Make Your Own Neat Looking Cold Air Intake/cai!

[WYTSKY]

Hey guys,

I saw skykc's cai pod thread and liked his ideas, so gave it a crack myself. I believe it is has been very useful and my pod has been keept at a maximum of marginal warm instead of boiling hot, even without a heatsheild, which I am yet to make. I have also noticed that the car is alot more responsive now regardless of the weather.

The whole amount of the hardware you need only costs around $30 if you go to the right places.

I used:

$8- 90 degree intake pipe from a vn commodore in Pick Pay n Go

$4- flexible black funnel from Bunnings

$12- 6 pack hole saw bits up to 100mm from Bunnings (were meant for wood but they were so cheap and I only wanted to use them once)

$3- Rubber edge to cover up the bare hole from Clark Rubber-"Cool Clarky" if you please

All up = $27

The whole process only took me about an hour and you only need very basic tools.

Tools required:

Hack saw

Drill

Wire cutters/Tin snips

Maybe a flathead or phillips head to undo a few plastic screws on the underbody

The Steps:

1. Once you have found a Vn Commodore intake pipe, you will notice one side is longer then the other. I ended up cutting it down to about the same, so I could fit the funnel on it and just fit it all into the front bar.

2. Once the pipe can fit in under the front bar (keep testing to find the right size) you need to cut the funnel down to attach it onto the pipe. The funnel is used to attract more air in the direction of the pipe to flow straight to the pod. It probably isn't 100% neccesary, but for $4 who cares?

3. Use the hack saw again, cutting the funnel about halfway through, possibly with a little bias either way. The next step you want to do is measure how much you need to flare the inside of the funnel so it fits snuggly over the pipe. At the moment, the smallest part of the funnel should be able to fit inside the pipe, fit it in and see how much you need to flare the funnel.(It should be about a centimeter)

4. To flare the funnel you will probably need to make about 10 tabs with the hack saw around the smallest end of the funnel, each about 1cm deep. Once the tabs are made, grab a lighter and make the tabs just a tad warm which will make it a little easier to bend the flares with your fingers. The final result should make the small end look like a flower, which will then allow for the pipe to fit in.

To hold the pipe and the funnel together, use an adjustable hose clamp to tighten down the open flares over the pipe.

At this point your piping is now complete, it is optional if you want to use some fly wire to stop any bugs/leaves going up the pipe to your pod, I was not to worried about this because my pod is already a filter so I don't think it matters. You now need to make the hole in your engine bay.

5. Get your pack of hole saw bits, I used a 90mm size which fit very snug. Adjust where you want to place your hole, I decided to make it right in the middle under the pod. Attach the hole saw to your drill and start off very slowly. (From what other people had said I was weary of using hole saw bits that were made for wood, but they were a quater of the price of metal ones and I only planned to use them once.) After you have made the rough outline of where you want your hole start pushing down a little harder, then just keep holding it there, that way the teeth on the hole saw bit wont go blunt as quickly. I did it this way and it took me about 2 minutes before I could simply peal off the perfect circle like a metal can lid, plus I still have plenty use out of the hole

saw!

6. Once your hole is made you need to put the rubber edge on, and if you have it handy, spray some fish oil to stop rust(if you don't, don't stress, the rubber edge stays on nice and tight!) To get rubber the right length slowly cut it down in educated guesses, because it slips in deeper to the edge then you think and you end up needing more or have a part where the circle is not complete. I strongly recommend you use this rubber edging because it makes the hole look a lot more professional and hides any imperfections you may have made making the hole. ( in the pics the circle looks a little lop sided because the rubber had not been put on properly yet)

7. The final step to do is adjust the angle of the pipe a little, just so the funnel is pointed right in the center of the hole of the front bar and try to point the 90 degree pipe slightly down so dirt and water can't fly up as easily. I simply used a few hidden cable ties and found a few holes off which to angle them by.

Hope you all enjoyed and also check out my heatsheild tutorial!

[Duncan]

w00t medalist tools FTW

[WYTSKY]

HAHA yeh, so cheap and effective

[Lil_Bobby_260]

Very nice. Make a heat shield haha!!!

*Waits for tutorial...*

[WYTSKY]

Haha... I already have!

check like 5 tutorials below

[Rochey]

hey man thats awesome. can u post a pic of the front of your car now? i wanna see how ur front bar looks cheers

[WYTSKY]

woops... my bad, thought I already had...

check original post at the bottem... u can barely see it

[SkyKC]

Excellent job mate, Realy nice work, nice and neat will add ythis link to my post too, so more ppl will see this.........

