Air Intake mods

[muskrat]

When I bought my '92 240SX coupe over a year ago I picked up a used Injen air intake tube with a Matrix air filter. The intake was off a car that had been in a slight accident so it had a nice dent in it and was scratched up. I took it home and sanded it down then put a few coats of gloss grey engine enamel (with ceramic) on it and in it. Then I installed it. Drive it around for 1 day and I thought it made the engine bog really bad so I pulled it off and reinstalled the stock stuff.

Later I came here to Zilvia.net to discuss my findings and some people said "yeah the Injen intake will make the engine bog" and others said "don't give up so easily, reset your computer and you will feel gains from the intake." At that point I decided I didn't want to deal with it and I put the Injen on a shelf where it is still collecting dust today. I've often wondered if I put it back on and reset the computer to adjust to the added air if I would like it, but I just didn't wanna bother with it.

This week as I was working on my car I decided to remove the resonator box from beneath my stock air box. Little did I know that this thing was just a closed box, I thought it was a box with an opening that actually pulled in air. So I tossed that thing aside, then I started looking at what I had here. I then got some scrap pieces of 2" ABS pipe and found that a piece of it fits snugly into the plastic piece that use to attach to the resonator box. So I cut a piece about 8" long and using ABS glue glued it to the piece. Then I used a piece of rubber from a pipe coupler and put that in the hole through the sheetmetal so that the new pipe would not rattle in the hole. Then I removed the vent off the front bumper and reached in and glued a 90 degree ABS 2" elbow to the pipe sticking down, facing the elbow straight towards the vent in the bumper. Not thinking that was good enough I then put a 2" to 4" ABS coupler on the elbow so that it could pick up more air.

Took it for a test drive and you could hear the intake better than stock, but not as loud as the Injen (I prefer louder) but I could definitely tell a difference in performance according to my seat of the pants dyno.

Cost in parts: $0.00 since I had them all laying around, but wouldn't cost more than $10.00

[Ghettokracker71]

Yeah,I've been thinking about running a pipe from my front bumper vent to my short ram filter,just haven't felt like messing with it yet+been hurt.

There was a thread about people running custom "ram-air" pipes to their intake a while back....got any pics of what you did?

I want to cut a 3" hole where the resonator was,and run a flexible tube through there,and to the vent on my bumper with a very thin mesh overlay to resist moisture

[cdlong]

Originally Posted by Ghettokracker71

I want to cut a 3" hole where the resonator was,and run a flexible tube through there,and to the vent on my bumper with a very thin mesh overlay to resist moisture

that's wht i did earlier today, i'll post pics when i get them. it sounds cool, it's actually quieter but deeper than the short ram i had. i don't know if it gives much more power but it sounds cool and it wasn't hard. it will probably help more when the engine is hot.

my set up, filter in the fender well to a 3" 90* mandrel bent pipe to mafs to ebay intake with about 6" cut off the end. it's all in a straight line except the first bend and the bend into the throttle body.

[HyperTek]

[Ghettokracker71]

Originally Posted by HyperTek

I was thinking of something like that only stealth... Have some kind of opening the is almost the size of the stock vent and run the hose/pipe from there.

EDIT: Does that make sence? Something that bows out and the hose connects to it so it picks up more air then just the tube?

[S14DriftR]

heres some pics of mine, I just used a k&n filter and ran ducting from the holes in the air box down to the bumper vent hole.

[Maeda]

When I got my car I found this pipe that was curled with a fan blade in it. The WEIRD thing was the other side had a smaller matching curled pipe with a blade in it. I figured it'd work good to replace the resonator box, because anythings better then that box to nowhere so I plumbed it to my throttle body. The gains were amazing!

[DJ_Sunrise]

heres something thats been bothering me. on the passenger side of the stock air intake,looking into the engine bay, theres a big connection for some sort of tubing that goes to something by the bumer.. its on the bottom of the stock intake. what the hell is it? mines capped off, sooo.. yea...



~Sunrise

[cdlong]

Originally Posted by DJ_Sunrise

heres something thats been bothering me. on the passenger side of the stock air intake,looking into the engine bay, theres a big connection for some sort of tubing that goes to something by the bumer.. its on the bottom of the stock intake. what the hell is it? mines capped off, sooo.. yea...



~Sunrise

that's just a resonator, you don't need it. you're fine.

[phrozen]

anyone have apex intake on their ka?

[ryan hagen]

i cut a hole bigger around my stock little 2" hole in front of the fender well to put in a 6" flexable ducting pipe and ran that to my front vent, it was sweet at low speed, but i noticed it sucked at high speed, cause apparently (scc project 300zx had same problem) the maf cant read the super turbulent ram air. the air comes in with such force that it doenst get metered right and fucked the maf reaing up. but up to 30 mph it was noticeable, after that it began to bog and run like shit.

[Ghettokracker71]

Originally Posted by ryan hagen

i cut a hole bigger around my stock little 2" hole in front of the fender well to put in a 6" flexable ducting pipe and ran that to my front vent, it was sweet at low speed, but i noticed it sucked at high speed, cause apparently (scc project 300zx had same problem) the maf cant read the super turbulent ram air. the air comes in with such force that it doenst get metered right and fucked the maf reaing up. but up to 30 mph it was noticeable, after that it began to bog and run like shit.

So what'd you end up doing to fix the problem?

[cdlong]

in case anyone cares i took some pictures of the custom setup i made a while ago.
i forgot to reattach the liner before i drove it, oops.

driving impressions, i might have lost a little low end but the top end is much better and the power band is much smoother compared to the short ram i had installed. i don't have any problem with the MAFS like ryan did, maybe because i used as much of the elbow that i could. there is about 6" of straight flow before the MAFS.

i have more pics and info if anyone is curious.

