"Custom" CAI

[Ninety5PoloZ]

Last night after work I finally got some work done on my air intake. I have been putting it off for a week or two, but now it's almost complete. I still need to add the IAT sensor, shorten my MAF wires, and hook the breather hose up for the opti, but you get the idea. It will be a little tight on the upper radiator hose, but I think it will work with the Griffin radiator. I also need to trim up the aluminum plate I made and fasten it to the car. All in all I have about $115 with the filter, clamps, 3.5" polished tube, and the silicone bends. And it's pretty damn light, easily under the 6# that my over the rad setup was.

I used-
4" to 3.5" 90* silicone reducer
3.5" 45* coupler (a 90* would have been a better choice)
24" section on 3.5" polished aluminum (I ended up trimming about 4" off of the tube)
K&N filter I had for my over the rad CAI I had before (IIRC 3.5" inlet 7" wide x 11" long x 4" thick)
Sheet of aluminum plate for the MAF to mount to
And I bought the t-bolt clamps for everything because I think they look a lot better than the cheap hose clamps and they are only a couple dollars each.

Anyway heres the semi-finished product. I think it looks pretty good and it works well with the simplistic theme I have going on, everything is really easy to get to :)

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**EDIT**

Just figured I would add some completed pics as it ended up changing up a little bit. As meissen mentioned I ended up hitting the radiator hoses on my stood up radiator. I had to order a 90* coupler that was taller than my 45* elbow and it fits now. The seller of the coupler said that it had 4" ends so I bought it, but when I received it they were only 2" ends :( It works, but it's not exactly what I wanted it to end up at, later on I will get a taller coupler so the angles line up better. I may also add some sort of heat wrap on the upper rad hose, but before my filter sat directly on the radiator, so I'll see how it does first.

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[Jayz28]

Now that's different! Good job! Looks good.

[popo8]

looks very nice!


Love creative work.


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[meissen]

Looks good but are you positive the radiator is going to fit? I see you cut your cross support so I'm assumping you're doing an upright radiator?

[Ninety5PoloZ]

Looks good but are you positive the radiator is going to fit? I see you cut your cross support so I'm assumping you're doing an upright radiator?

Yes absolutely positive the rad will fit. I'm installing a Griffin radiator "stood up", the only tight spot is the upper rad hose, but it *should* clear.



Thanks guys, I think it turned out pretty well. The silicone couplers have some battle scars though haha, I had to trim them up a bunch to make everything work together

[Mystery Bird]

It's a great idea and it looks great too but I would think it may cause tuning issues. Where are you placing the IAT?

[Ninety5PoloZ]

It's a great idea and it looks great too but I would think it may cause tuning issues. Where are you placing the IAT?

Why would it cause tuning issues? I will be placing the IAT close to the TB like it is stock. I had the MAF mounted to the filter on the over the rad setup and it ran the same as it did with the Moroso CAI.

[Mystery Bird]

The MAF is designed to meter air in a straight line without a filter attached which may or may not cause turbulence. So it really should be in the straight part of the tube. The way you have it air will be traveling around the bend not moving evenly across the sensor which may possibly throw off numbers. It is still worth a try cause it looks good the way you have it. Do some data logging to make sure it still works properly though.

[popo8]

My only concern.. are you worried about water, with as los as your filter is.
Mine is that low, but also inside the front "under" bumper (black plastic)...it always worries me when it rains... but I hope my "hairdryer" makes enough heat to dry mine.

[Badbird_96]

I think with all the bumper plastic on it should be fine. The slp cai is ran similar to that.

[popo8]

I think with all the bumper plastic on it should be fine. The slp cai is ran similar to that.

these threads are for people who can refer tobtheir ltx fbodies or other ltx vehicles.


:p


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[popo8]

these threads are for people who can refer tobtheir ltx fbodies or other ltx vehicles.


:p



seriously tho... guess im havin a hard time visualizing it...but i used to have the slp one...and ur rite the filter was HIGH
Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com




Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Badbird_96]

Yeah if you look at where its mounted it will be high enough i dont believe there will be any issues. Imo i dont think the maf will have any issues as the air coming through it will be straight and curve just after but i could be mistaken. Looks good though :thumbup:

Edit - fine larry i will take my business to a datsun site then lmfao.

[popo8]

...

Edit - fine larry i will take my business to a datsun site then lmfao.

hahahaaha

;)


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Ninety5PoloZ]

The MAF is designed to meter air in a straight line without a filter attached which may or may not cause turbulence. So it really should be in the straight part of the tube. The way you have it air will be traveling around the bend not moving evenly across the sensor which may possibly throw off numbers. It is still worth a try cause it looks good the way you have it. Do some data logging to make sure it still works properly though.


I appreciate the concern, but I ran an over the radiator CAI setup for 2 years without any issues. A few others have done the over the rad setup with the MAF mounted to the filter and haven't reported any issues. I understand exactly what you are saying though. I'll take some datalogs after the car is on the road and post them up for your creteking if you want me to. I still have the honeycomb in the MAF so maybe that straightens out the air before it comes to the sensors :dunno:

The way the filter is mounted is just like the Moroso CAI or the SLP CAI. I just have a little bigger filter than both of those setups have. I will be putting all of the plastic pieces back in place and may even duct some fresh air from the driver side fog light opening. I want to log some runs to see if there is any real world differences in IAT with it just in the wheel well vs having air come from the fog light opening. I also have a LS1 lid setup that I have been keeping in my back pocket in case this setup I built doesn't work out. If I hack that up to mount it I will be doing a "ram air" setup and duct air from the air dam straight into the filter.


BTW my car doesn't see rain so I'm not too worried about the filter sucking in water.

And POPO your hairdryer could use the extra cooling of the water injection haha, some guys spray distilled water instead of meth

[MeanTA]

I say test and see if it works. testing new ideas is the only way to advance our cars.

[Mystery Bird]

I say test and see if it works. testing new ideas is the only way to advance our cars.

Absolutely, I'm a big fan in thinking outside the box. Hope it works well, it's a nice clean looking inexpensive alternative.

[Ninety5PoloZ]

Updated the first post with the finished product :)

[popo8]

Looks VERY nice man. great job!

Co-Owner/Admin @ LTXtech.com

[Mystery Bird]

Yeah, that looks good, nice job. BTW, by cutting the rad support and adding the bar going across for the stand up radiator did it save you any weight?

[Ninety5PoloZ]

Yeah, that looks good, nice job. BTW, by cutting the rad support and adding the bar going across for the stand up radiator did it save you any weight?

Yes, 5.5 lbs worth of metal was cut out plus the upper rad support which is another 2 lbs IIRC and I put about 1.5 lbs worth of dom tube and rad mounts. It's not worth a lot of weight, but every little bit helps.

And thanks :cheers: