Hi all I have been reading with interest all the discussion about cold air intakes and after looking at my engine bay and realising the space issues were not going away I decided to look at the existing air intake.

After playing around with some moddelling clay and timber I relised that the standard intake is woefull and large gains in flow can be gained for minimal effort. I have enclosed some photos of what I have done for comment.

Has it made a difference who knows without a dyno run its hard to quantify.

I have also removed the plastic between the grill and radiator to improve flow around the air intake.

Hey wheres the pics??

Still no photos mate

sorry glenn, had to use it. bloody funny in TAZ's thread lol

can't wait to see the pics mate, we'll let you off the hook cause your new :D

try again okay less than 100kb selected the

soooo, did you cut the bottom of the vent out and make it deeper?
hard to make out from the pics, but is it still joined on the sides?

The whole bottom is cut away and the new fibreglass peice is attached to the sides I am working on the rest of the photos which show the whole process sorry for the delay.

don't worry bout the delay on the pics mate, tis cool.

pretty sure no one has done what you have, so its original. but i didn't think it would make much difference unless you increase the size of the opening? or moved the air intake to a place where there is more airflow? eg: hole in front bar

what are your thought?

this is the replacement bottom piece, the entry to the intake is considerably larger I would estimate twice the area with a lot less restriction. when you have a look at the photos have a look at your intake from the side and you will see the difference. Also at the front where you can barely get your fingers into the intake the hump is completely gone.

Would love to compare on a dyno.

Nice work. You have only addressed half the prob, you need to remove some of the top lip to open it up a bit. I did this on my TF last year - see pics.

I see you also have a K&N Panel, with this setup do you suffer the dreaded acceleration dead spot?

No, no flat spot that I have noticed.

EZ Boy I had a look at your photos before starting this, as I have opened up the intake substantially by removing the hump where the intake passes over the radiator I am undecided whether to cut that portion away. If I do I am going to remold the whole top and get rid of the ridges this will increase the interior by another 5mm. I am also in the process of making a deflector to pick up air from behind the grill will post more on that later.

EZ boy had another look at what you have done got out the modelling clay again and realised that there is another 8-10 mm that i can use on top I have enclosed pictures to show the process, while doing this I am going to blend in the ridges on top of the intake right back to where the intake enters the air box this will open up and smooth the inside of the intake.

This will achieve similar results but still using the rubber seal.

I am also going to try to radius the entry to the intake this should also increase flow.

photo explanation

front 1 finding clearances
front 2 same
front 3 the result the white area on top demonstrates how far I can open up the intake
front 4 view from the top the new area would be blended all the way to the rear.

I love this guy!

Look at the time, effort and precision workmanship.... reminds me of me! lol

People will want you to make custom body kits and consoles if you're not careful!! :redface:

Nice work, Peter! :cool:

This is the sort of thing that Herrod Motorsport makes for Fords.

Is this your job or are you just good at tinkering with clay and stuff?

Thanks once complete I will make a mould and can pass them on to those who wants it (maybe there is a fibreglasser out there) ......It would be a good job,,, no just tinkering. when I get the rest done I will post it here.

I guess the next thing to do is have a look at where the intake actually draws air from, at first inspection it would seem very tight in front of the air intake. Off to buy more modelling clay and have another look.

I guess the next thing to do is have a look at where the intake actually draws air from, at first inspection it would seem very tight in front of the air intake. Off to buy more modelling clay and have another look.

I would of thought u would think about that before you did all that work. Its good work, but im skeptical that it would make much difference when the position of the snorkel is still the same (above radiator and sh!tty). IMO much better to draw colder air from a lower position, ie, lower part of the front bar :)

Your work is impresive nonetheless

No, no flat spot that I have noticed.

EZ Boy I had a look at your photos before starting this, as I have opened up the intake substantially by removing the hump where the intake passes over the radiator I am undecided whether to cut that portion away. If I do I am going to remold the whole top and get rid of the ridges this will increase the interior by another 5mm. I am also in the process of making a deflector to pick up air from behind the grill will post more on that later.

You mean something kind of like this?

Black advance, very simialar but taken one step further, I have put a deflector on both sides of the bonnet latch, I can do this because of the changes I have made to the air intake as shown in the photos.

With the deflectors fitted I now get water droplets into the intake indicating that there is a good flow of air making it all the way back. The water gets in from both sides.

This is all an experiment and seems to be making improvements to the driveability of the car.

Damn!!

Good work man!

Looking very good so far.. This is just gonna progress into bonnet scoops :)

I have to salute you for your time and effort dude... Well Done

I wonder if you could mold to of these intakes together and make it the whole length of the radiator like the Hot Box in the HSV Commodores?.

What i noticed after I got my deflector made up was that the saftey catch on the bonnet appeared to block the intake. A crash repairer told me you could cut out the excess metal but it could weaken the catch. alot of effort for minimal gain. however the wank factor would definately be up there.

What i noticed after I got my deflector made up was that the saftey catch on the bonnet appeared to block the intake. A crash repairer told me you could cut out the excess metal but it could weaken the catch. alot of effort for minimal gain. however the wank factor would definately be up there.


Time for bonnet pins? lol