pontiacguy1

There is some company that has about 10 listings right now for a cold air induction system for the 3.1 liter Camaro and Firebird on Ebay. They look pretty nice, and are $42. It comes with the filter, clamps, two polished tubes, the elbow, the adapter boot, and a 'universal' mounting bracket.

I was wondering if anyone had one of these on their car, and if it was worth anything. I was thinking about getting one for my car. I still have the stock intake and filter setup.

Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PONTI...Q5fAccessories

Is this worth it?

1989karr

i bought it for my 2.8

Granted, its not designed for the MAF system so I had to do some modification to the longer pipe, but the pipe that connects to the tb is way to long and had to be cut down. Also, the IAT sensor hole doesnt really work....but a little mod fixed that. I also couldnt get the hole for the pipe that comes out of the valve cover to line up...but a simple mod fixed that.

But even if I didnt have MAF, the pipes (both of them) seemed to long and would need modification for the 3.1. I also didnt like that blue throttle body adapter and 90 degree elbow...so I replaced it with black spectre parts. I also fabbed up a bracket to support it.

Overall I was satisfiesd though.....although I basically got it for the aluminum pipes....(which seem to be hard to come by in Hawaii....)I want to repalce that junk air filter that came with it though....

1989karr

oh, and I will say..

Overall, with the blue elbows, kinda "ghetto" style universal mounting bracket it looks a little.....blah out of the box....especially when you compare it to those super shiny things hanging in the stores for Hondas and Toyotas 9that cost hundreds)....but for the price (and the mods I did) it looks pretty awesome

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

Hot air intake.....

pontiacguy1

I actually kind of like the blue adapters/elbows, since my car is a bright blue.

So, you think it is worth the money? The mods won't be hard to do at all. Do you think you gained anything with this 'hot air' induction?

I might buy one, but I wanted to know if this kit was any good or if it was worth the $42 plus shipping.

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

You won't gain anything with it set up to suck hot air. hell, ya might lose power.
If you took it a bit further and put the filter in cooler air, it could work quite well.
Kinda like an ebay turbo kit. A good starting point, but not complete.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I wouldn't buy anything from someone who says their part won't fit a Camaro, when the 90-92 Camaro 3.1 shares the exact same intake ducting as the Firebird.

Better yet, why pay $55 for a cold air intake that doesn't move the filter or increase the area of the filter? You can get the same performance increase on a 3.1 by just removing the air filter canister and clamping the existing filter between the original lid and the existing base. The best part of the free modification is it doesn't leave you with the Ricky-the-riceboy engine compartment. It's not like the modification is going to make even a .10 of a second different anyway on a 3.1.

Edit: Dump the bottom half of number 22 in the diagram. Set the filter (18) onto the base (19), put the lid half of 22 onto the filter, and reinstall the bolt (23). Bore a hole in the bottom of the duct (1), unscrew the IAT from the can (22) and thread the it into the duct. Instant cold air intake, Monster Garage FREEBIE style.

musclecar201

Well if yours actually filters and isn't cracked like mine was and locating one is nearly impossible, sometimes you have to improvise and just live with things. I can see where you are coming form wtih the hot air but replacing the filters to K&N's that are about 40-45 bucks for the stock filters plus new plastic pieces wouldn't be worth it to me, I spent 35 Bucks. It's mounted now but not the in pics.



(Probably should've went with a longer peice of tubing but whatever, you live and you learn)

Just something to ponder...kinda wish I saw that a few weeks ago, the aluminum would've been nice to have.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Hmmm... My MAF system didn't require any modifications. All I had to do was break the elbow off of the MAF, put on the thin ring of rubber to attach to one of the adaptors. Of course, I was forced to keep my existing bellows, which I didn't want to do (I stuck the second pipe that's supposed to go between the TB and the 90* elbow inside it and clamped it over the 90* elbow to seal everything). And the fact that my kit didn't have a place for the IAT, so I had to buy a Spectre one (that came with a black sleeve and not a red one). I'll probably end up getting another length of pipe so I can reinstall my charcoal canister and put the filter out towards the fender more.

Not real happy with the Bomz filter though... Cheapo crap. Ever since I stuck it on, it sounds like I have a vacuum leak when I accelerate (and I don't, thanks).

RSFreak

I used Spectre stuff plus a 4" hole saw and made this actual cold air intake. IMHO mine looks better than that ebay one.

pontiacguy1

I probably won't get it, since it seems that it won't do anything for me. I always thought that the stock air box and tubing were restricting it somewhat. Oh well.

