Putting together one of ForceFed's intakes...thoughts?

[Kapok6]

Ok everyone.  Currently, I have a K&N 9" filter (I know I know Curtis, garbage) mounted directly on the turbo.  Some say you will see the most power this way.  I did it because the FP intake pipe would not allow everything to fit with the current location of my IC piping.  As a result, the filter has hot air blowing directly on it from the radiator fans.  I would imagine this is not very awesome when it comes to intake temps.  So after reading ForceFed's write up, I bought 3 pieces of aluminum adjustable bends and mocked everything up.  I had a huge gap of nothingness where you currently see the filter and it gets it nice and far away from the rad fans so I figured this would work perfectly as it is mocked up in the pics.

Bring on your thoughts and concerns on the way I have it setup.  Bring them fast because I plan on fiber-glassing this thing withing the next day or so.

Also, ForceFed, if you have any advice on the fiberglass process I would love to hear/read it as this will be my first time messing with fiberglass.

[hakcenter]

Buy a box of them rubber cheapo gloves, cause you do not want that on your hands.

[Mr Peepers]

Cut the hole for the stock IC piping large enough to fit the 4" pipe through and drop it into the factory smic location?

[John_H]

What Mr Peepers said.  Cold air is better than hot air for making power.  Simple.

[hakcenter]

What Mr Peepers said.  Cold air is better than hot air for making power.  Simple.

That's why Lowell measured a loss with his CAI ?

I built a nice 4" aluminum cold air intake for the Laser running downhill into the foglight opening. The stupid thing only made 453whp, so I put the filter back in the normal stock location and right away it did 467. I haven't figured out exactly why yet. My best pull with the AFE filter was 470whp, and best with the 4x8 stack was 474. I don't consider this a significant loss so I probably won't take the time to fabricate something really trick, at least not yet. For now the filter sits in the stock location with a 5" hole in the panel below, and a heat shield (aka cardboard...hahah) to keep engine bay heat out.

Some things can't be simulated on the dyno though, and for on road testing I use a manometer to measure air pressure in the inlet tube as well as the nose of the car at the air duct opening. Another thing I just did was put a drivers side splash guard on the passenger side. Just heat gun it so it flips inside out and everything will line up. A little nicer than duct taping up the stock slits.

I think it has to do with just the length of the pipe.

I'd like to see dudes just change their intake pipe... say do some basic driving within 10 minutes of each other. One filter on turbo, the other CAI.. and see if IAT's even change. I don't think IAT's really aren't going to be influenced as much as you think being behind a radiator at 600+CFM.. differences will mostly show up at low speed IMHO.

[Kapok6]

Cut the hole for the stock IC piping large enough to fit the 4" pipe through and drop it into the factory smic location?

If I ran it that way it would block direct airflow to my external transmission cooler.

[1g20g]

I just have a screen on my turbo with a hose clamp but always kinda wanted to do something like this.

[ForceFed86]

Haven't been toying with cars much lately. Intake looks good! Is that the heavy HVAC stuff? Or the dryer ducting?

 A straight shot with a velocity stack and no filter would make the most power. Ideal length would vary. I think Mr.Peepers picked up quite a bit with his CAI pipe. It was a vel stack/no filter right out the headlight. Cheap easy mod for a track visit. It's in his thread on tooners.   Each bend pre-turbo is going to account for a small drop in airflow. For a street/strip car I think it is an acceptable loss.

 Glass tips...

 Work fast! Try to be neat with the glass or it makes a huge mess. If it starts to "kick" just stop and let it. Then finish up after it cures. I used super glue to lock the joints, 90% rubbing alcohol to prep. it. Think I went through 3 pair of gloves, I cut all my strips first an laid them out first. Used a full spray paint can to hold it upright while I glassed it. Yours looks pretty long you may need something heavier.  Originally I had just planned to glass the two ends and use the resin alone to seal the rest of the pipe. Another option for you that may be less of a pain.

Make sure you show us the final product!