Sealing Airaid Intake

ecoboostsho · June 26, 2014, 10:50:07 AM

Quote from: boostedflex on June 26, 2014, 09:46:52 AM
ecoboostshi, their is a very good chance you will beat me, I have a 3 year old and an 8 week old sitting at home, so not as much free time as I would like Please post your results if you get to this first, otherwise I will post them up when I get a chance. I have seen IAT's as high at 140 degrees when ambient is 90, not sure if me having a Flex means those seals are even less efficient since presumably the hood is higher and further away from the Airaid's seal.

Congratulations on the new baby! That said I will take that bet...I've got a 4 year old and one year old twins so it's a bit crazy in my house as well! I only have limited time to work on this stuff before my wife sticks her head in the garage and asks for help.

boostedflex · June 26, 2014, 01:22:19 PM

Thanks ecoboostsho, yep same boat with wife, but I am going to try and play with insulating and sealing this weekend, and if IAT's drop significantly maybe see if Torrie can add back a bit of timing

SHODYOU · June 27, 2014, 07:33:03 AM

http://airaid.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=100-262

Wonder if something like this could work

boostedflex · June 27, 2014, 08:05:19 AM

More considerations

I also just realized that the IAT's I had measured must be from a sensor after the turbo's (was thinking 140 was a bit high), so I need to redo my baselines before anything else so I can measure gain

ShoBoat · June 27, 2014, 08:17:21 AM

Quote from: boostedflex on June 27, 2014, 08:05:19 AM
More considerations I also just realized that the IAT's I had measured must be from a sensor after the turbo's (was thinking 140 was a bit high), so I need to redo my baselines before anything else so I can measure gain

Typically what I have seen there is only a 10 to 20C difference between IAT1 and CAC temp. Sometimes even less

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boostedflex · June 27, 2014, 10:33:10 AM

Ok thanks ShoBoat that is good to know, I confirmed I had logged IAT 2, so it would seem I have a huge amount of room for improvement.

ecoboostsho · June 27, 2014, 07:38:24 PM

I did the chalk thing to try and see how well the airaid seals against the hood blanket and it isn't too had but there are some small gaps in my setup.

Not sure how visible it is but you can barely see the chalk out line.

So that said I do not know that a lid will really help that much? ...the openings where it doesn't make contact are actually very thin. That said it isn't air tight so it could definitely contribute to heat soak. I'm starting to agree that if we can insulate the box better that might help more. I do have a hole in the side of my box and I put a flexible duct down in to the side of the fenderwell. It's surprisingly tight down there despite the way it looks...at least to get a 3" pipe in there. I managed but it is squished pretty well in a few spots. I am going to spend some time logging and watching the differential temps so I can compare it to my stock intake with K&N drop in and see if I notice a difference.

boostedflex · June 28, 2014, 08:43:41 AM

Funny I actually made the lid and put it on last night, will post pictures over the weekend. For my Flex their is over a one inch gap in most places, so that explains a lot. So guess this is more of a Flex/MKT issue than an SHO issue.

ecoboostsho · June 28, 2014, 08:45:53 AM

That's a big gap! Can't wait to see those pics.

painterpatt · June 28, 2014, 11:18:26 AM

Yea I closed my hood on Flex with bumper off and headlight out. I can stick my hand in between hood and Airaid. I also cut out back of grille, side of airbox near fender to get cooler air. I can see the aircleaner thru grille now heh heh heh

boostedflex · June 28, 2014, 08:50:35 PM

Yeah PainterPatt I was shocked by how bad it was. Excuse how crude my fabrication skills are, I did this quickly, still need to seal two small sections, get some proper washers, and trim some excess of the bolts, but seat of the pants says my Flex is much faster, which would make sense since my IAT's were probably always off the charts. Notice the bolt in the top right, it sticks over an inch above the top of the airbox, and does not even touch the insulation on my hood at all.

ShoBoat · June 30, 2014, 09:38:34 AM

Looks good! I would love to see how it fairs when you do your testing. A few logged WOT runs should tell you how it performs.

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glock-coma · June 30, 2014, 09:46:51 AM

Subscribed!!

ecoboostsho · June 30, 2014, 09:55:18 AM

Quote from: boostedflex on June 28, 2014, 08:50:35 PM
Yeah PainterPatt I was shocked by how bad it was. Excuse how crude my fabrication skills are, I did this quickly, still need to seal two small sections, get some proper washers, and trim some excess of the bolts, but seat of the pants says my Flex is much faster, which would make sense since my IAT's were probably always off the charts. Notice the bolt in the top right, it sticks over an inch above the top of the airbox, and does not even touch the insulation on my hood at all.

I like it! I see you used threaded rod (good idea!)...I obviously see what you did on the top side...did you just drill a hole in the bottom of the box in multiple locations for the "bottom" side? Also where did you get your plexiglass/plastic cover?

boostedflex · June 30, 2014, 12:12:57 PM

Hey guys,

Thanks for the comments

I am going to call Airaid in a few, I need to get more of the weatherstripping they ship with their kits so I can seal from around the top left bolt to the hood pin switch. For the front I need to fabricate a piece of plastic to block hot air from getting in. As for the air inlet, I am ultimately going to just have air coming in from the factory Airaid/stock airbox location once the insulation is done, but I may well reconsider that depending on how others experimentation goes. For the plastic, it is simply a piece of Lexan from Home Depot, cost me $20. Now that I know it works, I may in the future buy another piece, and take more than ten minutes to cut it so it comes out better. Once I finish the sealing I will definitely do some data logging and see what difference it has made