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

They are somewhat restricting, but adding an intake with less corners and restrictions doesn't help if the intake air gets hotter.
You can buy that kit and make it work, it'll just need another pipe and elbow from pepboy's to enable it to reach colder air. Then you'll have less corners and colder air. Win.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

On a stock 3.1L intake, you can increase the potential air intake area about 4 times just by pulling the filter canister and drilling the four rivets that hold the snorkle on the side of the can. On the 6 that snorkle necks down to about an inch in diameter. On the V8 it doesn't neck down at all.

Relocating the IAT to the duct and dumping the can increases the potential air intake much more. It's probably not even enough to notice sotp anyway.

1989karr

RSfreak, what are those coolant hoses that seem to be going from the middle of your radiator to the engine??



Anyway, I really dont know if it will gain anything (car is in storage, and I just added it...can't take it out on the road), but it seems to have made my idle more smooth and I used to have a "burp" when I would hit the throttle...that is now gone.

Is it worth it? Hmmm, to me it is. It sure seems a lot less restrictive than the stock set up. But true, it doesnt get total cold air...but the stock system didnt really do that anyway. Maybe add / fab one of those block plates that those K&N kits have? Or you can use it in the future to add a real cold air induction like RSfreak did (You more than likely need the parts that this kit comes with if you plan to do that anyway...). Mine KINDA looks liek RSfreaks because I used the clamps and what not....I'l lsee what I can do about pictures. I think it looks a LOT better than using electricval tape and PCV pipe like one article says to do. But this way does cost more....

1989karr

hey RSFreak, thinking about it, is that a mod you did with the throttle body cooler lines? If so where do they go??

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

what about using the TPI intake setup?


seems like that would be a better option than a warm air intake.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

If he has a Firebird, and I'm assuming he does because of his username, he can't use it... There's less hood clearance over the rad mount than the Camaro has. The best he could do, along that route, with a lot of money, is to get a Ram Air hood and matching intake.

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

So a super cheap mod could be a v8 canister..... Interesting. I may try that (for the .5 hp gain).

Drew

iTrader: (58)

The can and ductwork are exactly the same on the V8... The plastic snorkel riveted to the can on the V6 necks down from about a 4" round opening to a 1" round opening. The V8 version is 4" round constant. Either snorkel is a bad deal, since the V8 version butts up almost to the radiator support, and the V6 version is highly restrictive. Dump the can altogether and you get the best possible air intake without moving the filter to the fender, or using something like the old SLP cold air.

K-slice

iTrader: (2)

That ebay intake is BS. $40 for some aluminum pipe and a cheap filter, probably costs the seller $20 to put that kit together.
Drew, did you do that to your car, remove the can? If you did what kinda difference did it make?

And is there a reason my car doesn't have that big, black MAF tube i see in some of the other pictures?

RSFreak

Those aren't coolant lines and they aren't actually coming from the radiator. Those are conduit for the IAT sensor and MAF sensor wires. The new IAT location was close to the MAF so I routed the wires together with zip ties. BTW, I had to modify the Spectre IAT sensor adapter to accept the stock IAT sensor.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I removed the long tapering snorkle off the can on my 3.1L before the car ever even ran. So I can't really tell you the difference it made. Later I removed the can completely. It made the intake louder, and made a perceived difference. Of course the placebo effect is probably responsible.

On my Formula, I made back to back runs with no change other then removing the can and got about 3/10ths of a second from that change. Obviously it's going to make MORE difference on a 350 then a 3.1. On a V6 I'd consider it worth doing, but only because it's free. I doubt you're going to see any difference between an Ebay type cold air and just putting a cone on the end of the stock plastic duct or removing the can.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Yep, I definitely agree that Bomz filter is crap. Pretty much all I've heard out of my intake since I installed it (originally installed without the Spectre IAT adaptor and zip-tied the IAT to the frame near the filter), is what sounds like the vacuum leak I had when my 2.8 upper intake broke, a loud HISSSSSSS. I'm going to try to find a K&N to put on there. And I also agree that the eBay systems are cheap... If nobody that has one has noticed, they can't even cut the pipes straight (same for the silicone pieces), and they seem to rust pretty easy in spots.

Your 91 doesn't have a MAF, that's why you don't see it... You have a MAP.

Yep, have to pull one of the grommets out of the hole to make it work. But then, did you end up with the same problem I did in that the IAT doesn't seal? I keep wondering if an IAT from a Grand Prix or something would work... Ours are just too freakin' big for those tiny grommets and too small for the holes they sit in.