CAI with stock airbox

[WazR32GTSt]

Thought I would show off my new cold air intake (CAI) setup for those who are running a stock airbox on their skyline and want that little extra air

Test car: R32GTSt

Items needed and costs:

- 50-60mm pipe approx 50cm long (clark rubber, $7-8)

- cable ties x 20 (supercheap, $3)

- funnel (supercheap, $4)

- drill

- small saw

- ratchet, screwdriver

Firstly, I removed the front bar. In order to do so, you have to remove the indicators (one screw each) and unplug them to expose a screw underneath holding the front bar in place. There is another screw holding the front bar under the wheel arch on either side. These need to be removed. There are also plastic shitty screws all over the place (can’t remember where they all are but easy to find). Once all screws removed the front bar simply slides off…

Now I have exposed my lovely FMIC (see pic 1)

Oooh look at that nice big auto trannie cooler also (see pic 2)

Sorry about that…

Now I removed the airbox which is a simple process. Once the top section is unclipped and filter removed, there are 4 screws that need to be removed using a ratchet. 2 inside, and 2 outside. After this the stocker simply lifts out easy.

You can see in pic 3 (sorry it’s a bit blurry!) that I have orientated the pipe into the bottom side section of the airbox. To do this, I lined the pipe up with the side of the airbox and traced its diameter with a pencil. Then using an old (small) drill I drilled in and cut out a circle just bigger than the size of my pipe. While I was there, I drilled 4 holes around where the pipe was to go.

Next, I secured one end of the pipe to the airbox. I drilled 4 holes corresponding to the 4 holes previously drilled in the airbox and went nuts with the cable ties. My CAI pipe is now complete at one end!

Now I have a FMIC with custom piping which means there is a hole where the stock pipes used to go almost directly under the side of the airbox. This made it easy to route any pipes as there’s a nice big hole there If you have the stocker then you will have to find another way of getting your pipe to the front of the car and that’s beyond my help, sorry. I now fed the pipe through the hole in the engine bay so that the bottom of the airbox was now back in its original position. Airbox can be secured back in place with the original screws. While is was at it I gave the AFM a quick spray of ‘brake cleaner’ which dries with no residue and gives it a nice clean.

OK so now what we have is the stock airbox in place but with a pipe secured to one side and coming out of the engine bay and hanging at the front of the car.

Next step is to attach a funnel to the end to ‘catch’ as much ram air as possible Using a saw, I cut the end of the funnel off to just leave the funnel itself. To attach this to the other end of the pipe, I drilled 4 holes in the funnel and 4 holes in the pipe and went nuts with the cable ties again.

Now all that’s left is to attach the CAI pipe somewhere so it doesn’t flop around at high speeds. I used cable ties to secure one side to the intercooler pipes running nearby (see pic 4).

Presto, picture 4 shows the finished product (very dark – sorry) and you can see the funnel on the end attached to the CAI pipe which then runs up and into the stock airbox to feed it crisp, cold air.

Now just re-attach your front bar and you’re done!

Total cost = approx $15

Best part is with the stock airbox its legal to have a FMIC yet the airflow I still have is adequate for my needs

Well let me know if anyone else tries this or any feedback on whether they think this turned out good or not.

Cheers,

Waz.

[MANWHOR3]

dude!!

did you say you cut the pipe into the bottom of the airbox? that means that you're bypassing the filter all together.

in that case, why not just keep the airbox there for looks, and run a large pipe from the intake piping down to the front bar?

[WazR32GTSt]

on the R32, the afm is attached to the top section of the airbox, thus this flows air in front of the airfilter to be sucked through and into the AFM...

[JaFF]

watta rip off, i was doin the r33 gtst workshop manual for 5 bucks inc postage from tas

back to topic. Looks good. I'm still using the stock air box too but i was gonna feed around to where the original snorkell joins up. will post pics too when i get around to doing it.

[WazR32GTSt]

watta rip off, i was doin the r33 gtst workshop manual for 5 bucks inc postage from tas

back to topic. Looks good. I'm still using the stock air box too but i was gonna feed around to where the original snorkell joins up.  will post pics too when i get around to doing it.

yeah post pics up of the R33 CAI too as it seems to be a different setup...

[nmcmahon83]

Sorry about Hijack, but there is no point in doing CAI if I still have stock cooler is there?? On this note, would a new air filter (pod most likely) be of any use without a CAI?

Cheers.

[Chris32]

Looks good Waz, I ran a similar setup on mine with the stock airbox, I used the factory inlet, with a 80mm 90degree PVC wedged into that, then airsawed a 3.5" hole under the airbox and ran a duct to the front bumper

Your setup looks similar to the one I did, just mine didn't have the extra hole

I removed mine when I fitted my FMIC, as the turbo outlet pipe fouled the box

Word of warning though, that pipe will act like a huge vacuum cleaner - on one quick blast on a saturday night I arrived home, poped the bonnet and could hear this really fast ticking noise, I thought it was a bearing or lifter or something, until it continued after I switche the motor off!!! - Popped the lid on my airbox to find one of those big bastard moths in there - sans wings, flapping its sticks on the plastic of the airbox!! There where also a few leaves and smaller moths and bugs in there, so make sure you put some coarse mesh on the end of your hose to stop un-wanted crap being sucked in

PLace it to low and it will suck up fine dust etc too

Well done though, bet it sounds pretty loud on boost now

Chris

[WazR32GTSt]

Looks good Waz, I ran a similar setup on mine with the stock airbox, I used the factory inlet, with a 80mm 90degree PVC wedged into that, then airsawed a 3.5" hole under the airbox and ran a duct to the front bumper

Your setup looks similar to the one I did, just mine didn't have the extra hole

I removed mine when I fitted my FMIC, as the turbo outlet pipe fouled the box

Word of warning though, that pipe will act like a huge vacuum cleaner - on one quick blast on a saturday night I arrived home, poped the bonnet and could hear this really fast ticking noise, I thought it was a bearing or lifter or something, until it continued after I switche the motor off!!! - Popped the lid on my airbox to find one of those big bastard moths in there - sans wings, flapping its sticks on the plastic of the airbox!! There where also a few leaves and smaller moths and bugs in there, so make sure you put some coarse mesh on the end of your hose to stop un-wanted crap being sucked in

PLace it to low and it will suck up fine dust etc too

Well done though, bet it sounds pretty loud on boost now

Chris

PVC pipe that's a good idea actually...

hmmm maybe i should get some mesh (eg flyscreen door mesh) and put it over the funnel to stop moths and small birds getting in?

[Chris32]

Yeah, the pvc pipe worked well, it had a 90degree bend out of the airbox down, then a straight piece through the metal hole, then another 90 facing the front of the car, and a small piece of ducting to the front bumper, it worked really well!

Get some mesh from your local hardware store, there is mesh available with about a 5mm square hole, and its reasonably heavy gauge wire. Flyscreen mesh would get sucked in I reckon, the heavier stuff is easily bent and clamped into place and it will keep 90% of the crap out, the rest will get caught by your filter

Chris