New MDesign carbon fiber intake =]

[MDesign Performance]

Thoughts?

I've personally tested the MDesign CAI on my personal vehicle for over 40,000 miles through Michigan floods, heavy rain and snow with water never entering the intake and many other users have done the same. In the off chance that droplets of water enters the intake that still would not cause any issues.

The concern with water entering an intake system is the effect of hydrolock which is going to be a slim chance. Those three tiny holes would not stop an engine from hydrolocking as you would need a good amount of water in the intake to hydrolock in the first place, which if that were the case the water would be sucked up by the intake before being able to drain out of those holes. If you really wanted to attempt to get water in the intake you would need to: (1) completely submerge your vehicle up to the hood or (2) feed a hose directly through the grill, up against the hood and into the air inlet scoop. I understand your concerns though as stated before with many intakes out there in the wild and members using 3100 PSI of water on the vehicle there has not been any issues. Also the aerodynamics of the car, the location and design of the inlet, and the streamline effect while in motion will also deter the possibility of a large amount of water entering the intake inlet.

Water... might be possible, but short of immersing the car I am unable to get water to my underhood anything or in the intake of the CAI with prolonged and extensive 3100PSI PW weekly since I got one of the first 5 MDesign CAIs built.  Several driving rainstorms and we had our 100year flood due to some of them... Water won't get in... the intake was well designed... mine has been on my car since build date 9/13... even says dry when I PW the engine..

[14SHOCAR]

I guess short of disconnecting and inspecting the intake after a heavy rain storm, you will never know if water made it into the intake canister. Saying no water is mostly unbelievable.  I'd also be interested to scope the intake manifold, inner cooler, and cylinder to see if there is any signs of corrosion due to water intake. Hydrostatic lock isn't the only bad thing that can happen to an engine if water enters the cylinder...

With all that being stated, I'm sure MDesign is an excellent functioning intake system. I think it looks great, looks well built, and would perform really well on the track.

I am an engineer by trade, and I like to look at things from all angles given my investment in my vehicles. My apologies for the questions / comments on this stuff.

[MDesign Performance]

I am an engineer by trade, and I like to look at things from all angles given my investment in my vehicles. My apologies for the questions / comments on this stuff.

No apologies ever needed! What I might have to do is to hook you up with a MDesign CAI!

[mts7471]

I'm running an MDesign CAI on my SHO, and ya all bring up good points.  I think an easy fix would be putting a small 1/16" drain hole at each end of the canister on the bottom.  It'd be out of site, and if water did so happen to get in there it could drain out.

I will say today was one heck of downpour going to work this morning in the Chicago area.  I tend to drive cautiously in heavy water with all the pooling on the side streets, but I made it to work, so nothing horrible happened.   If I ever run into another downpour like this on the way home and if I have time I'll try taking it apart to see if any water got into the system.

So far I've been very happy with the CAI though.

[BiGMaC]

I guess short of disconnecting and inspecting the intake after a heavy rain storm, you will never know if water made it into the intake canister. Saying no water is mostly unbelievable.  I'd also be interested to scope the intake manifold, inner cooler, and cylinder to see if there is any signs of corrosion due to water intake. Hydrostatic lock isn't the only bad thing that can happen to an engine if water enters the cylinder...

With all that being stated, I'm sure MDesign is an excellent functioning intake system. I think it looks great, looks well built, and would perform really well on the track.

I am an engineer by trade, and I like to look at things from all angles given my investment in my vehicles. My apologies for the questions / comments on this stuff.

It would seem that if enough water entered the intake to cause a problem it would be turbo damage.  As an aside I pressure wash at 3100 psi weekly at my house.  The upper front clip is sprayed for a total of 5-10 min at 2.5 gal/min.  No water problems... I dismantled the first time to be sure.  I appreciate that the engine is not running... But it also can't generate 3100 psi equivalent suction.

I have one of the first 5 MDesign CAIs produced... Driven in driving rain, no problems.