hi all
attached is the almost completed custom cold air intake that Ive been working on for the last week. It sits in the same position as the original intake, but is about twice the volume most of the way through.
Now it is time to give it a last layer of fiberglass, then coat it.....so does anybody know of a thick heat proof coating that would go onto this? basically the fiberglass goes a bit floppy when exposed to above 50 C, so I'd like to stiffen it up and get a good finish on it. any help would be good, thanks
ps I'll dyno this at theqld dyno day, and if anyone is interested they can have the foam plug to work from.
I'll post more pics when it is finished and fitted
jowet

nice buddy. be interesting to see how it goes

Trav

You might get orders for your product. :D

don't mean to bag it cause i love the initiative!!

but is that going to help all that much seeing as its still coming from up under that limited air-flow area?? i know it will work a bit better... but it can't be much!!

and are you going to make a custom box for a pod filter? to go with the increased air?

I pretty much aggree - sorry....
The whole idea of us doing CAI pipes down to the front mask area is to give the engine better chance to breathe instead of chocking the inlet with the bonnet as it is STD.
Your next task is to free the restricting shape of the bonnet and device a nice scoop there.... We are waiting for the results..... And before u ask, no sponsor moneys provided.
Such a hard world! ;)


don't mean to bag it cause i love the initiative!!
but is that going to help all that much seeing as its still coming from up under that limited air-flow area?? i know it will work a bit better... but it can't be much!!
and are you going to make a custom box for a pod filter? to go with the increased air?

Make a air scoop to fit in between your grill and upper radiator rail while you're at it. You will need it by the looks of things. Also, hows the Clearance from the FB intake snorkle to the bonnet?

to deflect heat, the cheapest way you can try to rap the FB snorkle with aluminium foil on top of your typical foam-like heat shield material.

good luck.

P.S, have you got your exhaust, filter modded?

the improvements of cold air intake show very little on the dyno compared to on the road feel because of the lack of airflow on dyno. i saw a test for SS induction where the dyno registered less than 1 kw gain, but 1/10th sec quicker 0-100kmh.
im curious how you got bigger opening when it is already a tight fit between the bonnet and radiator, also as they mentioned the restriction seems to be before the opening, like the weatherstrip between radiator support panel and grill has only the small opening for the bonnet lock mechanism. i cut a hole in this plastic panel and made a scoop under it as someone else suggested above to get cold air to the pod in engine bay - but i think it makes no difference.

yeah I see your point about the low flow area at the front of the bonnet - it was a bit of an effort to try to get cold air from down below, I couldn't find much room to do it without making a very twisty tube with a small intake area. having said this, Ive tried the scoop in front of the radiator trick too and it made no difference, so I have a feeling it may recieve a fair dose of fresh air just definately not with ram-air effect (somehow...?? would be good to test this but I dont have the equipment.).
mods so far a just the kn panel filter - im going to keep this setup with the airbox. more gains could be made by re-designing all the way to the filter but it would take a while to do properly ... one day
as for clearance, the top of the snorkel is the same as stock, it is the bottom half that is made larger (including the actual opening; which is also wider by about 40mm). The factory one raises up to miss a small chunk of radiator, mine will have a hole cut in it at this point, so the piece sticks up into the intake (its small and will be sealed ).
Im going to keep the design as is for this one - I think that the most important thing from here is to heat - proof it. Try blowing through the snorkel after a long drive and feel how hot the air is that comes out the other side....nasty town. I suddenly realised what heat soak meant after doing this :roll:

a "trick" like this might help ;)

a "trick" like this might help ;)
nice... custom bits... looks good though

If your using fibreglass i assume your using polyester resin and a catalyst.
2 options
firstly you can post cure your job at like 90 degree's for like 3-5 hours still on the mould and that should keep it's stiffness
secondly and i think you should do this, if it turns out **** and is still heat retarded, throw it away and use epoxy resin that can withstand heat of up to 100 degrees.

And use carbon fibre instead of fibreglass. Does exactly the same job, but will add 10hp of wank factor to your car.

And use carbon fibre instead of fibreglass. Does exactly the same job, but will add 10hp of wank factor to your car.

lol lol lol

If your using fibreglass i assume your using polyester resin and a catalyst.
2 options
firstly you can post cure your job at like 90 degree's for like 3-5 hours still on the mould and that should keep it's stiffness
secondly and i think you should do this, if it turns out **** and is still heat retarded, throw it away and use epoxy resin that can withstand heat of up to 100 degrees.

And use carbon fibre instead of fibreglass. Does exactly the same job, but will add 10hp of wank factor to your car.

Carbon fibre would look cool, but isn't it a bit pricey??? :)

Carbon fibre would look cool, but isn't it a bit pricey??? :)
yeah? how much does that **** cost?

i thought it is very very expensive, didnt know you could do it yourself...?

i thought it is very very expensive, didnt know you could do it yourself...?
Carbon comes in the same form as fibreglass, just like any roll of material. The resin gives it it's hold capacity just like fibreglass. yeah its expensive when u use heaps and is hard to come by. I use the stuff everyday so i've got a carbo console and dial cluster which only cost me my time. I don't suggest u go and get any great ideas of doing this and that with the stuff, as it is still very hard to be made stong and look good at the same time.