[Ghettokracker71]

Nice set-up! I really haven't had time to mess with a set-up for myself yet+can't b/c I'm hurt

Ryan you never responded

[fastpace]

man i did this a year ago and was happy with my setup. pretty much like how everyone is runnin theres, but i left the stock air box there and added a k&n filter. To force more air into the engine, I used a brake duct funnel and attached my piping to that. I only really noticed gains up top, but throttle responds felt pretty good.

[sidewaze]

I noticed gains with my intake as well. First I had the ole "Home Depot" special with dryer tubing. Funny enough it worked out not bad.

Then I found an intake on ebay and put that on. WOW! What difference that made. I don't have any bog in the low end and the power curve is smoother.

One thing is for sure, you have to, HAVE TO remove that resinator box in the wheel well or you get a dead air vacum b/c the filter is sucking all the air out before it can be replaced.

I have removed everything from the stock air system right down to capping the pipe coming out of the exhaust manifold. Other then the MAS there is no trace of the stock crap. Here is a look. I have a better air filter now too!.



Granted it's not the best shot but if you go on my cardomain page you can enlarge the image for a better look.

All I need to do now is fabricate a heat sheild to deflect the warm air being blown around by the fan.

Have a good one guys.

Easy

[Ghettokracker71]

Originally Posted by sidewaze

I noticed gains with my intake as well. First I had the ole "Home Depot" special with dryer tubing. Funny enough it worked out not bad.

Then I found an intake on ebay and put that on. WOW! What difference that made. I don't have any bog in the low end and the power curve is smoother.

One thing is for sure, you have to, HAVE TO remove that resinator box in the wheel well or you get a dead air vacum b/c the filter is sucking all the air out before it can be replaced.

I have removed everything from the stock air system right down to capping the pipe coming out of the exhaust manifold. Other then the MAS there is no trace of the stock crap. Here is a look. I have a better air filter now too!.



Granted it's not the best shot but if you go on my cardomain page you can enlarge the image for a better look.

All I need to do now is fabricate a heat sheild to deflect the warm air being blown around by the fan.

Have a good one guys.

Easy

Cool....I just got home from somewhere and was poking around under the hood and saw the high amount of heat soak the filter is getting,and felt the pipe from the MAF to my TB (eBay intake,too ) and that thing is burnin up! I want to find some kinda tape or something to wrap it in. I want to take the bottom of the stock intake box,cut off all the walls,and use it as a mount for a peice of aluminum wrapped in whatever tape stuff I found for the pipe; And of course the ram intake,whenever I get around to it.

[TheTimanator]

I remember hearing people talk about this....
Has anyone tried relocating the filter to the passenger side? You'd have to relocate the battery and the MAF but I think it would help a lot b/c the tube would be so much shorter. I would be doing it i didn't have an SR....

[sidewaze]

You can actually get those intakes off ebay for approximately $40.00 US plus shipping. It's a good deal and it does the job. Thats what counts.

Easy

[West]

I know a few people have made a short intake, most of them mentioned it messed up the idle or something... not positive. Someone I talked to used a Toyota Camry Aftermarket intake (not sure what year) and said it fit ok... id almost shell out $30 for a ebay brand intake to see how it fits.

[sidewaze]

Originally Posted by WeST

I know a few people have made a short intake, most of them mentioned it messed up the idle or something... not positive. Someone I talked to used a Toyota Camry Aftermarket intake (not sure what year) and said it fit ok... id almost shell out $30 for a ebay brand intake to see how it fits.

It's worth it man. So what if it's no name. Truthfully, an intake is an intake is an intake. They are all metal piping and silcone hose's. That's it. The filter makes the difference. You can see how pathetic the K&N knock off one was. That's why I switched it out almost immediately. I have seen the 240 kits as cheap as $30.00 but the going rate is usually $40.

As for it messing the idle up, it should'nt have any real affect on it. The MAS is just reading the amount of air going in. That's it. Either it was malfunctioning or there was a vacum leak in the system. It has to be AIR TIGHT or you'll get a stall problem.

Also driver or passenger side does'nt matter. It will still work either way. I did'nt feel like moving my battery.

Im gona take some better pic's of it and I'll post them so you can see just how much stuff I removed when putting my intake in. I have had NO problems either.

KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

[S14DB]

I have the Injen with the CAE. The CAE makes a major Diff. You really notice it in the low end Tq. I think I has to do with the air flow being straghtened out from the filter before going thru the MAF.

[West]

I had a Injen intake with CAE loooooooong ago. IMO the CAE is a waste of $... but thats just me. It felt the same to me with or without it.

[Ghettokracker71]

When I did mine it fryed my MAF,but after replacing the MAF and putting a decent filter on its been fine

S13 will only idle SO well

[sidewaze]

I actually disconected the battery while I installed the intake. It's "supposedly" resets the computer.

As for my idle, she always stays around 700-750 once she's warmed up. Even in the winter I did'nt have a problem. Never had rough idle return.

Again, KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

[Chernobyl]

I imagine having the stock style setup going across the top of the radiator like it does heats up the air. An intake breathing from the battery side would draw colder air and have a shorter distance for the air to travel. However you shouldn't place the MAF too close to the throttle body because the turbulence at closed throttle can cause it to misread.

Pass. side intake is still better than the stock style setup. Just requires a bit more work.

[phrozen]

just get a short aluminum pipe hook it up to the TB and maf put the filter where the battery used to be and run aluminum flex ducting to the filter from the bumper vent

[Ghettokracker71]

Nowhere for me to relocate the batt....I got ashitton of audio stuff in the hatch,no room I mean it!