Hood Vent for CAI

[xtremerevolution]

So I've had this idea that hasn't left me alone for a long time. I'm trying to get an efficient CAI set up for my car, and so far I haven't been able to do it too well. I just recently got a bigger K&N air filter to replace the cheap crap that I was using before. It's a large cone filter that takes up the whole space where my old air box used to be. I realize that when my car is decently cold and the under-hood temperature is pretty low, I have quite a bit more power. My g-timer also shows anywhere from .05 - .07 G's extra in acceleration when I'm sucking in cold air as opposed to when I'm sucking in hot air. This is what my intake looks like right now (I'll clean out the engine bay next time I wash my car):

 

 

I've had this idea to install a hood scoop for a direct ram air setup. What I was thinking of doing was making a sealed box for my cone filter with an opening on the top. I'd then cut a hole in my hood at that exact location and install a hood scoop. I'd seal off the part under the hood so it would stay sealed to the box whenever the hood closed (something like a few strips of thick spongy rubber, basically to prevent any hot air from coming in from the engine bay).

 

I thought about it for a while and realized how stupid a hood scoop would look on the front right part of my car (if you're looking at the hood from the front of the car), and quickly dismissed the idea. However, I just realized that it would probably look pretty decent if I installed a hood vent about the size of the air filter instead. I was thinking of something like this:

 

 

My whole idea seemed to come along pretty well till I realized a little detail. If I set up my intake to suck in air directly from the top of the hood, whenever it would rain I could end up sucking in water along with that air.

 

So basically that's where I am now. With a dremel I'm sure I could cut a perfectly sized hole in my hood for just the right size of a vent such as the one above, but my main problem is water.

 

Is the water issue really a problem? The filter is a K&N, which uses oil to catch dirt in air, so even if a few drops got on the filter, would it really be an issue? Let me know what you guys think of the whole idea in general and if the water issue is really going to be an issue.

[CSI_MuNkY]

The water issue would be a problem, it might be lessened if you drill some drain holes in the bottom of the box you fab up, but when water is coming into the vent its going to hit the filter and get sucked into the engine. Have you thought about moving the cone filter to the fender well? Might have to move your battery around a bit, but its do-able.

 

Also, if you do go for the hood vent idea, put a dummy one on the opposite side, I think just one offset vent would look like crap, no offence.

 

Jamie

[19Cutlass94]

Or you could just run it down by the subframe which is waht Im going to do...

[xtremerevolution]

Or you could just run it down by the subframe which is waht Im going to do...

 

It snows here in Chicago, so I'm going to end up sucking in snow if I go too low. Also, I have very little room to bend any pipes down to my subframe.

 

I've thought about relocating my battery where the intake is now and putting the intake on that side, but I'm still wondering how I'll keep the battery from shifting around and banging all over the place. Rewiring won't be much of a big deal because I only need to replace one wire. I'll probably need a few new intake pipes though.

 

Do you suggest I drill a hole going into my wheel well to suck in air? Wouldn't that suck up water too while I'm driving? I'd like to get the coldest air possible directly from the outside.

 

Let me know if you guys have any other suggestions.

[xtremerevolution]

Or you could just run it down by the subframe which is waht Im going to do...

 

I just got some 3" conduit and tried to fit it down there. All I'm going to say to you is **good luck** cause its one hell of a pain to run. I'm going to do what someone else suggested and just move the battery where the filter is now and try to mount it somehow.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can make a CAI box out of to fit the air filter inside? I'll probably cut open a few big holes to suck in cold air from right in front of the wheel well around that area, which should give me what I'm looking for, but I want to make sure its not taking any warm air from the engine.

 

So basically, what material should I use to make my box to fit the cone filter inside?

[digitaloutsider]

Move the battery and make a fenderwell intake.

[xtremerevolution]

Move the battery and make a fenderwell intake.

 

Yeah that's pretty much exactly what I said I'm going to do. How do I cut the holes in the fender well though? And how do I make the enclosure for the filter? And where do I move the battery to?

[CSI_MuNkY]

When it comes to making an enclosure, use your imagination. You could use plexi glass or acrylic from Home Depot, or if can find a place that sells plastic by the sheet you could buy up some of that. Even just styrene would work if you got it thick enough.

 

As for moving the battery, don't put too much thought into it. Move the battery to where the intake was, turn it 180 degrees, then the posts are basically in the same spot, probably no need to mess with any wiring! All you gotta figure out now is how to build a tray under it to hold it in place.

 

I'm not sure what the inner fender looks like on your car, but if there are existing holes your best bet would be to widen a hole so its big enough to fit the tube through.

 

Jamie

[xtremerevolution]

Good tip Jamie. I had figured that was my best bet. The only thing I have to worry about is getting that battery to sit still somewhere and building a platform for it as you mentioned.

 

Would any of you here still recommend getting a couple functional hood vents to slightly cool down the engine bay? They wouldn't even show above the hood as they'd basically be a part of it, not like a hood scoop. Or would it simply look tacky...

[CSI_MuNkY]

The hood louvers you see on our GPs and Z34s are all functional. When the engine bay is warm you can see/feel the heat just pooring out of them. The only trick you would have is finding a hood vent that looks right, and thats up to your personal preferance. Its your car, make it the way you want it.

 

The battery tray could be as simple as welding or bolting in a couple steel rods to the existing tray and having it extend over to where the current filter is, thats my plan at least. I will be adding 2 square tubes over and then welding a tray to the top of it. Might even get it done before the end of summer.

 

Jamie

[xtremerevolution]

The hood louvers you see on our GPs and Z34s are all functional. When the engine bay is warm you can see/feel the heat just pooring out of them. The only trick you would have is finding a hood vent that looks right, and thats up to your personal preferance. Its your car, make it the way you want it.

