Sunday, May 27, 2007

Cold Air Intake

One of the down sides of fitting a larger radiator is that it restrict where you can get a good source of cold air for the intake. I had made do with a KN on the end of my plenum, only problem is that when idling and driving slowly the air intake temperatures climb quite rapidly, the air temperature sensor fitted in the plenum lets the ECU know whats going on which in turn backs off the ignition timing to prevent detonation, this can have a major effect on performance.

Following numerous cardboard templates I have come up with something that seems to work quite well, I have fabricated an air box with filter that sits below the radiator.



This is fed cold air via a scoop that fits in front of the radiator



The air exits the air box via a 60mm outlet fitted to the rear and connected to the plenum via trunking.




I don't expect a performance increase from any forced air effect but it should help overcome some of the restrictions of the filter and trunking. Having driven the car with the old and new intakes there is no noticeable difference in performance when travelling at speed.

Idle and low speed intake temperature's have drastically reduced, the next job is to move the air intake sensor into the air box as it does pick up a fair bit of heat soak in its current position - Its currently fitted on the underside of the plenum.

2 comments:

vitessesteve said...

Good luck with checking out the air flow.

I hope that low air intake does not suck up any water.

hubbes said...

Nice blog! Great pics! I am also planning change my stock air intake. I'm choosing between ingen cold air intake or K&N air intake.. I can't decide yet, which to install.. *sighs* Anyways, good luck with your project and hope it turns out well.. :)