For those of you that know I have been in the process of trying out a few different intakes. With the mindset than the closer you can get to ambient temp the better. For every 10F cooler you potentially gain 1/10 of a second in the 1/4 mile.
I started out with the K&N Typhoon with terrible results. IATs were consistently much higher than ambient. I messed around with it off and on for about a year. Here are the results from that.
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php?topic=3238Summary, its a paper weight. Heat soak is terrible, and it draws in hot air like nobody's business. Up side is sounded kinda cool.
I started down the road of the Airaid after seeing some promising results from this discussion.
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,3250.0/topicseen.htmlThe sealed top looked cool and was derived from some of the other higher end intakes available on the market. So I went out and bought one.
"After much trial and error I decided that I am done with the K&N typhoon. I loved the sound but it hurt performance so out it came. I got a really good deal on a new Airaid intake. With some of the positive results on here I decided why not. I installed the intake and excited I took it for a drive. I was immediately disappointed, IATs were even higher than the K&N? WTF?? And even worse was that when you got on the throttle IAT went even higher? Again WTF?? So pull the car back into the garage and wanting to take a hammer to the intake I decided to check the seal to the hood with some chalk. Wow it barely touched in 3 locations with major gaps in between. Ok that is a real problem. I had some weather so stripping left over from another project and I did this."
IMG_1357 by
sho.boat, on Flickr
It did work, but wasn't long term.
So now I know what I had to do. And on with the how to.
The first thing you should get is some of this weather stripping.
stripping1 by
sho.boat, on Flickr
If you call Airaid they will sell you some (or maybe even give it to you).
Next you will need some of this.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/indoor-expanding-foam-tape-1-4-inch-x-1-inch-x-13-feet/968644It acts like memory foam, and seems to be the best at conforming to the contours of the hood.
If you want to do the cool box option you will need this, and some aluminum foil tape.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/reflectix-duct-wrap-12x25/902353Reflectix comes in all shapes and sizes.
Tear off the OE blade style stripping.
If you are just doing the sealing then proceed to step 2.
Step 1. Carefully cut the reflectix to fit the inside of the of the box. I found that cutting it for the shape of each panel and then sealing with the aluminum tape worked best. I got the idea for this mod from Cold air industries. They line their enclosures with a similar material.
Step 2. Measure and cut the new rubber stripping. You want to ensure that it follows the contours of the intake lip all the way around. If you keep going with it on the right side it will also fill in the small gap between the intake and the fender/rad support. Next the foam stripping. This may take a bit of trial and error on your part depending on how your hood fits. What you want to wind up with is a pattern that looks like this. A bit of chalk rubbed on the stripping will give you this impression.
hood seal1 by
sho.boat, on Flickr
Finished it will look like this.
Prototype by
sho.boat, on Flickr
Results of the mod. The Reflectix was completed after the track runs. This was in an attempt to help with heat soak recovery. On a quick drive today it seemed to help a lot. Temp went from soak 47C (116F) to 27C (80.6F) in about 3 min, ambient today is 26C. Or from my driveway to the main road. It also did not climb nearly as quickly as a stand still. Went from 28 to only 31 in a drive through line for about 10min.
DA was 1750. Not the best but just perfect for what I needed to do. So up till now the stock box was the best option for our cars. Well it is no more! Ran 3 runs with the Stock box and 4 with the modded Airaid. I made another improvement on the Airaid, but more on that later. Runs with the Stock box all 12.95 or Slower. Runs with the Modded Airaid, wait for it..... 12.70 to 12.83 baby! a good 2 tenths faster. for comparisons sake I took the 2 times with similar 60 foot times to prove the point.
Stock Airbox
60' 1.882
330 5.396
1/8 8.339
MPH 84.20
1000 10.860
1/4 12.990
MPH 107.62
Modded Airaid
60' 1.873
330 5.327
1/8 8.221
MPH 85.37
1000 10.732
1/4 12.803
MPH 110.48
And a personal best tonight of 12.703 @ 111 mph. with a 60 of 1.8 flat. At 0 or better DA it should go into the 12.5 with this setup.
With the butt dyno I was expecting it to be quicker, but not 2 tenths quicker. Data logging confirmed that the Airaid was able to recover quicker and had a lower IAT throughout the runs (almost ambient after 3 seconds). I also assume that there was less resistance and the cooler IAT resulted in boost being slightly lower with the Airaid then the stock box.
