Groovy CAI FTW

[Morton]

Winnar \o/

The sicaflex cured this morning, and I installed my new <$20 CAI. Warmed the car up and took her for a 30min spin through the 30 degree sun, and she's running better than ever Temperatures are down, I've got noticeably more horsepower, and possibly more throttle response than before, as I've opened the hole in my airbox up further.

The idea was to keep everything looking as low-key and stock as possible, on my tight-ass budget of $20. I played around with a dozen different ideas, including PVC piping and another VP intake runniner, and ended up settling on some cheap stormwater drain from Bunnings, as it was black, bendy, and was a good 35mm wider than my throttle body.

I cut out the corner of the standard air box, and slid the pipe in sideways, filling the holes with sicaflex and letting it dry overnight. The pipe goes down past the cooling lines, under the vacuum cylinder, and around to the front bumper, to collect all that cool, uninterrupted flowing air. The airbox is completely airtight (except for that small hole down the bottom for water to exit through), and you can really feel the air being sucked in from that duct at the front of the car 100% ambient, nothing from inside the engine bay.

Overall worth far more than the $20 it cost, especially on hot days like today. I didn't feel any loss of power from the cold start, right up to peak running temp when the bonnet was untouchably hot. \o/ All I need now is a new panel filter. There's no way I can afford a K&N one

Has anybody else got home-made CAI stories to share? Perhaps ideas that have failed? Do share

Here's some pics

[holden007]

I made a cheap CAI similar to that, but I found that my K&N filter got dirty too quick, so I invested $45 and got the V6 Supercharged CAI which made no difference from my more free flowing homemade cai, but is keeping my K&N cleaner.

[friedchicken]

I made mine a while ago. cost me nothing

If it works or not, dunno, but the intake area is as big as the super 6 one, so i assume it does. I opened the hole a little at the same time, it made more noise after that...

[timmy_tam]

wouldn't it in anyway affect the amount of air getting to the radiator?
however, i like what you've done

top notch!
looks to be easier than cutting into the wheel well

[broderikb]

Just make sure you clean your air filter & air box all the time, as every little bit of dust, rock, water & whatever else is infront of your car will be going straight in your intake pipe.

[walesy]

hey mate i like what you done the only thing is with the piping having a sharp bend in it (you cant see it in the pic but i assume it would have at least 90degree bend from under the radiator to the front bar) is that it will drag the air flow and same with the inside of the pipe no being smooth... thats why most people opt for pvc piping through the wheel gaurd with a series of 45degree bends, but hey if its doing the job then i see no problem with that, just in theory it would have drag...

EDIT: also being so close to the radiator would be creating heat to the pipe and therefore air...

[walesy]

oh and what does FTW stand for? always been curious!

EDIT: my posts are 1 2 3 4

[hakhawk]

ftw = for the win.

looks pretty good morton, i was lazy and just went vs s/c cai

[anton1o]

Very nice CAI modification you've done there..

I'm planning on doing something similar to that but since i already have the VS SC CAI im going to run a pipe from under the bar as you have it located then cut under the air box and run it straight into the box.

Twin CAI ftw

[Morton]

Mine makes a bit of noise too, friedchicken. you can really hear the sucking down low in the pipe.

Just make sure you clean your air filter & air box all the time, as every little bit of dust, rock, water & whatever else is infront of your car will be going straight in your intake pipe.

Yeah, true that. I would hope most rocks would bounce back out, but I'm expecting it to get a bit dustier in there. Quite a bit dustier. Air filters are only $15 anyway, so I can whack the dust out of them weekly, and change them every 6 months

hey mate i like what you done the only thing is with the piping having a sharp bend in it (you cant see it in the pic but i assume it would have at least 90degree bend from under the radiator to the front bar) is that it will drag the air flow and same with the inside of the pipe no being smooth... thats why most people opt for pvc piping through the wheel gaurd with a series of 45degree bends, but hey if its doing the job then i see no problem with that, just in theory it would have drag...

EDIT: also being so close to the radiator would be creating heat to the pipe and therefore air...

Yah, all true that. That's why I chose 100mm pipe, though. My thought is that being 2.5cm wider than the rest of the stock Holden intake, it would to an extent negate the effect of the ripples, and perhaps lessen the degree of the corners. And I figure that if Holden sees fit to use rippled joins in their pipe, and two 90 degree bends, then it can't be so bad ^^

The heat was a big concern too... I'm yet to see if the black pipe I've used will melt at all when in such close contact with the lower radiator hose.

Anton: that's an interesting idea You mean, cutting through the wheel arch? That'd be a lot shorter than going around the radiator hoses, that's for sure. Let us know how it goes!

And yeah, hakhawk is right. For The Win! \o/ (cheers for the comments hak )

[Emackulation]

What happens when you go through a puddle or even rain? I do have a custom CAI setup in a thread around here somewhere.

[Morton]

Rain seemed okay earlier today. I checked the airbox and none seems to have gotten in. When you think about it, with the amount of suction actually present, it's unlikely the water will travel up the centre of the pipe, past all the ripples along the edge, around three corners and a vertical climb into the airbox...

I hope...

[SICK SS]

I made mine a while ago. cost me nothing

If it works or not, dunno, but the intake area is as big as the super 6 one, so i assume it does. I opened the hole a little at the same time, it made more noise after that...

you should get rid of the air box and stick a pod filter in that area if u get wot i mean

[stocky]

you should get rid of the air box and stick a pod filter in that area if u get wot i mean

super 6 CAI sh*ts all over the pod filter

[Zuicider]

super 6 CAI sh*ts all over the pod filter

i recon the pod filter was better than the panel and cold air. seemed to accerate better

[stocky]

ive used both and im glad i got rid of the pod. sounded crap and made it idle badly

[walesy]

yeah i agree stocky i much prefer the panel filter with cai... much better when pulled over too they dont get drawn to a stock air box no matter what size hole hides underneath it

[Morton]

Yeah, I never found any real gains using a pod either. But the losses on a hot day were incredible.

[SICK SS]

thats y i said to stick a pod in that section that he closed off it would be sheilded from the heat

[Morton]

True dat. But unless he's getting outside air actively fed into that area, I think the pod would still end up scavenging hot air from gaps and holes. Small amounts of air can get in through panel gaps, but where else is the all the air going to come from?

[Emackulation]

Ive got a K&N Pod enclosed with a SC CAI installed with a little plastic air scoop behind the grille forcing air into the CAI.

[padrickz88]

i like the macks idea, i wouldnt mind doing that, how much better does it make the response?.... btw morton nice idea mate, good to see people doing there own idea's...

[friedchicken]

you should get rid of the air box and stick a pod filter in that area if u get wot i mean

To be honest, i really couldnt be arsed. More noise + defectable is not something im looking for.

As far as significant gains with a pod etc, i call BS. currently i have a jaycar oxygen sensor kit set to the 5 volt scale, backwired into the MAP sensor, tuned so the max pressure light is *just* on when the engine is off (ie MAP sensor reading atmospheric pressure). According to the map sensor, the only time the air pressure dropped below atmospheric at WOT was past 4500rpm in first gear, which is more than my 400,000 km engine likes doin anyway.

Buy a decent panel filter (i like the repco/ryco ones), and spend your cash on something worth your while.

[Morton]

I'd agree with you there, chicken. I lean toward the ryco air filter too. It's not let me down yet

[Cogez]

VS Supercharged CAI is the way to go, installed mine in under an hour for around $50 all up. Worth the price, coz they look better and work better.