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First Gen Low Buck Custom Cold Air Intake


Imp558
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Waited days to post these pics while the site was down.

I noticed an IAT temp of 80 on a 50 Degree day a while back so this has been building up. With the trunk mount battery finished I still had a considerable amount of work to get this done.

Anybody who was at the Toledo meet would have seen the cruise module relocated to the fender, and my Chrysler washer bottle, both of which were RIGHT in the way.

I had to make new brackets for both items, re-orienting the washer bottle and pulling the fender to get the cruise module towards the back of the fender, I'll be doing the cruise module again to make a bracket with sort of a doghouse on it since I fear the snow may melt down into where it lives now.

 

The filter is a Purolator native to Trailblazers, it was literally the biggest off the shelf filter I could find.

The 3 1/2" aluminium OBX tube came from E-bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131217700563?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

The filter only measures 3.3" in the opening so the tube needs tapered just a hair, I made 5 1/4" cuts in the end and tapped it down gently with a hammer, then dressed it very carefully so it would slide on and there wouldn't be any aluminium chips loose in the intake.

 

Had to enlarge the opening by removing (cutting) part of the old battery tray and the tab things from up top and dressed that up with a grinder.

post-4528-143689163912_thumb.jpg

Painted the whole area with primer and gloss lacquer:

post-4528-143689163939_thumb.jpg

I just love the surface area of the filter and thought this picture sized it up, it's 7.25" high and 5.8" wide:

post-4528-143689163954_thumb.jpg

I made this little panel behind it to fill that triangle and lengthened the Cruise wires, re-ran the washer pump wires and rerouted the cruise cable and washer hose and it all fit in a 1/2" grommet:

post-4528-143689163971_thumb.jpg

The box itself is 16GA steel that I broke and welded.

My old washer inlet bracket was pretty crude so I incorporated it into here and put some pretty door edge trim on it to dress it a bit. There's a metric shit-ton of silicone sealing the underside so washer fluid spills aren't a problem.

I left the tubing long and buried it in the rubber-doodle so it can extend out some for the intercooler some day.

post-4528-143689163984_thumb.jpg

The hole is 1/8" bigger than the filter so it goes in pretty easily and the semi-circle ring that holds it in is 14GA steel. The 1/4-20 bolts are welded in from the inside and I've replaced the nuts with stainless wing nuts since this picture.

post-4528-143689163999_thumb.jpg

 

In the end the filter cost $14.99, and the tubing was $34 after shipping, I bought the 2nd Gen rubber-doodle to get a better angle to the TB for $2.50 so the total for this project was $51.50. (Which was also a pretty killer Van-Halen album)

I had no brake, just some blocks of wood and a vise, and this could have been brazed with a propane torch for cheap instead of welding so this is the kind of project anybody could do with some determination and have a better end result than an expensive WAI a filter that probably doesn't have as much surface area.

BTW there is a K&N version of this filter for $60.

 

The last things I hate are those rediculous electrical centers that can't open without the cross braces removed, those things days are numbered too.

Edited by Imp558
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fenderwell intake.....

 

at least that is actual cold air, not the "cold air" you see from most ebay kits. and has a bunch of filtering area.

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i do like the minimal amount of bends aspect of it.... i've seen people go absolutely nuts and put quite a few 90* bends in it to get the filter at more or less wheel centerline height, which bothers me..... IIRC, they also reported a loss of power from it.

 

if i were to do a FWI, about the only thing different i would do would be to add some undercar(or perhaps hidden near the radiator bezel(right term?)) tunneling to make sure an excess of air is making it to/through/around the filter while moving. almost like a hidden ram-air setup.

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i do like the minimal amount of bends aspect of it.... i've seen people go absolutely nuts and put quite a few 90* bends in it to get the filter at more or less wheel centerline height, which bothers me..... IIRC, they also reported a loss of power from it.

 

if i were to do a FWI, about the only thing different i would do would be to add some undercar(or perhaps hidden near the radiator bezel(right term?)) tunneling to make sure an excess of air is making it to/through/around the filter while moving. almost like a hidden ram-air setup.

 

I thought about ducting it but was afraid that may limit the amount of air that the filter can draw by just sitting openly, I may go through and plate the openings behind the headlights so there shouldn't be any warm air or any other direction for the air to go so it's forced over that way, like you said, ram-air.

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I'm not pleased with the paint, it didn't lay quite right and I tried everything. I even stuck it in a box with a Hair dryer. The overall fit and function I'm very pleased with and the sounds that come out of it are awesome. That sound of rushing air, and the blower whine when the car passes a building or goes under a bridge.

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