My Newest Intake Mod

[BledRedGaSe]

Well every one, I've done it again. Gotten to bored and sucked into my day dreams of an all new, one off, never before seen, tricked out car that resembles a Grand Am but the resemblence is the only similarity. Dremaing of new mods for power gains that will make a few take notice of a genuine idea and the rest of the haters throwing their 2 cents in just to bag on someone for their self esteem. I'm prepared for both because this mod that I have done only gained me an insignificant amount of power, but it gained me plenty of throttle response. Last spring I started off with a Weapon R intake and was satisfied with it's perfomance... For all of about 2 weeks. Then as the summer began to get hotter I realized that my engine was suffering from extreme heat soak, so much so that the crome paint on the plastic shell of the weapon r filter was melting. I had a brand new never b4 used Injen Intake System sitting up in my room because it arived about a month and a half after I sold my 94 Eclipse. I went up stairs grabbed it and went to work. I cut the tubing for the intake in half, and used the 90 degree curve to create a custom intake that had the filter now sitting in the small space between my motor, my battery, and my radiator fans. This put my filter opposite my headers with a motor as a buffer in between. Much cooler air was getting sucked into the intake and throttle response was improved as well with the intake being less than half of its original length. I was much more satisfied with this and my heat soak problem was solved. Now, more than 6 months after my new custom creation of an intake I was day dreaming again and the little light bulb above my had kicked on; why do I need an intake at all? So I measured how much clearence I had between my throttle body and my hood. Then I went to my local auto parts store, took a couple measurements and bought a round APC Perfomance Filter. With one of the small rubber adapters and a couple pipe clamps I installed the filter right on my throttle body. I can notice a power gain but it's very minimal. The amazing improvement though is my throttle response! It's so fast that my tachometer lags as it tries to keep up with my engine revs! I am very impressed with this little mod. so I'll try to get some pictures to show everyone. Sorry bout the rant but I could go all day on cars! :) Peace!!!

[Bjornboy81]

wow...slow down grasshopper!!! :D

That is going to suck in the summer :)

[Mike94SE]

Heat soak is a bad thing.

[Brandon]

going to suck in some hot air in the summer time.

[rabidpanda69]

Chain notes?

[Mike94SE]

Originally posted by rabidpanda69
Chain notes?

Air filter connected to Throttle body.

Guess I'm "hatin" whatever the **** that means

[rabidpanda69]

why not cold/warm air?

[Mike94SE]

Originally posted by rabidpanda69
why not cold/warm air?

He had a Weapon R, then modded an Eclipse.

Honestly I just quit asking why at times.

[kickarsgrdam01]

ok...yes u have good power at low rpm...congrats...that is because the air has 2 inches to travel through your intake to your engine...however as other people have noted u are sucking in very hot air and as soon as you get into higher rpm u will loose power because of the air traveling into the engine isn't as fast as if u had a longer pipe...the best way is to tryu and set up a way to get cold are into the filter all the time, i did this by haveing a stage 3 dr speed into my finder well and then i cut out the little inlays on the front bumper on that side...volla i have cold air going right into my filter.

not trying to hate just saying how it is

[kickarsgrdam01]

also added to that...u loose a little right off the line performance but u will notice it in the higher rpm...anyway all i did was spin off the line so i didn't mind not having the power right then

[car audio dave]

funny thing is, i had a smilar setup as kickarsgrdam01 with a civic short ram tube running a REAL K&N filter into my fender, then i cut out the "gills" in the GT bumper.

worked great until last winter when the filter got submerged twice. i took out the tube, hooked the filter up to my MAF directly (similar to how BledRedGaSe is saying) and noticced no performance drops. yes the engine runs 5 degress warmer, but it performs EXACTLY how it did before, except i dont have to worry ifi get caut out in the rain.

we could argue all day about theories, but unless youve done it, dont knock it. ow i know that i have a 3400 and were talking about a 2.2L here, so it might be different, but i thought id throw in my .02

[cabdisaster]

ef it , take that filter off too, its restrictive.

[GrandAmSSE]

pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Red99GT]

That's why I love Dr. Speed's Cold Air Box. Filter goes directly on the MAF and there's a heat shield in between the filter and the engine. It keeps it cooler, and I honestly believe it sees the same performance as a CAI but no worries about water.

