VT/VX Intake Modification "DIY"

[Camotec]

Hey Guys,

I was pondering making mods to the intake but I didn't want to do anything like a pod filter as I didn't want the big road rush when i put my foot down (especially in an auto where its not really a roar but a drone) so I did some research on some products like intake snorkel replacements like Aunger and a few no name ones all of which looked about the same. Maybe I could just mod the stock snorkel.

I noticed upon removing my snorkel (piece of intake that crosses the top of the radiator) and saw a hole below that opened out to a cavity infront of the radiator. this is where the air is "good" as there is a positive flow from the front grills and the air is colder. but the snorkel does not open to this hole instead having to suck from under the bonnet.

I started pulling out my stanley knife and looked one last time at my stock snorkel wondering if I should cut it up.... hell yeah!

I cut a eclipse shape out of the bottom of the snorkel and then proceeded to open it up some more. i would periodically put the snorkel back in place to see where needed to be opened up more etc. I put the snorkel back for the last time and screwed it back into position, and went for a drive.

At first I didn't notice much so I cruised out to the highway and put my foot down to get to the speed limit and thats when i noticed a much more refined purr from the motor I also noticed that when I got to the speed limit and I took my foot off the accelerator tha car didn't pull back nearly as much and seemed to want to cruise by itself for a while before slowly dropping in speed. (normally i'd take my foot off and the speedo would instantly start to decline in speed)

After accelerating hard after exiting a roundabout I notice the beautifully nice purr again, no drone just a nice engine sound (mind you it is silent like stock when driving normally) Another thing i noticed though is that the gear changes are a hell of alot smoother under power, and when just going slowly the changes are almost unfelt.

Apparently Fuel economy is meant to be better, however i will have to wait and see cause I just filled up today. As a guage I had my aircon on and the power was like i didn't have it on and this was in economy mode, so I am quite chuffed.

I stopped the car after the drive and popped the bonnet put my hand on the intake snorkel and it was neutral in temp, and thats fantastic considering that the snorkel is normally quite warm, so that means that the engine must be gettin some of that cooler goodness.

I would have to recommend this stock looking mod to anyone who wants a little more power and wants these other benefits.

I have posted a pic below showing the shole i made.
PS: If anyone wants to move this post to a walkthrough section feel free etc.
& if anyone has already done this or if it is common knowledge forgive me, mainly targeted at people who want a mod for no cost.



Cheers
Ben

[Krizto]

A good idea Ben and I have seen is done a number of time's before however be careful. If you cut too much back you'll be letting a lot of the heat coming off your radiator in to the air box. I'd say that is why your pipe is cooler now, coz the heat isn't sitting under it and is going up the intake pipe.

As for smoother gear changes, I can't see how more cold air in to the motor is going to do that. I'm currently work with a performance shop here ona building a ram pod intake setup and it will sound the same .... maybe a tad louder on those cold nights but no more then what my K&N did.

Or you can get yourself a VT/VX UX6 CAI like I did ..... http://www.commodoreclub.net/index.p...ic&pic_id=1218

Cheers, Chris.

[Camotec]

if the car is moving forward then heat should not be swimming up the front of the radiator exspecially from behind the grills where air is entering with force.
In saying that though I will mount a temp sensor as i would hate for hotter air to enter the engine.

A lower temperature in a material usually means that the air flowing through the material is cooler causing a saturation effect of the average temp. this is how I have always observed and done things with my race car, I usually use temporary mounted temp sensors too. when tuning on the track. looks like i might have to pull them out of the shed and set it up to check, but all looks good.

I do realize that heat soak off the radiator could be a problem if the car was sitting still or going slower than say 20km/h but saying that i doubt the effect will bad as the cars load is not there and the radiator fans should turn on causing alot of the hot air to be sucked back through the radiator.

I might be dreaming smoother gear changes but Aunger states that their air intakes will smooth gear changes aswell, so maybe it was wishful thinking on my part. I think it has somthing to do with the fact that the engine doesn't have to try so hard to scavange for air freeing up the flow in the engine making it smoother (just shooting poo there though, catch as much as you like)

I do alot of aero research out of interest for my track car and for my dads aircraft maintenance business, he is currently rebuilding a czech L-39 which is a old trainer/fighter jet. will post some pics the next time I am visiting the parents in Bathurst.
Does JustCommodores run Commodore cruises etc?

Cheers
Ben

[Krizto]

Yeah I see where you're comig from Ben ...... somethig to think about on my part

However, (You know it was coming) I have seen Anger and SS Inductions kits fitted to LS1 and before and after dyno run's proving their a waste of time and money by dropping power.

Another spanner in the works, lol

[Camotec]

Well theres somthing i didn't know lol aunger sucks ass ok check lol.
hehe. cheers mate, lets have a beer sometime

By the way i am not big noting myself with the aero research, i re-read it and it made me sound like a dick and for that i am sorry. hehe

Cheers
Ben

[Krizto]

A beer sounds good mate but several sounds even better.

And no you didn't sound like a dick ..... is ok if I call you Professor anyway, lol



Cheers, Chris.

[crustyman]

A good idea Ben and I have seen is done a number of time's before however be careful. If you cut too much back you'll be letting a lot of the heat coming off your radiator in to the air box. I'd say that is why your pipe is cooler now, coz the heat isn't sitting under it and is going up the intake pipe.

As for smoother gear changes, I can't see how more cold air in to the motor is going to do that. I'm currently work with a performance shop here ona building a ram pod intake setup and it will sound the same .... maybe a tad louder on those cold nights but no more then what my K&N did.

Or you can get yourself a VT/VX UX6 CAI like I did ..... http://www.commodoreclub.net/index.p...ic&pic_id=1218

Cheers, Chris.

Hey, where did you get the CAI and can I ask how much it set you back? Does it fit straight up to a VT airbox or did you need to modify it? Thanks

[Krizto]

Ok, bought it second hand off some dude on the www.ls1.com.au forum for $60 and yes you need to cut a bigger hole in the existing air box.

Lucky for me I got the air box with it !!!

[Secki]

did th eabovementioned mod to my stock SS intake today. Results, nice suttle purr when accelerating, and exactley as Camotech states, when on the freeway doing 120km or so and you take you foot of the gas, for some reason it doesnt slow down near as fast as before hacking a hole in it?!?!?! Wierd.

[Krizto]

Is you SS a 5.0 or LS1? Only reason I'm asking is coz if you have an LS1, the MCAI (Monaro CAI) wouldn't be much better for your car.

Cheers, Chris.

[Secki]

5.0.......

[Lord-Data]

However, (You know it was coming) I have seen Anger and SS Inductions kits fitted to LS1 and before and after dyno run's proving their a waste of time and money by dropping power.

Curious point there is that a lot of the benifits of a modded "cold air" intake is that it needs a good flow of air being thrown at it .. For instance, driving forwards outside .. On a dyno, you don't get that, because the car is stationary, and often indoors, so you won't always see a CAIs benifits on a dyno, but you might still get it on the road ..

[Krizto]

Thats generally why the put a fun in front of the car.

Cheers, Chris.

[Lord-Data]

yeah, but a fan blowing room temp air at it isnt anything like what a car gets blown over it at 100kmh in cool air ..

[Secki]

the hole i cut out allows air pretty much straight in from the front grill area, as well as between the bonnet/grill area

[Camotec]

Thats great Secki glad you got somthing good out of it .

yeah nice cool air from the grille area is a nice upgrade and the temp sensor i put on to test reported a good temp of around 25 ambient in the snorkel.

not too bad considering the radiator is almost touching the snorkel and prolly copping a bit of heat soak.

Cheers
Ben

[Drew]

I was looking at my VT II thinking of cutting this section of plastic out the other day....

My thinking behind cutting it was - how the hell does my car breath when I have the car bra on it???? With great difficulty i assume!

I thought this could be a solution, and maybe even in conjuntion with some form of scoop mounted under the radiator support and lined up with the grille and the new hole cut in the intake snorkel thru the radsupport...


Must get the knife out before i whack the car bra on for the next road trip....


Cheers
Drew

[VT-565]

I did the same mod to my VT but sad to say, i didnt notice a lot of difference. Not saying it doesnt work, i just couldnt feel anything extra...however, i did do another mod quite some time ago that some of you might be interested in...i modified a 30 degree pvc fitting for my airbox and jammed the biggest K&N pod i could find on there....we are lucky to be endowed with a rather deep air box on the VT onwards and i took full advantage of this, now, i get a tiny little bit more induction noise, but at highway speeds, there is no comparison, it really hauls ass. now i am thinking of scrapping the over-the-radiator job and going down through the guard with a piece of flexi pipe to ram it straight at the pod....no heat soak, just cool air...mmmmmm

[Alexio]

Ecotec Maniac, any chance of you posting a couple of pics of the intake you made for the car? Cheers

[Drew]

I've got a monaro front bar on my VT II Wagon too, so. I'm thinking of cutting out the grille. The top vent on the grille of the monaro bar is not a grille at all, its acually solid plastic!

For my vehicle - the hole in the intake snorkel through the radiator support in conjunction with opened up monaro grille should let the car breath when I have the VT SS car bra on!!!
(I can imagine you have confused looks on your faces )
Monaro and VT SS front bars are the same shape - therefore the car bra fits but the spotlight holes are slightly misaligned, and the bra covers the badge on the grille area!

[VT-565]

Ecotec Maniac, any chance of you posting a couple of pics of the intake you made for the car? Cheers

Hi Alexio, i dont have any pics of it at the moment, however, i could get something organised in the next couple of days....to get some sort of idea, look at the lid of your airbox and you will see where it converts to a sort of tube, this is where i mounted the 45 degree fitting....bugger it, i will just put a pic on......

[AKA_VT2]

Eco.....i would like to see some pics too...when ya get to it.....

thanks

[Drew]

Took my VT II for an open road scoot after i opened up the intake snorkel to breath from behind the rad support.

First was Thursday morning. 4:40am departure from Adelaide to the South Coast for an epic 4-5ft session at Day St Cliffs.
Open road driving with the cool morning air and seems to be a noticabley better over 100km/h

Long weekend, I had the car bra on the yobbodore when I headed up the Clare Valley with the Girl to sample some vino's.
The car bra was my original concern as I figured the car was choking with the car bra on.
Seemed to breath nicely taking up the air from below the rad support....


Still to whack an insert panel filter in the air box. Must get around to sourcing one!.


On a similar note - my mechanic has found that a ryco filter breaths better than a factory holden filter.
He was surprised himself and had to duplicate it a couple times himself on the dyno, but a ryco filter gained 2kw compared to a factory holden at the rear wheels on a VT! Interesting!


CHeers
Drew

[Camotec]

It's great to see people getting benefit from this mod. good too see its not just me

Cheers
Ben

[monkeyboy]

Those Auger and similar intakes are a waste of money IMO. Opening up the existing snorkel and plumbing a 3" custom CAI is the way to go. The custom CAI should take you around an hour and about 40-50 bucks in materials. The CAI I plumbed into the side of my airbox grabs air from behind and slightly under the front bumper. I've stuffed rags int here to block it and gone for a fang...and I can definately feel the reduced throttle response. Getting more cold/dense air in your airbox is great but don't expect miracles. Every liitle bit helps though