Fresh air induction without the box?

Dahoopd

Registered User
Has anyone ran the induction system without the box. I ran just a straight conical filter on my 5.0 and never had a water ingestion problem. Can it be done on the SC. I would think that the box creates restrictions.
 
i have a 4" piece of flex pipe and a homemade scoop right to the stock airbox and i have no problems with water even in big puddles. it does take in some nice size rocks though.
 
I believe the best place is directly mounted on the MAF under the hood (shortest and straightest route). However, there are a couple of concerns - 1) underhood heat migrating up from the headers, particularly during idle & low speed. 2) Fan wash from the cooling fan affecting idle airflow. 3) Dust from the compressor clutch.
These can all be resolved with a heat shield or fabricated metal box (not the plastic air filter boxes). Magnum Powers has one for about $100, which also mounts the MAF; you can use the K&N one for the stock t/bird, or like me make one yourself from sheet metal or plexiglass. The next thing to do is buy an S&B (Autophysics) or "Green" conical filter (with the open cone in the front) and, then unbolt the IRCM relay box and rotate it 90 deg. & attach it to your shield. This then allows direct air flow to the front of the filter (works better on '94/95 front bumper design). Beats worrying about water getting into the filter during rain or the car wash; filter getting caked in road dirt or even falling off & you don't know it !!!!

My 2 cents (bound to get an equal & opposite opinion).
 
NMxr7SC said:
i have a 4" piece of flex pipe and a homemade scoop right to the stock airbox and i have no problems with water even in big puddles. it does take in some nice size rocks though.


That's hilarious, ROFLMAO!!! Jim those all sound like great ideas. I never thought of rotating the IRCM.

David
 
bottom line, the coolest, most dense air is in front of the car. under the hood is hot no matter where you put the filter. that's why all of the high dollar CAI kits put your filter in the fenderwell. water is not an issue unless you're driving in water that's over your hood.
 
I knew this would be a fun topic. "Shortest, straightest route + cooler air beats filter in fender well". If you box in the filter somehow (a lot of race cars like Audi A4, Acura Integra, etc do that) you can eliminate under hood heat. You can also install a cold air duct from under the bumper or through the fog light opening to get that outside air. The trick with moving the IRCM was shown to me by the race manager for a Toyota Supra's team. His mechanic suggested it when they changed the clutch (in their shop) for my Son's (well mine really) '93 SC.
 
NMxr7SC said:
bottom line, the coolest, most dense air is in front of the car. under the hood is hot no matter where you put the filter. that's why all of the high dollar CAI kits put your filter in the fenderwell. water is not an issue unless you're driving in water that's over your hood.


If the water is over your hood, you've got other problems more important than your filter to worry about. So the debate is still on. Straight shot with a duct running air to the filter or the filter down in the fender. I heard that the less distance the air had to travel from the filter to the motor, the better the performance would be.

Are both acceptable ways to achieve a high level of performance?



David
 
the distance from the filter to the TB should be the same whether you have a cone or a panel with a box. either way, you will not see any noticeable HP gains from either method. when i made the duct from my bumper cover to my airbox i also installed a 5% pulley so the difference i felt in acceleration was more than likely from the pulley. it's hard to say. there's little differnce even when removing the air silencer. it just sounds a little better.
 
NMxr7SC said:
the distance from the filter to the TB should be the same whether you have a cone or a panel with a box. either way, you will not see any noticeable HP gains from either method. when i made the duct from my bumper cover to my airbox i also installed a 5% pulley so the difference i felt in acceleration was more than likely from the pulley. it's hard to say. there's little differnce even when removing the air silencer. it just sounds a little better.


Yeah, but if the cone filter is in the engine compartment, it's closer to the throttle body than if it's in the fender well, so wouldn't there be even a slight gain over the in fender set up?


David
 
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