to boot I passed on IPD's solution and made my own instead. Fortunately advanced auto parts had a whole shelf of intake ducting accessories, so between that and some hardware from lowes I whipped myself up a 3" supplemental ram air solution this evening.


Best part is that everything cost me only $70 even if I count the new jiqsaw purchase as well.



















Edit: Just Trying To Make This Thread Searchable Again . . .
 
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#2 ·
Re: DIY Additional Cold Air Intake (StealthyS60R)

Very nice, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at with the peice next to the hammer and pliers???

Is that your homemade duct??
 
#3 ·
Re: DIY Additional Cold Air Intake (bobbrown13)

Quote, originally posted by bobbrown13 »
Very nice, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at with the peice next to the hammer and pliers???

Is that your homemade duct??

Yes, that's what it is.

I protyped the duct with construction paper and then cut the final blank out of some sheet aluminum, bent it into shape and painted it black.

Here is a pic of it from another angle.

 
#5 ·
Hey, I'm an aerospace engineer so I know what I'm doing, lol. It actually turned out very well since it was quick and simple to fabricate then cliped in perfectly and is performing as expected. Lets just say from a flow perspective its overkill.

I just had a chance to make my 21 mile commute into work this morning.

One nice side effect in having a big snorkle hole from the airbox to the outdoors is you can hear a lot more neat turbo and blow off noises, its practically worth it for that alone, lol.

But on the performance side boost appears to come on a little faster, especially at speed.

After watching the IATs, cruise appears to be a degree or two cooler than normal and at WOT the heating rate appears slower and recoverty time faster as well.

It could just be the placebo effect but the next time we have a 70 degree evening I'll hook the data logger up and grab some more data.

Then again I have a new catback exhaust as well so it won't be possible to get the numbers on the duct exclusively, but me likey!
 
#6 ·
Re: DIY Additional Cold Air Intake (StealthyS60R)

You have quite a large hose there...


Seriously though, there are enough people running intercoolers now there might be a market for a duct that is more compatible... If you could mass produce it it, you could probably sell that to people that have already gone with previous systems from me/IPD...

http://********************/smile/emthup.gif
 
#7 ·
Not a bad idea Kelly, at least for people that have removed a lot of the factory panels for their intercooler install like I did.

Even with all that stuff and the factory intercooler removed its still a tight fit. I literally had to screw that 3" duct into its spot since it was too big to pull through, lol.
 
#8 ·
Re: DIY Additional Cold Air Intake ("R" Kelly)

I'm in this boat as well, my original Kelly CAI scoop no longer fits with the intercooler piping. So for now, its just kind of wedged in the ballpark of where it should be. I really like your solution.
 
#9 ·
My improvised duct does good job at directing nearly all of the vent flow upward into the duct which intersects it at about a 50 degree angle.

Such beautiful sounds come back out of it now too.
 
#10 ·
Re: (StealthyS60R)

With an intercooler, a CAI is largely redundant. Most important aspect is letting the box breathe properly. Having that source out of the engine bay is better. The scoop is largely unnecessary, mostly aesthetic.

Your setup is MORE than adequate. http://********************/smile/emthup.gif
 
#11 ·
Re: (Needsdecaf)

Ok.. I'm mildly confused.

"With an intercooler, a CAI is largely redundant. Most important aspect is letting the box breathe properly. Having that source out of the engine bay is better. The scoop is largely unnecessary, mostly aesthetic."

My understanding was that the purpose of the supplemental CAI was 2-fold:

1) Cooler intake air

2) Relieve the negative airbox pressure under high throttle openings

I completely understand that the intercooler upgrade resolves the intake air temp issues. Is your point that since the negative airbox pressure issue is limited to WOT, that it's a lesser problem unless tracking the car ?

Either way,it's a nice installation !


Thanks,
Michael

http://********************/smile/emthup.gif
 
#12 ·
Re: (zeedragon)

Quote, originally posted by zeedragon »


I completely understand that the intercooler upgrade resolves the intake air temp issues. Is your point that since the negative airbox pressure issue is limited to WOT, that it's a lesser problem unless tracking the car ?

Thanks,
Michael

limited to http://********************/smile/emthup.gif

No, my point is that the biggest benefit of the CAI was, as you pointed out, more COLD air.

The airbox vacuum is very slight, and only at WOT, as you say. So simply poking a hole in the airbox would relieve that. Of course, no need to make the intercooler work any harder than it needs to, so feed it from outside.
.
 
#13 ·
Re: (Needsdecaf)

Quote, originally posted by Needsdecaf »
The airbox vacuum is very slight, and only at WOT, as you say. So simply poking a hole in the airbox would relieve that. Of course, no need to make the intercooler work any harder than it needs to, so feed it from outside.
.

To clarify though, and this was likely beyond the intent of your post, if you're tuned and running higher boost, airbox vacuum is a more significant issue, right? I'm not tuned at the moment...but...