Cheers champ

SKY

[WYTSKY]

Thanks for the kind words bud

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

vn pipe aye... been looking for somthing to slot in, looks great man!,

how is it when washing the car with pressure hose ? does it make its way up the hose ?

[vinnie32GTS4]

hey bud awsome job there..just wondering if this would work with a 32??

cheers

[WYTSKY]

hey guys,

it was hard finding a pipe to suit well, especially because I did take into consideration stuff like driving when raining and the high pressure hose....

to overcome any water getting up there I adjusted the angle of the piping slightly, just so it faces downward a tad more... that way when any water decides to go up it, it runs back down. ... I also dont shove a hose up there !

I don't know exactly how it would work with other cars.... am always happy to offer ideas if u send me some pics of the engine bay, but I have only done it to my car

theres no reason it couldnt work though, because you customise the piping or the location of the hole(if neccesary) to under your pod.

Regards,

Adam

[gotRICE?]

Any ideas on how to do it with a Stock pipe route setup?

I cant fingure it out/

[DaShMiEsTeR]

what is the difference between putting the pod filter lower where the pipe's inlet is or doing a setup like the above?

[DaShMiEsTeR]

what is the difference between putting the pod filter lower where the pipe's inlet is or doing a setup like the above?

[WYTSKY]

with a stock pipe you mean using the standard panel filter setup and snorkel? or with the standard side mount still there?

perhaps send me a pic of your setup?

---------------------------------------

I thought about putting the pod lower where the cai starts and not having to worry about a heatsheild and it can be done. but bear this in mind:

-its very close to the ground, driving in the wet could cause big problems

-you will have to change it almost weekly depending on how much you drive

-There would be problems with the afm aswell if you wanted to keep it directly behind the air filter, ie you would have to extend the loom so that it could reach behind the pod, make a custom pipe to keep it where it is and include it in the induction system.

-because it would be that low and practically exposed to the elements except for a pod infront of it, it could fail pretty soon, causing your ecu hell!

so I choose my setup instead

[gotRICE?]

with a stock pipe you mean using the standard panel filter setup and snorkel? or with the standard side mount still there?

perhaps send me a pic of your setup?

---------------------------------------

I thought about putting the pod lower where the cai starts and not having to worry about a heatsheild and it can be done. but bear this in mind:

-its very close to the ground, driving in the wet could cause big problems

-you will have to change it almost weekly depending on how much you drive

-There would be problems with the afm aswell if you wanted to keep it directly behind the air filter, ie you would have to extend the loom so that it could reach behind the pod, make a custom pipe to keep it where it is and include it in the induction system.

-because it would be that low and practically exposed to the elements except for a pod infront of it, it could fail pretty soon, causing your ecu hell!

so I choose my setup instead

Blitz LM Kit, uses the stock pipes, so both holes are still filled with pipe

If going down the CAI route, id leave the AFM where it is. Unsure if it effects it being further from the filter tho. Wouldnt imagine so.

I had CAI's on my Hondas with the filter in the bumper and never had issues. The filters are infact waterproof, you just dont want to submerge them. Rain doesnt hurt. All you do is take it easy in the wet, and watch for "surface" water that ends up being 2 feet deep

[WYTSKY]

Afm does not matter if it is directly behind the pod/standard intake or near the throttle body, aslong as it can measure the amount of air going into the engine.

I know this because when I got my new big turbo, it obveously was doing its job blowing air hard into the system, but it also forced a small amount of air to go back the other way, which gave the afm a negative reading, the way around this is to relocate the afm

And yeh... with melbs weather + pot holes... just gotta look out for the deep ones filled with water if your pod is right at the bottom of the bumper

Adam

[evil_weevil]

Sik!

Ive actually done a similar idea...

I used to own a VT LS1 powered commodore and I upgraded my intake pipe, so the stock one now is on my skyline!

Same place - but I didnt even think of using the funnel as the entry at front bar - Thats what Im gonna do on my lunch break, go to bunnings! hahah

This is the airbox I made last weekend, so with the cold air pipe and this, it *should* work ok! haha

airbox.doc

[ashneel]

just to add with the pod filter sitting infront of the bar it can be done and you will not have to change you filter almost every week if you get the right pod

it will be a bit of a pain making a pipe to keep the afm safe in the engine bay (you really dont wanna get this wet) then run the pipe to the front of the bar and use a pod filter thats been coated with oil (k&n filters are coated in a thin oil film) which will help water bead of it if it gets wet. just dont drive through a puddle

have done it to a GTR32 before and it was a massive pain in the ass for the GTR but shouldnt be much of a pain for a GTST but just a warning the induction is seriously loud as its exposed and the sound wont be quitened by the closed bonnet