i've started tuning the car about two weeks ago and we noticed my IAT's were really high. ambient temps are in the 80's and 90's so i know that my IAT's will be high, but i've seen as high as 130*! my current CAI goes right over top of the upper radiator hose and my theory is that the hose is heat soaking my intake and making my IAT's stay high. so, since i do have a 3" harwood cowl hood i figured i would try to make an intake that can utilize that fresh air back there. here's few mock up pics and i'm planning to build a box that will seal the filter to the hood.

let me know what ya'll think!

 

Wont that still pick up heat from the intake. What about finding a good used lt1 type ss air box? what about going to the other side of rad

 

Why not go down & through the battery tray? 100% cool air there.

With the filter up there in a cowl hood, your just getting the hot air rising.

 

I'd just cut a hole in the battery tray and run it through there. I don't see how you will seal that filter to the cowl on that type of piping.

 

haha, you guys have no imagination! but...you did bring up some good thoughts and it made me reconsider when i realized how complicated it was going to be to make the box to seal it to the hood. so, i did what you said to do

 

With a different filter, your initial thought woulda been fairly easy to make.

Just do it in the style of the RA1 filter setup. Just turn this filter 90 degrees & mount it on top, to put it where you were thinking about.

 

Are you going to build a box around the filter isolating it to the side fender? (like the SLP CAI)

 

looks good bro.

 

no, the filter is below the battery tray so no more fab is really needed...i had to cut a hole in the tray to do it that way though.

 

looks better now matt

 

Hey Matt,

I see some functional and good looking radiator clamps (black) on top holding the radiator!! or are they part of the electric fan assembly ?

details on these .. where did u get them ? part # .

also how did u mount ur fans to that aluminium radiator ?

 

lol, those are Walter Racecraft specials. i built them using some flat aluminum and a bench vice to work the bends, then painted them flat black.

the electric fans are secured to the radiator with those little push through straps that you get with the fans.

 

Those really turned out great brother.!!
I was thinking of using those push thru straps to mount the LS1 dual fan assembly but maybe they are too heavy.

 

here it is in it's final rendition. it'll probably see some kind of paint at some point to keep it from rusting:

 

whats the specs on the cam?
motor will like the cooler temps. lookin good.

 

I first did that on my car several years ago with just the stock L98 - the engine seemed to like it pretty well, I did it in conjunction with de-screening the MAF, & noticed that it would definitely rev more easily/freely... Never had any problems with it picking up water either (since the location is pretty well-protected from everything), & it was my daily driver for a while too.

The only change that I've made with the swap to the new engine is to enlarge the hole so that I can use 4" intake tubing (which is probably overkill, but doesn't hurt anything except for a tiny bit of extra weight)...

 

mild: 212*/219* @ .050", .558"/.563" on a 115* lsa

i'd like more, but that'll involve a valve spring swap and i'd like to get new lifters. i'm also worried about the valve-piston clearance as i'm running 11:1 diamonds, and i don't know how i feel about needing to degree in a camshaft.

 

you didnt see the sarcasim.
seen it written on your wheelwell.

 

Man...again. How'd I miss this thread?

Im getting ready to do this with my swap. Im going to have to try to go over to the drivers side, and go over my fuse boxes. I ordered some rubber elbows and some 4" alum tubing to see what I can do.

Do you have any pictures of how you secured it where it goes through the battery tray? I wanted to find some 4" steel tubing, but I got the alum cheap. So welding mounts is out of the question.

My IAT temps are HIIIIIIGH. 145* on an 85* day cruising around Did you notice a difference since doing it? Tuning/running or anything? Also...do you think its benefitial to wrap it like you did? My car is 98% a street car, so Im rarely trying to wring every last HP out of it...but I do want it to run as good as it can too. haha. I havent decided if the sensor itself is getting heat soaked...but its def sucking in hot air. So hopefully the plan i have works, and I think I might relocate the IAT sensor down stream alittle, so its not picking up heat right off the motor.

J.

 

I would absolutely wrap it - it's not that much work (or much cost), & it'll help it run to it's peak potential. On my pre-swap setup, I used a black-colored insulating foam tape that I found at Lowe's, it seemed to work well, & didn't cost much at all - say $6 or so... (I still have the intake tube around here somewhere, & might be able to put a pic up tonight if you want.)

And as for securing it - I was thinking of using regular L-brackets, but I haven't gotten that far yet...

 

Yeah my original plan was to use steel tubing on the "down spout" and tack weld it to a plate, which in turn bolts down to the battery tray. Now Im thinking Ill just rivet a couple "L" brackets on and call it good.

Ill have to see how much exposed metal piping I have. Since Im jusing rubber elbows and all. We'll see. I might toss some heat wrap around it for the heck of it.

J.

