Zoraone

First, I'll admit. I'm a car guy and car guys just can't leave something alone ---- at least for long.

My '95 LS400 is a wonderful car -- Luxurious, quiet, by no means a race car. But as everyone knows it is easy to get a bug in your butt to change/modify something.

I've never been sold on hot-air intakes. You know, the ones that place a cone filter in place of an airbox and draw hot air out of the engine bay. My 95 LT1 Z28 has a Callaway CAI that put the filter in the lower fender well.

This got me thinking....

After about two hours of carefully choosing my parts at the local Lowes. I now have a fully functioning CAI.

I will warn you. I had to do the unthinkable. I had to cut.

It was bad. No, it was horrible.

But after some careful measurements I had perfect access to the lower front bumper area.









It is unfinished. I will leave it in its raw state for a few days to make sure I don't have any issues. If I don't have any issues I will sand and paint the white parts black and hopefully not have too noticeable of a modification.

First impression while driving.

Significantly improved throttle response.

The intake noise wasn't as loud as I expected. Just a nice low resonance snarl.

It is 85 degrees in Indiana and coming off a stoplight, without break torquing the driveline, it actually threw the traction control on because of some tire spin.

The best thing is. If I hate it. Or worse, it doesn't continue to work. I will take it off and put the stock parts back on. Yes, the hole will still be present, but it is a small price to pay to try and make something work.

Very best,

Dustin

timer00

I think it looks good

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

hmm, interesting, i think you may have placed it a little too low since there is potential for water to get into it where it sits now, but the idea is decent.

the only other problem i see is that there still is no real COOL air going in unless you have an opening in the bumper, the way the lower covers are arranged little fresh air is brought in from there.

Zoraone

Im sure it will get wet. I've had one positioned in the same spot on my Z28 for about six years and it does get moisture. However, I don't plan on driving through high water so that shouldn't be a problem.

[QUOTE=PureDrifter;3629313the only other problem i see is that there still is no real COOL air going in unless you have an opening in the bumper, the way the lower covers are arranged little fresh air is brought in from there.[/QUOTE]

Possibly. Who knows. I just didn't want to stick a cone filter on the end of the MAF and call it done. At least the air it is getting is significantly cooler and goes through less restrictions than the stock intake.

I may hate it. But I may like it. We'll see what the MPG meter says before I make my decision.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

my point was you may want to try to take one of the turn signal lenses out on that side to see if the cooler air helps much.

if it does then just throw a NACA duct onto the under panel (not directly connected to the intake) to help pull in some cool air.

Zoraone

That isn't a bad idea. The NACA duct might actually work better. Especially for moving air.

Here are some more pictures. I'm done futzing for the evening. I wrapped it with some pipe insulation just to make it look a little better until I can finish it up.

steveski

Very nice - no matter what is seems better than leaving the open filter in the stock location where it sucks hot air

UCF11

Finally some one had the guts to do what I have wanted to do haha.

How did it feel cutting the hole??? I would be in pain for the car, talking to it assuring her saying its only for her own good LOL Looks good with the insulation on. very tidy.

I have recently done a simular mod, my filter is exposed but i have it all boxed off seperate from the rest of the engine bay.

Throttle respose improved, and on a cold night I can denfinetly notice an increase in power. Although I also feel the car may have lost some low down torque (is this even possible from such a mod) for example when cruising at say 80km/h (about 43mph) on roads that i drive every day slight rises in the road will make the car drop speed by 2-3km/h where as before i have never noticed this before the cai. Even though hardly noticable its still there and will affect the fuel economy as you have to apply more throttle to sustain the speed. Keep an eye out for it. Im thinking it may have something to do with bypassing the first plastic resonation chamber in the factory over the radiator cai

Keep us posted.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

if you remove the holmhertz resonator you most likely will experience a loss of low-end tq.

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

Very nice system if i do say so myself , well backyard engineered using all the right principles. It may not be perfect but it should have no negatives as you are only reducing the intake resonator/muffler at the minimum .
I can;t tell by the pic but get the largest cone filter you can buy . The increased surface area will allow more air and less moisture into the stream as well as allow better filtering. You can never over size a filter for surface area.

Great work , you should be proud.

UCF11

holmhertz resonator???

is this the one in the factory CAI or above the left hand rocker cover.

cheers

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

its the big plastic box attached to the intake tube, its in all LS' in some form or another.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

PD getting fancy shmancy with us. might be doing something like this soon..

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

if you do, PLEASE dont cut off or remove the resonator...its big, its ugly, but it helps

steveski

Thanks Pure - always can count on you for the details. I broke off a vacuum hose on the holmhertz thing when I changed plugs and wires - easy fix thankfully. I thought what the heck is this box - now I know.

This mod is cool I think it could be like the G35/7 if there was a way to mod ducting from the bumper up to the filter - kind of like ram air? The G has dual bumper inlets that supposedly give a few extra ponies at 55+ MPH - nicely done mod