jibbby

Forget BFI intakes even though they are #1.....I want to go more extreme and install an intake that draws air from the top of the front wheel well....In doing so I also want to create a true cold air filter box intake that fully sheilds off engine heat and flows....

The question is whom makes a true metal cold air box intake to match up with our Sc's...Is there any or do I have to custom make one? Anyone? Does anyone have any ideas on how to make the best cold air intake...Better then the BFI..? This is my next project, need ideas?

mkorsu

No one makes anything like that for the SC.

I did come across a company yesterday that sells individual pieces, (piping, plenum, etc) that can be custom assembled to fit an individuals need. Let me see if I can find the info on the company.

sc250tt

you want cold air ,make a custom cold air intake or you can put some ice around the intake box

jibbby

Yeah, well I think a company needs to make one that allows the air to flow thru it easily...Like a metel daul cone shaped cold air box with like a K&N filter that would mount inside and sheild away all the engine bay heat totally....BFI uses the stock filter which is made of plastic...Not heat resistant....

Ice Ice baby.....Ideas anyone?

MJHSC400

I was just diggin in the front bumper yesterday, and the airflow through it will certainly be high pressure enough to use a BFI type box-- (can be sealed 100% if done carefully) and leave the front open behind the headlight ***'y...

Guys on planetsoarer have gone over this alot and stated no improvements with custom ramair setups that are 100% sealed -- taking air in from the front--

You could definitely heat shield all the piping though to make the stock airbox impervious to heat soak--

It would be interesting to see somebody make a full custom cold airbox for an SC though--

It's not that hard to do-- Sheet metal and a break could do the whole job-- just hook up with a residential a/c shop tech after hours and they'll have fun building something like that for you--

It would need riveting for a removable panel from the top to get to the air filter and some thin steel plate to mount and fasten your plexiglass cover over the top-- you could drill/tap the mounting surface to accept small machine screws to fasten the cover down with and use a k/n style cone filter inside the airbox-- I think there's enough room for it....

I just don't like the idea of cutting a hole in the fender well-- but you could always just drop a large snorkel tube out of the front/bottom of it to be a ram/air setup.... probably better than the fender well.... Just don't drop the tube too low as the air just above the road is heated -- at least a foot up or higher to keep the air as cool as possible....

You COULD just re-pipe your ac evaporator core inline with your intake and get a 50 deg intake charge all the time--

I actually know of a guy that cooled an air/water intercooler with his a/c to get a super cold intake charge and ran low 12's with a stock internals 4.7 5 spd Dodge Dakota.... (14.7's factory)

jibbby

Yeah, Your correct in all you say...I guess I will be inventing a custom cold air metal box myself...I was just hoping someone made one that applied...THis is a pic of my current intake....Enjen snorkel tube, Rod millen pod filter, plastic heat sheild around the pod...Also opened the area and channelled the air flow under the headlight to directly hit the pod... Although it looks cool, I think I could gain more ponies for sure with a 'True Cold air intake where the air is being drawn in from the fender well..

MJHSC400

It would improve the air temp definitely..

Hey Jibbby {3 b's} what's the little box connected to your battery???????????

Looks kinda secretive-- Is that an electric horsepower box? The kind you connect to your battery?

jibbby

Hey MJHSC400 let's stay on topic in regards to the little secret box..Very top secret, classified information.......(hyper voltage regulator) Basically it regulates the battery current flow better...

Anyway, I am thinking of an intake more like this...but with a cold air box design included..


Also in regards to re-directing your A/C to give your intake a cold air charge, that is not benificial...It takes 7whp to run the airconditioner at high rpm's...Don't think you will gain that much with the re-direction of cold air AC intake...Atleast most experts that I discussed this with thought it was worthless...

MJHSC400

True on N/A applications-- but I would tend to think that in a forced incuction application the cooling of the water via a/c system would help more than hurt-- especially with a torquey v-8 that has no problem making 8 hp to spin a pump.

The A/C compressor also has a WOT cutoff switch built in to most every car as well....

