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A New Intake


Matt64341
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We have had a lot of bad weather lately (snow, rain, flooding), and I was a little concerned at how my intake would hold up. Today I pulled it completely out. The filter was pretty dirty but the piping inside was just as clean as the day I put it in. Still I wanted to change it around to be more protected. I have done a lot of research on intakes and the advantages of cold air and short ram intakes. I tried to come up with a way to have a "ventilated short ram intake" that had the safety of the filter placement, while taking advantage of the cold air outside the engine. I later found the "Comptech Icebox" which uses this same idea, but they don't make one for the Millenia (of course) and they are pretty expensive. My goal was to create an intake that had great volumetric efficiency as well as thermal efficiency. I built a short ram intake and used two ducts, each with a screen to filter out debris and to keep animals from crawling up. The two ducts have scoops located under the car which take in the cold air. The velocity of the car forces the cold outside air directly to the filter. The free-flowing location of the filter prevents any suction, so hydrolock is impossible. I planned on building a heat shield, but there was not enough room to work with and I decided it wasn't worth the extra effort. There is also a hole covered by a piece of plastic into the fender where a fan could be placed to further increase the efficiency when the car is not moving, which I may consider in the future.

 

The sound is very different than before, it still has the same higher pitched s/c noise but is a little quieter, and has a subtle deep tone when accelerating hard. I am very happy with it so far, and it is definitely constructed better than my previous CAI.

 

New Location:

IPB Image

 

Air Ducts:

IPB Image

 

Under Car:

IPB Image

 

 

I also recommend cleaning the MAF to anyone who has never cleaned it before. I used CRC Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner, which is a few dollars at any auto store and sprayed every inch of the MAF, especially the sensor parts, and let it dry out for about an hour. This is a picture taken halfway through cleaning the honeycomb end:

IPB Image

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My previous intake was similar to the chitown intake (only not as efficient or well put together) but the plastic guards under my car are not in great condition, so it allowed too much debris to get to the filter in the fender and I was concerned that it could lead to future problems. Actually the damage to the plastic guard that allowed the ducts to be placed there, and now I am able to keep a better eye on the condition of the filter. It was very dirty when I removed it and I have only traveled a few thousand miles since it was installed initially.

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I can't say anything about the chitown intake because I don't have one, but I have already had a noticable gas mileage improvement over my old CAI, which says it is at least more efficient than what I had before. The filter never really has a chance to get heatsoaked because it constantly being fed cold air by the ducts. If the car is idling for a few minutes then it may become a problem, but there is a hole from the engine bay to the fender where I may be installing a fan later to help avoid this.

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yeah, but its still there, I personally would have just replaced the splash shield, those ducts open up the chances for other things to enter your enigne bay while at speed.

 

I didn't get mine in before MWM07, so I can't speak for gas mileage, but I would assume a small increase, I believe others have reported more

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hmm, could you use seafoam to clean the MAF

 

I'm not sure, but I would probably stick to the MAF cleaner because it is a sensitive part.

 

Also, today it was 36 degrees (F) outside and I went for a long drive. At the end I parked and popped the hood. The engine was hot as usual, but the filter was very cold along with the piping from the resonator :) .

 

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