Looks no different from the OEM intake pipe in the magnas...

the improvements of cold air intake show very little on the dyno compared to on the road feel because of the lack of airflow on dyno. i saw a test for SS induction where the dyno registered less than 1 kw gain, but 1/10th sec quicker 0-100kmh.

Yeah. But gains like these are pretty subjective as we know how consistently accurate dynos and quarter mile runs are.

I think the basic idea of it may have merrit but imagine the stock TB might still be restrictive. The main issue with getting a good CAI setup is minimising the pressure drops.


so I have a feeling it may recieve a fair dose of fresh air just definately not with ram-air effect (somehow...?? would be good to test this but I dont have the equipment.).

I'd forget about the ram-air effect. The only way more air will be drawn into the engine is by being sucked in more, (i.e. extractors), or forced in, (i.e. super/turbochargers). I read recently that the speed of air entering a cylinder is still a lot faster then the relative air speed when a car is travelling at say 100kph.

carbon fibre would have been nice = not too expensive, prob about 80 dollars worth for the fibre. But as TZABOY said, it is too hard to get a good finish....would have loved that extra power though :P
redav not to actually ram air into the engine but use the positive pressure to reduce the intake restrictions - check out this article http://www.autospeed.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=0663

I used epoxy resin, but it still goes a bit flexy when heated up to about 70C - I'll do a few more thick coats.

Yeah, seen that ages ago. As far as pressure drops go, you'd have to test the factory stuff. I wider mouth could help but it's still going to be affected by the same pressure drop percentages across the length of the system. That's why the RPW unit theoretically should be quite good. Yes, you'll feel most of the advantage from swapping to a less restrictive filter but the pipe's mandrel bent, it's a decent diameter and hasn't got sever bends, (What what some people do with that crappy, ribbed piping. This should make for minimal pressure drops. I think you've got a good start and I think it might be interesting to do as that article says for testing pressure drops.

http://www.autospeed.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=0663

MAYbe tHATS WHAT THE RESIGNATOR BOXES DO??
think about that? that makes the AIR BOX """bigger""" if you think about it!!

:) TAADA!!! im putting mine Back oN!

the resinator boxes reduce pressure drops and make induction quieter, i think the cars better with it on.

I think resonators minimise the effect of resonance hence the name resonator :cool:

[edit]
Here we go:



They don't actually force-feed the engine, as such, because the speed of airflow into the engine is greater than can be boosted by the speed of the car. But obviously it is better to draw this air from a high-pressure area on the car than from a low-pressure area.


Autospeed also had an article somewhere which explained how to measure and find the highest pressure area for your car.

Autospeed also had an article somewhere which explained how to measure and find the highest pressure area for your car.[/QUOTE]

not the front by any chance.. :D

Autospeed also had an article somewhere which explained how to measure and find the highest pressure area for your car.

not the front by any chance.. :D[/QUOTE]haha, you'ld think that... but there are actually areas at the front which have a higher pressure than others!!! yeah it surprised me too.. but they have tested it... and they (i think it was autospeed) also gave the design of a pretty simple pressure tester!!

ah finally finished...

below are pics of the finished and fitted intake. 3 layers of fiberglass, epoxy resin and a coat of flameproof paint. It was a :rant: to make.

I took it for a back to back drive with the original intake and does pull a bit better from about 2500 and up, jackpot! nothing major but can only get better.
worth looking into if you don't want to go the pod. actually ive never fitted a pod, so i dont know???

jowet

nice mate, would u be interetsed in making another?

would be easy to make a mold or a duplicate?

Trav

yeah i was tinkin the same thing would u be interested in making some of these up for us lol, obviously we would pay u, if it is possible wat sorta price would u be lookin at?

Hey, next meet we could try it on a 3.0, (like mine), and see if it likes it. Actually, we could even dyno it at the next dyno day.

jowet let us know if your has any heat issues, ie starts to warp.

Does anyone know at what heap PVC plastics start to warp?

Nice work mate, well done.

Best way to test would probably be on a car with extractors, where good
intake mods really help.

very neat job zaha,almost looks OE
i think u should try it with the front weatherstrip off, insulation under it, and a K&N panel thats abot 100-150$ to really work.

I was thinking since your moulding the intake yourself, why not make one that would house a POD filter, I mean sortof make a coustom airbox for the POD

I was thinking since your moulding the intake yourself, why not make one that would house a POD filter, I mean sortof make a coustom airbox for the POD

Because in that instance a pod isn't going to flow better than a panel. The handy thing with a pod is that it can be attached to a pipe and be placed anywhere whereas a panel is just a replacement filter for the stock induction. Airflow likes to flow straight. It only takes 2 or 3 degrees to disrupt airflow and cause air pockets.