 

The battery tray could be as simple as welding or bolting in a couple steel rods to the existing tray and having it extend over to where the current filter is, thats my plan at least. I will be adding 2 square tubes over and then welding a tray to the top of it. Might even get it done before the end of summer.

 

Jamie

 

If only I had a welder or a friend who knew how to use one...

 

I think I'll be taking a visit to home depot, and who knows, I might even use a rectangular baking pan to hold the battery in. Now that would be quite some style.

[CSI_MuNkY]

Well you don't have to weld it, just bolt it all together. You got a drill? A lot easier with a dril, I happen to have access to a mig welder.

A baking sheet is a great idea, I bet you could even find one in the right dimensions to fit a battery! Paint everything up all nice, I bet most wouldn't know you had cooking utensils under your hood!

 

My whole intake is coming from Home Depot, with the exception of any couplers I need and the filter. I'm building mine out of ABS pipe. Once everything is the way I want it, I'll sand all the edges smooth to the point where it won't look like a plumbing project gone wrong, then paint it all up. Call it ghetto if you want, but I might spend $30 + filter for my whole intake.

 

Jamie

[xtremerevolution]

Well you don't have to weld it, just bolt it all together. You got a drill? A lot easier with a dril, I happen to have access to a mig welder.

A baking sheet is a great idea, I bet you could even find one in the right dimensions to fit a battery! Paint everything up all nice, I bet most wouldn't know you had cooking utensils under your hood!

 

My whole intake is coming from Home Depot, with the exception of any couplers I need and the filter. I'm building mine out of ABS pipe. Once everything is the way I want it, I'll sand all the edges smooth to the point where it won't look like a plumbing project gone wrong, then paint it all up. Call it ghetto if you want, but I might spend $30 + filter for my whole intake.

 

Jamie

 

I went down there today to look at the piping I need. Build it out of 3" conduit that they use for dryer vents. It's made of some very flexible aluminum, but its really great stuff. It's like 3 feet in length, but stretches to 8 feet if need be, and weighs very very little. I'd highly recommend it. It looks something like this:

 

 

If you don't stretch the ends, they'll be more than strong enough to hold through the tightening of the clamp. If you have a K&N filter like I do, you should be able to fit that right in (I know I did), and the intake port should also be a 3" so all you really need is a hole drilled for the air intake thermostat.

 

I'm thinking of getting these louvers and cutting custom holes in my hood for them

 

 

That should cool down my engine bay a bit. I've been having some problems keeping the engine at the mid-temperature mark lately. It often rises to nearly the 3/4 temperature level. I'd imagine this would help a bit.

 

All I need now is a dremel and some metal-cutting blades and I'm ready to go.

[jeremy]

Move the battery and make a fenderwell intake.

 

x2

[Stevo]

Rotate the battery 90* and move it closer to the engine and make a heat shield for it with some tin since I have no idea what kind of temperature difference there is from it's standard location compared to being next to the crossover pipe.

 

If your into fabrication at this level then you can find a million ways to mount the battery in that location safely and securely. This should free up more than an ample ammount of space to run the intake pipe to the fenderwell.

 

How one goes about performing maintenance on the filter in that area is beyond me. I can't even see a way of getting the filter on the end without a lot of reaching, grunting and sweating. There better be some sexy time afterwards to justify it all... or at least a lil hp gain. =).

[xtremerevolution]

I just created the whole CAI. I managed to move the battery to the very edge of its platform, and was able to run a 3" pipe around it and down into the fenderwell after going through 6 dremel blades. I then attached the filter directly behind the front left bumper corner. All I'm going to say is wow...

 

The engine runs a lot cooler, full throttle sounds much louder and much better, and I'll definitely say I noticed some HP gain. I'll post pics of the whole process later on today.

[slick]

Much better!

[AWeb80]

Move the battery and make a fenderwell intake.

 

x2

 

 

 

 

 

battery relocation

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v639/AWeb/Battery%20Relocation%20and%20Fender%20Well%20Intake/

 

fender well intake

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v639/AWeb/CAI%20Pics/

[CSI_MuNkY]

Carefull with the battery relocation. I dunno what you plan to do with your car, but I like to take mine to the drag strip from time to time. According to the NHRA rules that the track I go to enforces at all times, if the battery is relocated to the trunk you need a kill switch on the rear of the car.

 

Kill Switch

 

If the battery is relocated, to the trunk for example, you must have an external cut-off switch on the back of the car which cuts off the electrical system and must also stop the car from running.

 

For me, that kinda kills the "sleeper" idea, next thing you know some punk in a civic sees the cut off and wants to race.

 

Jamie

[slick]

Yep, and IIRC, there are certain ones that you have to buy. I think that the kill switch has to be able to kill the engine while it's running, it's not a battery kill switch. This is what I understand.

[xtremerevolution]

Carefull with the battery relocation. I dunno what you plan to do with your car, but I like to take mine to the drag strip from time to time. According to the NHRA rules that the track I go to enforces at all times, if the battery is relocated to the trunk you need a kill switch on the rear of the car.

 

Kill Switch

 

If the battery is relocated, to the trunk for example, you must have an external cut-off switch on the back of the car which cuts off the electrical system and must also stop the car from running.

 

For me, that kinda kills the "sleeper" idea, next thing you know some punk in a civic sees the cut off and wants to race.

 

Jamie

 

I wouldn't mind. So far there hasn't been a single punk ass kid in a civic who's been able to beat me, and I kid you not when I say I pulled on a Civic Si from 0-90 mph.

 

Anyways, all this won't be much of a problem. The only issue I have right now is finding a new place for my washer fluid container, since the intake pipe now runs where that used to be. I'll take pictures soon (once I get a chance).