Cold air intake????'s

[ty056r]

Anyone out there made their own cold air intake setup. I was looking at making my own set up. It looks pretty easy.

[Gary in BR]

I think someone has done it, not me though.

[blinkwatt]

Pedro of Technolab.

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site/Technolab.html

[Lil bastard]

IMO, the Boxster already has a Cold Air Intake.

All the intake air is drawn through the side intake, none from the engine bay.

The existing airbox is pretty well insulated from engine bay heat, unless you're thinking of thermo-insulating the plumbing.

The only significant way to improve it would be to shorten the path by installing a Ram duct somewhere on the rear deck, and then you'd have to worry about hydro-lock in inclement weather from water injestion.

Besides, Cold Air intakes are the realm of forced induction. If you aren't compressing the charge, the difference between ambient air temp and that which reaches the plenum is insignificant for NA, especially for a Street car.

[edwinwilks]

Yup, I tidied up the piping a bit, the airbox is drawing in cold air anyway as noted by someone else. I did a Pedros style one - 2 3" rubber elbows and a section of 3" ABS pipe. The elbows are critical - long sweeps don't fit and the 3" is a bit big - I trimmed mine down to the reduced section and warmed them in boiling water before fitting so they stretched enough to fit the airbox and the throttle body. Now they've take a set they fit very well and seem to stay on with screw clamps.

Here are the results, not quite what I expected...:-

It's a bugger to get the old one out.
It's possible to burn more fuel but the fuel efficiency figures in normal driving are unchanged.
Freeway speed driving (and this is the weird bit) is actually quieter, by a fair bit.
It seems to have improved the feeling of urgency the engine has (is this what people mean by 'improved throttle response'? - if so it's true.)
Power gains are minimal if extant at all but the smile inducing induction sound is great

[Sammy]

I pretty much agree with Lil bastard on this one. I installed an Agency Power intake on mine am not sure I gained much. In looking back on it I would think any kit (purchased or home made) without some sort of shield protecting it from the engine heat would be a step backwards (the stock box is sealed and the Agency Power has a shield)? At least with the Agency Power you "open" up the intake air over the snorkled stock box (not sure if this actually adds anything but it helps me sleep better at night).

[Jaxonalden]

I've got the EVO and paid $125 for a new one off of EBay, the Outerwear prevents any water ingestion. I think of it this way, with the RPM's these engines rev at and my engine displacing 3.2 liters the amount of air flow is substantial. If I was running a marathon suckin' air through a straw and then spit it out and breathed on my own I would feel a whole lot better. I'm sure the intake on the Boxster was mandated by the U.S. backed EPA. If Porsche had there way the intake would be allot less restrictive than it is. So I took it upon myself to free it up.

The sound is great!

[Sputter]

The point is, is it restrictive and how restricted is it?
No question that it adds to the sound but as for torque/hp values that's as debatable as choices in oil brands.

Originally Posted by Jaxonalden

I've got the EVO and paid $125 for a new one off of EBay, the Outerwear prevents any water ingestion. I think of it this way, with the RPM's these engines rev at and my engine displacing 3.2 liters the amount of air flow is substantial. If I was running a marathon suckin' air through a straw and then spit it out and breathed on my own I would feel a whole lot better. I'm sure the intake on the Boxster was mandated by the U.S. backed EPA. If Porsche had there way the intake would be allot less restrictive than it is. So I took it upon myself to free it up.

The sound is great!

[Jaxonalden]

Common sense tells me that if the engine draws in air by opening a valve and the piston going down creating a low pressure zone, creating work on the engine in the form of a vacuum. That in turn is then filled with atmospheric pressurized air. The less restrictive it is for that volume in the cylinder to fill, the better. The velocity being drawn through the stock air cleaner (making 4-90 degree turns in less then 20 inches) is high. A straight shot is much better, allowing for the cylinder to fill easier.

Makes sense to me.

[threpwood]

Cold air intake? I heard they were the culprit of MAF light if I'm not mistaken. There were posts about it long time ago which caused me to skip the whole thing all together.

Supercharger is another thing though.

[fragdude]

The oil impregnated cotton filters on the intakes were the problem with the MAF. There is a member (grizzly i believe) who has swapped it for an AEM dry filter (not quite as good clean performance, but it stays fairly constant) and from what I've heard the stock airbox moves enough air for a stock engine.

If the dry filter really helps get rid of the MAF problem (from what I've heard its the oil, but freer flowing filters let more particles/dirt in as well) I would consider getting an intake for just the sound.

Outwear covers are nice for filters that are exposed to the elements. I have one on my '87 911 that has the filter under the A/C condenser.

[Jaxonalden]

Properly oiled cotton based filters are just fine as long as the person thats servicing them doesn't soak the media in oil until it's dripping. That's the reason the oils are in a aerosol can. This is taken from the manufactures website;

Lightly oiling each filter pleat and allowing the oil to impregnate the gauze, 6) Allow to set for 20 minutes, 7) Checking and re-oiling the light spots

This link is from the FAQ about MAF sensors...http://www.knfilters.com/faq.htm#17

There are links to MAF tests they conducted...I don't think there's a connection.

I have K&N's on all my vehicles and have never had a problem.

P.S. I can see my Outerwear (air filter) by just looking in the side vent. What I would like to see is the pipe turned and the filter in the vent opening and sealed off at that point. Cleaning the air filter would simply consist of removing the side vent cover and removing the filter!

[fragdude]

K&N does have a very firm stance about their filters not causing MAF problems due to the oil. Someone, however, did run a test on the filtration performance of aftermarket and stock filters here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

I haven't read it again, but I believe the conclusion was that the stock filter was more restrictive but cleaned the air better. Maybe this is the cause of the MAF problem? maybe the Outerwear pre-filter helps the filtration enough that it doesn't matter? All I can say is yes, it would be really nice if you could just open up the side vent and change the filter

[Jake Raby]

I recently gathered some data from my test car with the stock arrangement and a couple of cold air intake systems. I gathered this on the dyno as well as in field testing with my Race-Technology DL2 set up.

I did this to see if there was room for improvemnent with the aftermarket systems on a stock engine that would support another truly developed component.

We require cold air systems to be utilized ewith our non stock engines, especially the big bore 3.2>3.6 enginesa s their need for air is greatly increased.

I did find that on a Dyno the effects of the intake are more than they are in field testing and thats probably due to the better air flow of the aftermarket units while the car is static on the dyno vs. at speed in the car.

[stephen wilson]

Jake, I don't know if you saw my post under the ISM poll thread, but I had a question that would help me in my pending purchase. Can you confirm that there was an IMS change in '06? And if so did it improve reliability at all?
Thanks,
Steve

[Jaxonalden]

Jake,

I have a question for you. You said, "I did find that on a Dyno the effects of the intake are more than they are in field testing and thats probably due to the better air flow of the aftermarket units while the car is static on the dyno vs. at speed in the car." Is that because of the side intake opening?

Kirk has a type of scoop on his car that seems to stick out in the air stream. Is this needed to feed the beast? I'd love to get your thoughts. I was wondering if there was some sort of high pressure zone at that part of the rear quarter panel, or if Porsche just put the hole there because it was convenient.

Dave

[boxster_s_boy_34]

Originally Posted by Sputter

The point is, is it restrictive and how restricted is it?
No question that it adds to the sound but as for torque/hp values that's as debatable as choices in oil brands.

I know for a fact that the Evo intake is good for power gains, however I'm not sure how much yet, the dyno will happen sometime soon.