[skateswitch97]

my real k&N is in my fender behind my windshield washer fluid, its kinda up so i dont really have to worry about it submerged i just dodge puddles just incase

[NaturalKonc3pt]

what do you do with the MAF. you need to have correct air flow and temps going through there for the computer to get a good air/fuel mixture

[BledRedGaSe]

OK guys, U got 2 me. I'm gonna get a CAI. The Weapon R WAI was a waste of money and I have been experimenting with different set ups because I didn't want to fork out $250 bucks for another intake. I'm probably going to get the 62mm tb at the same time for more noticable gains. I just hope I'm not dissapointed again.:(

[DontPassTheFence]

I agree, it is NUTS to fork over 200+$ on an intake. Id say if you are determined enough, find some good piping (from someone selling an AEM or Injen WAI/CAI) and then fab up a makeshift cold air intake by yourself. However, either way you do it you won't see many gains from the intake alone. The TB is a great idea for starters, and just that with a WAI is enough to start with if you are going for an intercooled turbo application, or a s/c-ed application. If your primary concern is speed, Id say wait it out (your filter only set up is fine as long as the filter stays on the TB and does pop off) and save up for either turbo parts and make the entire turbo setup yourself, or get a pre-made turbo kit (from Hahn, of course) and then got nuts with that. However if your primary concern is shininess and sound, then find a nice WAI or CAI (your cut up eclipse one should be more than enough) and put the largest cone on the end of it that you can fit in there.

It just depends on what you want and/or like, as I said before intakes do very little since there is only so much air a naturally aspirated car can effectively use (with a given limited fuel supply)

If you take a look at our higher horsepower members (the N/A 3400SFI guys, or the turbo twincam guys, they all have either fabbed up intakes or run of the mill wai/cai setups, and they'll tell you its their other, more expensive and more technical mods that are what really makes the power.

Also, starting out (this may have been mentioned) lightweight pulleys, or underdrive pulleys are also GREAT for a DOHC engine such as yours. Or you could always get a wet shot of nitrous (again the jbody guys know their stuff on that one) and have it installed properly, or install it carefully yourself (we wouldnt want any nitrous backfires, now) and then see if you like that approach (even though Ive heard cnstantly refilling your tank cna get costly if you go nuts with the buton) Also, be wary of the hunger for more power, IIRC the ecotec with all stock components inside and out can only handle a 50-75HP shot of nitrous safely.

[skateswitch97]

i want nitrous....

[Ishan]

ok, kickarsgrdam01 and car audio dave, you both suck, I wanted to cut out the inlays, thought I was the only one that thought of it :P send me some pics, I wanna see how it comes out..

[BledRedGaSe]

Some show with more go! Thats my motto! :) I've read that NA the ecotec can still push out 350 hp, fully built of course. Limitless with turbo especially when the stock internals can hold 300+ and the crank is good up to 600 hp.

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by car audio dave
funny thing is, i had a smilar setup as kickarsgrdam01 with a civic short ram tube running a REAL K&N filter into my fender, then i cut out the "gills" in the GT bumper.

worked great until last winter when the filter got submerged twice. i took out the tube, hooked the filter up to my MAF directly (similar to how BledRedGaSe is saying) and noticced no performance drops. yes the engine runs 5 degress warmer, but it performs EXACTLY how it did before, except i dont have to worry ifi get caut out in the rain.

we could argue all day about theories, but unless youve done it, dont knock it. ow i know that i have a 3400 and were talking about a 2.2L here, so it might be different, but i thought id throw in my .02 I have the CAI that Keith (Red99GAGT) used to sell that goes into the fender with a K&N. In the winter I clean it and put in under the hood as a WAI to promte better fuel effeciency.

I would love to say I notice a lack of power when it's warm out being under the hood, however in the cold winter weather it's cool enough under the hood not to make a difference.

Either way, the performance difference or lack of will not be noticed by your butt dyno.

We aren't arguing 'theories', they are facts.

Fact #1-
Fresh air circulating from outside into the inner fender is cooler than air warmed by a hot engine and enclosed under a hood.

Fact #2-
Cooler air is more dense providing more oxygen than warm air.

Fact #3-
More oxygen into a engine, the more fuel can be introduced, providing more stored energy. When ignited it'll result in more power.

A theory is a guess, assumption, speculation. However these aren't theories, they are facts, proven by science and documented, proven time and time again.

Good day.

[RickHigginsHtbr]

do you just want my AEM one? stage 2 i believe, sits under the battery, and made for the ecotec.

[ChevelleSSLS6]

I made a cardboard mockup 'cai box' and I noticed nothing over WAI.

I currently run the same CAI as TA`Guy runs, and I've had no problems with it, jumping a ditch or going off the top of a 't' intersection into a snowy corn field on sunday. Just don't drive it in deep puddles or anything stupid and you'll be ok.

TA- how much mpg do you gain having it set up as a wai in winter? pm me on that one if I dont get back to this thread.

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by ChevelleSSLS6

TA- how much mpg do you gain having it set up as a wai in winter? pm me on that one if I dont get back to this thread.
Looking to be only maybe 1-2mpg more, kind of hard to tell because I have a car starter and warm it up frequently before I go outside.