Well, stealing the idea from the pictures that Serban posted earlier this week, I had some 3" pipe bent at my friend's meineke.

Then, John (nismonx2000) and I got to work on installing them. We stopped at home depot and bought a bandclamp thingy from the plumbing section, some A/C foam weatherstripping, pipe hangers, and misc. nuts and bolts. Oh, and a friend bought an angle grinder for quick work of metal trimming :-)

I'll post some pics later this week. Looks cool, sounds great. We'll get it to the track in a few weeks to see if there was any improvement.

Quick question for those of you with Classics and CAIs: When you look through the front bumper of your car (into the hole to the right of the radiator opening), can you see your cone filter? *** I can, and i was wondering if I should block that off to keep the filter from getting wet.

Yes I can see my filter through the hole in the bumper. If you cover it it will defeat the purpose of the CAI. I would imagine. You will not have a problem with it getting wet. I have ever had a problem with rain. Just avoid deep puddles. I hope this helps :D

Get the pics, I'm curious how yours came out :) you can see my filter trhough the hole in the bumper:

http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~sgg8661/cai6.JPG

Well, here is a lil' webpage I threw together with the thumbnailed pics. :)

http://www.tcnj.edu/~sysant2/CAI.htm

That doesnt look all that bad...I say if it works good, use it. Looks like I started a trend here :D

The ghetto fab intake was started on my nx, and it took us about 4 hours to get it all perfect and to fit everything the way it needed to be fitted. It was a lot of fun, and i can definately feel a difference past 4500 rpms, it seems to pull better down low too, before with the warm air the engine wouldnt rev as freely to 7k, but with this setup, it revs easily there. Everything fit snugly and nice and tight without any leaks...the only difference in mine is, taht we didnt use the foam to cover the enlarged hole that the pipe went through. IT was a lot of fun, and it only cost us about 25-30 bucks a piece for all the pieces we needed and the pipe.

How much did that meineke bent piping cost? I bought a mandrel bent piece from JCWhitney for about $20 and it is enough to make two CAI's (If you don't fuck up and make bad cuts like I did) :) I also bought 1200 degree paint and painted the inside and out of my CAI. Although it came off where the pipe couplings tightened down on it. I'll have pics available someday.

The piping cost me 30 bucks, for two seperately bent pipes (one for me, one for john). Keep in mind, each pipe had two bends....we are still using the stock hose from the TB to the MAF, and the pipe had to go around the battery then dip down to the fenderwell.

could you post the step by step prcdure you used for that adn tehprice of the materials? I am planning on dpoing that with my intake too. Howdoes it pull adn everything, sorry if htis is already posted, but i can not read it too much while at work!

www.tcnj.edu/~sysant2/CAI.htm

There is really no set process to it. Here's one way though, Cliff Notes Style:

remove factory airbox and resonators. Remove battery, and trace your line where the CAI piping will run. Make the marks where to trim the battery tray and how big to enlarge the opening into the fender.

Attach piping to MAF with appropriate adapters, run it down to fender well. Attach cone filter to pipe. Secure pipe as necessary.

That's it in a nutshell! More details can be found on my webpage!

-C-

Not really Serban.. :D Home made intakes CAI goe back to the Dryer hose days of 96

http://twinkie.ucdavis.edu/whole.jpg

2.5 inch Mandrel U-bend cut to fit, with necessary fittings welded on. 20 bucks max in parts. That was my first intake. Now its 2.5 from TB to MAF and 3 inch from MAF to filter (fenderwell) Say what you want about design.. but 152.3hp to the wheels and 135tq.. something must be right :)

When you think about it and as discussed on the mailing list. The piping does most of the work as far as performance goes (resonance, velocity), and I'm sure the cooler temps in the fenderwell doesnt hurt. But I'm sure any of those intakes are light years better than stock.

Originally posted by Fast91SER
That doesnt look all that bad...I say if it works good, use it. Looks like I started a trend here :D

Luis, hope I'm not starting a flame war over here, but I am still confused as to why AEM intake makes more hp with it's 2.5" piping over other CAIs with 3" piping from the MAF... if someone can share their theories that would be great

Well.. the reason I chose 2.5 from MAF to TB is because the MAF "outlet" is 2.5 inches exactly. So I figured it would run better without that nasty 2.5 to 3inch change. So its just a nice straight 2.5 all the way. The throttle body is about 2.75 inches. But the change isnt as major. I think perfect would be a 2.5 from maf and have it flare out a little to perfectly match the TB. And I did 3 from filter to MAF since the MAF "inlet" is about 3 inches stock and the best MAF adapter I could get (Place Racing CNC'd Aluminum) has a 3 inch inlet. This way I didnt have to use any reducers or anything. Just couplers and I guess AEM had the time and money to do prove it on the dyno and is selling the best one. I still think their design can be improved upon. If you look at the "last" intake on my car (dont have pics yet) its pretty much a straight pipe from the TB to the MAF and the only bend is to allow the pipe to enter the fenderwell.

Hope this helps..

Originally posted by NonSER
Luis, hope I'm not starting a flame war over here, but I am still confused as to why AEM intake makes more hp with it's 2.5" piping over other CAIs with 3" piping from the MAF... if someone can share their theories that would be great

I think, just by trend, he meant by using exhaust piping :)

Originally posted by Luis
If you look at the "last" intake on my car (dont have pics yet) its pretty much a straight pipe from the TB to the MAF and the only bend is to allow the pipe to enter the fenderwell.

Hope this helps..



Thank Luis, BTW did you relocate the battery to allow such simple bend straight to the fender? (I'm sorry I'm not familiar with your mods, that's why ask)

You don't have to trim the battery tray, get a smaller battery or any of those things if you work with it a little. I have a large battery, it fills the tray and I didn't even have to slide it over any. If anything, try elongating the holes in the battery tray to allow it to slide over more to give you some room. Nice job Luis on fabbing the TB to MAF tubing, I didn't bother with that I left the OEM rubber hose in. I was going to sleeve that ribbed area with a short piece of pipe but it wouldn't fit so I left it as is. I figured the rubber has better heat resistance than the pipe anyways.

thanks for the help

I didn't relocate the battery. It's still the huge stock one. I am thinking about relocating it (just got a Westco) Without the battery there the opportunity opens up to make a much straighter/simpler intake..

Originally posted by NonSER
Thank Luis, BTW did you relocate the battery to allow such simple bend straight to the fender? (I'm sorry I'm not familiar with your mods, that's why ask)

Originally posted by NonSER
Luis, hope I'm not starting a flame war over here, but I am still confused as to why AEM intake makes more hp with it's 2.5" piping over other CAIs with 3" piping from the MAF... if someone can share their theories that would be great

It's all about velocity. The smaller pipe keeps the air in just the right size to not let it grow too large and loose speed. On a deeper breathing engine (like a VE) I would guess that 2.75 or 3 inch would be better. Plus the VE uses a larger TB and MAF. AEM uses 3 inch on many of the Vtech honda stuff. Even a 2.5 will be way better then stock.

Steve