With respect to vanity, as Stealthy points out, while it doesn't help you get around any quicker, the extra sound from a CAI is a beautiful thing. http://********************/smile/emthup.gif
 
#23 ·
Quote, originally posted by Needsdecaf »
The airbox vacuum is very slight, and only at WOT, as you say. So simply poking a hole in the airbox would relieve that. Of course, no need to make the intercooler work any harder than it needs to, so feed it from outside.
.

To clarify though, and this was likely beyond the intent of your post, if you're tuned and running higher boost, airbox vacuum is a more significant issue, right? I'm not tuned at the moment...but...

With respect to vanity, as Stealthy points out, while it doesn't help you get around any quicker, the extra sound from a CAI is a beautiful thing. http://********************/smile/emthup.gif
Those numbers are tuned. It's not going to get much larger than that.
 
#14 ·
Re: (michaelc)

Quote, originally posted by michaelc »
To clarify though, and this was likely beyond the intent of your post, if you're tuned and running higher boost, airbox vacuum is a more significant issue, right?

Yes.

Quote, originally posted by "R" Kelly »
There were still some rather vocal doubters recently, so last night I broke my promise to not abuse my clutch anymore and did some GTech acceleration runs with CAI open and blocked. I did 3 with and 3 without, and here are the best two of each (black/red CAI open, green/blue CAI blocked).



Note the higher trap speeds and the much quicker 60-80mph times with CAI, that is the ram-air effect working for you. You can visually see the black/red lines pull away above 60mph.

Over all runs, CAI averaged at least 10hp in third gear.

Of special note, the last run without CAI was a terrific launch without bog (got the tires to break lose a little bit), leading to a respectable 13.832 @ 100.63mph. But despite that, on the CAI run not shown 13.972 (lots of bog), I still managed to trap at over 102mph.

So hopefully this settles the question, yes $100 and 2 hours of your time is worth it. You get 10+ hp and can knock 2/10s off and add 2mph to your 1/4 mile runs.

And for those of you in Europe, you get to enjoy crazy ram-air positive pressure at the 100+ mph speeds, system just keeps getting better.

To read about positive effects of eliminating negative pressure on turbo engines...


Quote, originally posted by Needsdecaf »

Blot, this is a priceless find. Thanks for this, it will be linked to the FAQ thread immediately!!

Guys, this spells things out as plain as plain can be.

As you can see, Needsdecaf is a huge believer in eliminating negative boost.
 
#15 ·
Wow, thanks for the great extra data and visuals Kelly, I always like when my one of my show off threads can help bring about some good additional tech talk.

Though I haven't had a chance to collect any data yet my butt dyno was already telling me what your data validates quite clearly.


And though its probably all overkill makes me wonder what a difference it makes that my CAI has twice the flow area of your unit, lol.
 
#18 ·
I read a book "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell, according to his book the down pipe diameter should be more than intake diameter. So more air, is not good sometimes.
 
#19 ·
Hmm, though I've read that book before I also learned a lot about thermodynamics and fluids thanks to getting my aerospace degree.

He was probably referring to your engine intake or turbo plumbing, not the CAI. The CAI is all about making sure there is minimal restriction before the turbo inlet.
 
#22 ·
ok, agree with you.
 
#20 ·
So, went out bought those parts...didn't really spend anytime planning, just installed the hose adapter like you did (while bbqing and drinking beers in my backyard)...When I finally went to put it back in later, I reallized the intercooler piping is in the way...like practically touching the inlet I just put in, so there's really no way to put the hose on there.... That's what I get for not planning ahead.

Anyway, will the hot air in the engine bay have a negative affect with that hole there and no cold air tube going to it?

Also, I eventually would like to get the Phuz intercooler installed, but thats months away...Should I cover up the hole I made and make another one in the side for now so that I can make this a cold air intake?

And lastly, how the heck do I get the tube to the fog light; Or are there some plastic parts that come out with the aftermarket intercooler installation?

Thanks
 
#21 ·
Oh yes, I guess I should have mentioned that Peels.

I'm missing all the factory plumbing and plastic splash guards. There would be no way to get a 3" tube through like I did with the factory intercooler and other stuff in place.

The increased flow will probably make up for any increased temps if you just want to leave it open till you do the FMIC upgrade.
 
#24 ·
nice build , I actually just bought a velocity stack that fits into a 6" opening end of a K&N filter. The stack has a 4" hole so then i will run a silicone 4" to 3" reducer and mount it to the intake pipe. Here is where i got the idea
http://www.bpinitiatives.com/ as my roots are in the imports as well:)
 
#25 · (Edited)
like this?


 
#27 ·
Contemplating whether I should take advantage of iPd's summer sale and buy their product or go the homemade route. Any experienced CAI members care to chime in?
 
#28 ·
Build one or buy one, same effect and cost isn't too bad since the R Kelly is relatively priced well.

I personally built a custom 3" one.
 
#29 ·
EST also offers the R kelly intake as well
 
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