I see what you mean, but I ment adapt his enlarged factory style CAI to wrap around the POD acting as an airbox, like that it is not exposed and should meet ADR requirments :D

very intresting point redav... panel and pod have similar surface area, pod might be slightly larger, but air going straight through and deviating slightly before the MAF might be better than all the coming in through sides of pod and turning 90 degrees before going through.

Found extra 5 cents in my pocket. :cool:

Wind forced CAI (what??? beans???) cannot be measured in a Dyno - the car is not moving, hence no air is forced in to the CAI....

I think the Magna airbox/MAS set up is such, that the filter evens out the air flow and stops any major fluctuations for the MAS to read it better. Hence using a K&N in std box still works well. If pod is used, the whole assembly requires to be changed. But remember, in NSW open airfilters are illegal (RTA)

Air speed increases when it leaves the CAI/box/MAS and reaches plenum, yes. But what is more relevant is the volume of air there. And that pretty much stays the same, provided intake is of good design. Like mine :)
Force feeding works and is better than none, but the difference is quite small. Obviously the collecting end has to be bell mouth shaped, to scoop more air and it has to be in an area at the front where there is no negative pressure. Ensure air flows past it, too. I think we all have done our CAI to collect from the left, bottom corner. Air enters freely and passes by the bell mouth as well. This prevents any pocketing of air.

No more cents left. :confused:

ok, after a day of driving I popped the hood and it was ok :) that is good, I thought that it might have melted....... no problems, it was very hot and hadn't moved/warped at all. which brings the next point - it needs to be protected from the heat a bit more, the bottom side especially, was cooking. Any ideas??? from what Ive heard you can buy wetsuit-type material that is heat proof, I'll look into that.
after trying to look at it with the bonnet almost closed it seems that the weatherstrip covers some of the opening, so Ill cut those bits away. panel filter is already done.
Redav, it takes 2 seconds to swap over, so we can do some runs at the next cruise to see how it goes.
I won't make any more of these myself, it takes too long and is too fiddly (actually, how much are you willing to pay???? :badgrin: ), but the foam core I can give to people to make it is a good start, it only needs a few modifications to fit. I'll see if anyone in brisbane wants it and then we can pass it around.
jowet

I could also do them in a carbon fibre material very cheaply without no problems if the demand was for that.

I'll definetly have one of those, and while I'm at it..... where can I get one of those ralliart valve cover cover thingy??

panel and pod have similar surface area, pod might be slightly larger, but air going straight through and deviating slightly before the MAF might be better than all the coming in through sides of pod and turning 90 degrees before going through.

I'd say that the pod has a larger surface area but it doesn't feed from the front, (does it? - no filter element there), and the ait still goes through a gap the same size.


Wind forced CAI (what??? beans???) cannot be measured in a Dyno - the car is not moving, hence no air is forced in to the CAI....

Use Heinz. Yup, near impossible to determine if a CAI is good or not on a dyno as there isn't the same real world environment and a dyno varies enough to mask the difference anyway.


Air speed increases when it leaves the CAI/box/MAS and reaches plenum, yes. But what is more relevant is the volume of air there. And that pretty much stays the same, provided intake is of good design.

Yeah, the MAS, filter and piping will slow the air a bit so the important thing with a good design is to minimise pressure drops. Density is the other important thing but as long as you've got it accessing as cooler area as possible, then that's all you can do.


Force feeding works and is better than none, but the difference is quite small. Obviously the collecting end has to be bell mouth shaped, to scoop more air and it has to be in an area at the front where there is no negative pressure. Ensure air flows past it, too. I think we all have done our CAI to collect from the left, bottom corner. Air enters freely and passes by the bell mouth as well. This prevents any pocketing of air.


It basically gives you the best chance to have a reliable source of air ready for the engine but it won't ever give a boost like scenario.

Nice design and setup very impressive.

In fact I know of a wrap on coating which could be placed on the unit which we coudl use to stop the heat factor.

If you combined this with the removal of the plastic "Lip" on the front of the bonnet you woudl get some more air in again.

As far as manafacturing goes - if you send me the sample I will copy it, protect it from heat issues and send you a working one back and you can test it again. If it works well then I would mass make a heap of them for everyone at a reasonable price.

I could also do them in a carbon fibre material very cheaply without no problems if the demand was for that.

Well if the carbon intakes are of reasonable price, I'm up for one :D , I would prefer this than the full K&N CAI that relocates a POD as I already have a Panel.

I have a wikkid induction setup that I'll be starting as soon as I get the VRX next week :D Will post plenty of pictures :thumbsup:

Yeah dave that sounds good, i'll give you a call next week. The foam plug does need a little more moulding, as I had to modify the fiberglass after taking it off. a good start though.

Blake I see you are going for the vrx, nice one, they haul. I want to see this intake setup!