So it would be nice and cold water when you hit the gas-- Much better for drag racing and short bursts of speed-- But still effective in any fi app...

verylost

You guys are looking for this:
http://sr1.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234049

A forum member was making them awhile back. I would say about 20 exist.

jibbby

Something like that but more attractive and maybe made of stainless steel or something... What that guy was making you buy something simular to that at Home Depot in the roofing materials department...Also, with the proposed custom intake I will need to install one of these AEM water collectors if I take the air from directly above the front tire...

I also plan on deleting the TB coolant line which circulates hot water/coolant directly thru the throttle body itself...This is definetely not needed in warm weather climates such as California...The TB coolant line only helps heat up the throttle body to prevent freezing failure to the throttle body in severly cold conditions.....After all our goal is too keep the intake charge cold and not hot, right?

MJHSC400

I would say to build a box out of primarily fiberglass-- and finish the top panel in your choice of materials, preferably steel/stainless/aluminum even better, as to get as much volume out of the space as possible and have a perfect fitting box--

I know that some people have heat problems with fiberglass hoods due to insulation properties and what not-- as they seem to hold heat under the hood worse than a steel hood does--

This would make me think that heat would have a harder time soaking into the composite material and basically give you a well insulated cold airbox--

If you do the fiberglass right, it could end up looking better than anything else -- and you could still use a thick lexan panel to cover the top of the box like a Volant...

That would be a sweet project to see--

I've built custom kickpanels and door pods with f/g so I'm confident I could pull something like this off--

jibbby

An interesting thought about fiber glass...You think it is it a better insulating material more so then let's say stainless steel sheet metal but two sheets pressed together with a insulating foam in between the two sheets? That's what I was thinking...Sheet metal, 1/4 inch of pressed foam insulation then another sheet metal and then make the box design.....

What thickness do you think the fiber glass be? You can also use clear marine sealant to glue the cuts together and make the seals air tight...We are getting somewhere here, keep up the ideas!!!!!

This B&B performance line intake is the closest in line cold air box design with built in filter and proposed flow...Just add some tubing and the water collector at it should flow cold air and look decent...What do you guys think of this design?

jibbby

This is another pic of the same complete design...This design was created by Jeep engineers, but it looks like it would have some blockage towards the back end of the filter...

MJHSC400

The steel sandwich is a great idea too, but the ease and fitment of the fiberglass gives it a huge advantage-- I'd say 4 layers would make it really robust-- You can bond a steel plate to the top of the fiberglass box--

keep in mind when volant or k/n builds something like this they first make a mold out of something -- probably foam-- but fiberglass more likely-- and if you made a f/g mold you could pour expanding foam into it-- let it set up, then take it to a sign manufacturer that makes signs out of vacuum formed lexan---

That would make a nice and thick mold of an airbox that could even be mass produced-- for the others on the board-- SC300's, Soarers, Sc400's etc....

The whole thing could be sprayed with bedliner for a tough insulation-- and you could still epoxy mounts on the inside of the box and design a mounting system on which to mount a cover onto-- or you could just make the mold the right height to seal against the bottom of the hood and gasket the top of it--

I built a similar box with sheet metal for a Dakota I once had-- a fast one at that-- The airbox worked great, but fiberglass would've been the next step--

Also, a good ram air can be made from fiberglass-- as well as brake coolers, etc... who needs brake coolers though...

I like the vacuum mold idea the best though-- the fit just needs to be real accurate before it gets molded--

I can probably get this done if someone wanted to chip in on a project like this...

I think I could do the glass well-- the main thing is fitment of air filter and fitment of plenum etc.

THIS is why I like the stock airbox with an extended breather -- once you get in there and make something ilke this, you find that a panel style air filter fits waaayy better than a cone style filter-- and once you get into it you realize that the Toyota engineers probably thought the same thing--

But if I built a custom air box I would probably build in a divider plate that a pre-determined panel filter would fit into-- My G20 has a smallish panel filter, so a k/n panel filter for it would fit into a small airbox really well --

As a matter of fact-- a G20 airbox would make for good parts in a project like this-- since it's in two halves top and bottom and has a round 3" snorkel on the front-- with some magic plastic welding and good fiberglass/bondo skills it could be a good design to extend a tube off of-- wherever you wanted to extend it to--

I also think the MAF would mate to it nicely--

I'll have to look at it closer --