airbox hacking? - Performance Forum
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I was thinking....
Yesterday we changed the oil at 12,500 miles and I checked the filter because the car was slowing down. We are getting a K&N dropin. Now, would cutting an opening in the top lid of the airbox (Exposing the filter allowing more air to get in) work with comparable performance to the $200 cone on a pipe intakes? And is a K&N drop in worth the $40 price? Thx!
1971 camaro 427 --- here!
Stock... and loving every minute of it.
if you cut a hole in the top of the air box it won't do you anygood at all. if you do it your going to suck air in to the intake before the filter.the air won't even have a chance to go through the filter.
^^^ agreed bad idea to cut the top of the air-box
Not only that, but you would be sucking in air from the engine compartment, rather than the air being fed to the airbox.
Read, then process the info, think logically, than if you don't have a headache afterwards, post your response
2.2L ECOTEC wrote:I was thinking....
Yesterday we changed the oil at 12,500 miles and I checked the filter because the car was slowing down. We are getting a K&N dropin. Now, would cutting an opening in the top lid of the airbox (Exposing the filter allowing more air to get in) work with comparable performance to the $200 cone on a pipe intakes? And is a K&N drop in worth the $40 price? Thx!
bad idea get k&n cold air kit.
Look on e-bay for chep air intake; they sell those there like for 40 bucks
You will see no performance gain what so ever with a K&N drop in. In fact, its just more of a hassle to have to clean and properly oil that sucker. How do you know you didnt under or over oil it? It's so much easier to use paper in the box.
Remember What a stock air box is for. It provides superior filtration compared to older intake filtration methods. The stock air box, along with a paper filter filters near everything.
Make sure you dont run extended drain intervals with any type of aftermarket intake setup, as they have been proven by BITOG to allow much more contaminants into your engine. Theres are only 2 kinds of contaminants that can get into your engine to dirty up it and the oil, dirt through the intake, and combustion byproduct. There is a reason why even high horsepower street vehicles still use a stock air box.
If you want to keep that engine clean and healthy, and keep your SI levels down in the engine oil, you really should stick with a paper filter. Even if you buy a intake system, just make sure you put a paper filter on it.
Removwe the intake resonator that is in the driver side fender well.
Could cut some of the bottom of the air filter box off to make the hole bigger.
just spend the money and buy the cold air intake. it will be much better for you in the long run.
Agreed.
But if he has to wait to save money for it. That's an alternative till he can get one.
yeh its not really a good alternative though, you may as well just wait till you can get the cold air.
i really enjoy my k&n drop in it has deffinately helped in the acceleration. oh boo hoo if you have to clean it every 30 -50 thousand miles(depending on conditions). it has added power to my 03 caci. and has given me an added 25 miles to my tank. also i got my filter at wal-mart for $32. think about it $15 every 10,000 miles or $32 for the life of your car.
oh yeah the recharge kit fork&n is only $10 dollars and you get about 15 cleans with it
lets do the math.
K&N $32+$10=$42 for100,000 miles
paper filter $15X10=$150for100,000 miles
i just busted a big hole in my filter box (pre-filtration) hasnt really been much dif just a lil more TQ response at low rpms, spin tire everywhere on light shail on road and wet weather is a pain,
planning on making the hole large enough to actually install an outer filter just for the extra protection, little bit more flow over stock and slightly better filtering....anyone think that would work or should i just forget it
^doesnt wanna spend 200$ on an intake
If you want to see any performance gain over a stock intake system you have to spend some $$. hacking and modifying the stock intake is not going to net any measurable amount of power. If you really want an incrase from an intake alone you need to increase airflow, and lower temperature.
Colder air=More dense=faster, cleaner burn with less fuel, creating more power.
Cutting a hole in the airbox may slightly increse airflow, however that air will be warmer due to the air being drawn from within the engine compartment rather then the fender well.
All cutting holes in the air box will do is make the intake on your motor slightly louder.
IMHO All you have managed to do is hack up a perfectly well engineered piece of plastic, and make your already loud motor louder without really having anything extra under your foot to back up the noise.
and the difference in air temp when the car is in motion is negligible.
A short intake pipe with net you more low end torque, a longer pipe will get you smoother top end. i have had both, and it all boils down to personal preference.
hacking the box will you very little beyond the butt dyno test
Ok well u guys say nothing works! I have drilled holes in air boxes before and yes it does help.You can give the warm air cold air talk all day ,But most wai have afilter right were our air box is and they give gains even thought they aren't in the fenderwell.Yes cutting holes in your air box will give you more hp!!!!!!!If you cut big enught holes in the right places.Done exectp alot but even 3hp it would be worth it!!! Because if you have the tools to do it its free!!!!!!!!!!.And Nitro did it i talked to him and he said it helped! And with a k and n drop it s even better.Take alook at our intakes the biggest restriction is in the fender well if you drill holes in the box it will no loner take air throught a maze of small piping that is tiny!!! And your telling us that won't help to make a 3 inch hole on the side of the air box.So what you are saying a 1.5 inch tube would flow better then a 3 inch tube . I know ill get flamed for this but maybe you guys shouldn't be so g d negative!
darkblade j
the restriction to the fender well is 2.5 inches, ( at least a 2.5 inch pipe fits without cutting) the problem with the stock air box is not just the size of the air intake, but the flow of the air itself, not to mention the tube that runs from the box to the TB has ridges the disrupt the airflow instead of encouraging it. I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. if that box was so great then no one would consider removing of modifying it in the first place.
IMHO you could get the same power gain from a cheap ebay intake (search post for 2.4 ld9 intake on an ecotec) be doing about the same amount of work, and have just as clean of a finish.
well i know there are other restristions on the stock intake system.I took apart the intire system including the snorkol thing in the fendew well and there is a tiny tube that the air goes thought i tryed to find it to mesure it but i cant find it (Its in the garage somewere).Any ways i would still help some!!
darkblade j
I too thought about doing this, but with the area I'm living in now I could only imagine how fast the filter would get dirty. Lots of logging trucks around here dragging mud and such onto the roads I drive daily. I bought my K&N drop in before I moved out of Bradenton Florida....cost me $26.95 + tax at Wal-Mart. I did feel a difference just with that and I was pleased, but I would really like to open up the intake a bit more and get the flow going better. Not to mention I love the sound if the TB under hard acceleration. But then if I could train myself to keep my foot out of the throttle *coughs* I could theoretically get better economy as well. As it is I average around 38 miles per gallon. [04 cavalier 2dr 5spd]
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