Built my CAI today.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Well, me and my friend today decided to tackle the task of fabricating a cold air intake.

I went to Lowe's, and picked out some pipes.

I went with a 4" elbow from the TB, to a 4" to 3" reducer, about 15" of pipe to a 3" elbow, and the cone filter on the end.

It took a while, and i'm all cut up from cutting the heater ducts i used, but it was worth it and it doesn't look completely horrible...homemade, yes..

unfortunetly by the time i had time to take pictures, it was dark. i did take one with my phone midway--


i'll get more when it's brighter.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Built my CAI today.

got some more pics of it done..still on the phone sorry..





i used the rubber gasket that was on the stock air silencer that connected to the stock airbox on the TB, to make a seal with the 4" heater ducting.

tell me what you guys think.

[1996F-bird]

Re: Built my CAI today.

Looks good man. Im so close to piecing together something similar, Im just not sure I want to bother looking for a LT1 elbow, buying a 90* one from intakehoses.com, or eeven what you have done with the heater ducting and stock rubber. But great job, notice any difference in performance?

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Built my CAI today.

well, it's hard to say.

It may just be that i was wanting performance and sound, but on my first initial drive i thought the car had a little big more agressive sound from outside and inside. A little bit deeper. I also thought it felt like it had just a tad more pull, but that could have just been the sound registering in my mind as go-fast. haha


still worth it though, even if it didn't add horsepower, cuz i did it myself for like $20

[nascar24jd]

Re: Built my CAI today.

Pardon my question, but if it does not add hp what is the point? I don't really like the look of the duct pipes in your engine bay. If it is for power purposes I could understand, but for minimal gain the stock piece looks much nicer, IMO.

However, as for your actual design and work, :tup:

Nice job.

[RadRacer]

Re: Built my CAI today.

Some do it just for the bit of gain they get. If you want it to look good, and work good, like I did, go and buy a CAI for a LT1. I took it, a reducing rubber elbow from intakehoses and a 3" coupler and hooked it all up. It's a tight squeeze, but I got it and the block-off plate installed. And I know for sure that mine definitely has a nicer sound to it, and the power was unbelievable. Before, I could just barely squeek the tires if I dropped it into 2nd, now I can spin the tires easily! And, it only set me back about $150 since I got it from eBay.

TheGr8Schlotzky, I see you have the IAT resisiter mod crap thingy. Notice any gain from it?

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Built my CAI today.

The purpose of it was for power, and i really think it did it's job well. However, i was just saying, i think it would be worth it even if i didn't gain any, simply because i'm proud of it, that i made it for so cheap, and the sound it changed to was enough to spend the money i did for sure.

I did get gains from it, and sound too.

As for the IAT sensor chip, the gains are minimal. However, it's nice to have it now that i don't have a place to put my sensor since i didn't make room for it when i installed the CAI.

I think really the gains wouldn't be too much, becuause the colder air actually does help you out, not just the computer thinking it's colder air. Like, since summer is over and the temp is droping, i can already feel performance gains just from that.

I think personally the IAT chip sensor is worth it, simply because it's so darn cheap.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Built my CAI today.

My neighbor saw it and said i should paint it jet black since it still looks like i just put dryer ducts in my engine bay. Well i agree to an extent, cept it would be somewhat of a pain to remove and paint. I guess i could, but it doesn't look THAT bad does it?
would it even look any better in black?

also if i took it off again, i would probably clean out my TB. I saw a writeup on it once, but i can't find it now, does anyone know where i can find it?

[BLLDOGG]

Re: Built my CAI today.

looks pretty good. Thank you so much for not using the flexible dryer ducting.

I would paint it either black or what ever accent color you want and it would look top notch.

[3.4 slow to go]

Re: Built my CAI today.

if your gonna paint it black, maybe see about some heat sheilding, keep them radiant temps down ;)

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Built my CAI today.

yeah, i thought the flexible stuff would seriously screw up the airflow and almost defeat the purpose of getting better airflow..

What do you mean by heatsheilding? Some kind of paint or what?