 

i haven't done anything for securing it to the battery tray yet. i'm not sure this will be the final solution as a buddy of mine has some extra 4" aluminum tubing left over from his air/water intercooler setup, as well as a TIG, so we may try that.

i have not put the computer on it yet to see what it does as far as IAT's go. the only thing i've done since the CAI was built was mount up the new slicks and run down the street and back. i can tell you that the new 29x9 hoosiers are just as useless as street tires on regular black top

 

ok, so everyone knows. the results were marginal, and i still see temps up to 115* or so. it does go down once driving, but not like i want it to. i'm going to rebuild with aluminum probably next week or so when the spare 5.3 goes in

 

Hmmmm... Is your radiator hose touching the bottom of the CAI elbow? Looks like thats whats heat soaking your IAT sensor. You might try moving that sensor upstream some. Mine is over by my fuse boxes and line lock solenoid (check your other thread for the pic). I did this because I felt that the air rushing through there isnt going to warm up THAT fast. So it was more important to me to reduce false readings by moving the IAT sensor so it wasnt getting ambient heat soaked.

Alum will help you though I imagine. The next time I bring my car to work, Ill try to remember to switch my scan gauge over to IAT and monitor it from before I start the motor (ambient temp) to when I get home. On my drive, Ill see back roads, traffic lights, 80mph highway speeds, and probably a little stop and go. Followed by more back roads. About a 45 minute drive. So Ill have a pretty good spectrum for ya. Im curious myself actually...since I only glance at it from time to time.

J.

 

Ive noticed in my 97, which uses a plastic tube, nearly identical routeing to what you did,

When im driving on the highway i tend to get a few degree's below outdoor temp, but as soon as i stop in traffic im 105-110.

I think it might be unavoidable to get it lower? Im not sure if thats the intake air heating up, or my MAF heating up (5pin maf)

Im tempted to try a IAT thats individually mounted for next season to see what i see.

 

I bet if you went to a stand alone IAT sensor you'd see lower temps. I think you're seeing heat soak in the MAF and in the tubing close to the motor.

I just cant believe that letting your IAT get heat soaked is a good way of measuring the air going into the motor. That air is coming in in a hurry, especially at higher RPMs. So the motor is seeing air temps closer to what the air is in the middle of the intake tract. Where its not all warm from the engine/rad hoses.

I dont know... Maybe Im mistaken in my thoughts on heat transfer through rushing air. I know my car seemed to liven up a bit JUST from moving the IAT. And then even more once I moved the filter outside. It was a good change for my car.

J.

 

You saw no changes because your IAT is still mounted in the engine bay AND in a 4" dia pipe heat sink.

If you move it to just after the air filter and thermaly isolate it from the steel pipe and you will see a difference.

 

so is it that the IAT's are actually that high, or that the sensor is getting heat soaked?

 

The sensor is getting heat soaked because the area you have it mounted in is head soaked.

I didnt put mine right behind the filter, because I felt that would give false readings. I moved it JUST far enough away from the motor to where the heat wasnt blasting it. About mid stream for me. The air might warm up a couple degrees once it gets sucked into the intake, but its only in there for a split second. The motor is gulping air like crazy. So the air doesnt have a ton of time to warm up. Again...Im no thermal transfer scientist.

My IATs show just above ambient air temp. Which makes sense. I would expect SOME warming of the air, but not a ton. When my filter is outside of the car, there is no way the air going into the motor is at 120-140 degrees. So heat soaking of the sensor is definitly an issue...or was an issue for me.

Ide move it, and see what you get for temps.

 

Has anyone tested getting the CAI pipe ceramic coated, inside and out, to insulate it and keep the majority of the heat at bay? Side benefits of corrosion protection and color of your choice.

 

Most of us are using aluminum. Not much worry about corrosion.

If I tigged the entire thing together to make one continuous intake...I might consider coating. But since its only a few short pieces connected via rubber elbows, I dont think you'd see any benefit to make it worth it.

It might be a nice comprimise between having a LITTLE extra insulation and not having to have wrap all over the place though.

J.

 

I decided to sort of plot out what my IATs do during my drive home from work. Below Ill put the approx time or distance between points along my drive, and what the IAT and engine temps were at. Also a brief description of what kind of driving each segment includes.

All of these readings are straight off my Aeroforce Scan Gauge. It seems to be pretty accurate on everything. Also to note, my fans dont turn on early enough. When I got my new PCM tuned, the tuner didnt change my fan turn on settings to match my 160 tstat. It used to run cooler.

-Ambient Temp - 4:00pm, 66 degrees according to scan gauge.

-About 3 miles from work I get to a light. Back twisty roads and a stop sign before the light. About 45mph. IAT=66 Engine Temp=165

-After the light, another 5 miles of cruising at 45-55. No stopping. Then merging onto 202, which requires some gas to catch up with traffic. Right after merging: IAT=66 Engine Temp=180

-202 averages about 60-70 mph, and then slows down to a crawl before the PA Turnpike entrance. So 10-15 minutes of cruising, then 5 minutes of stop and go until the tollbooths. Once through the booths, I did a rather brisk run up to about 90 and checked the reading. IAT=69 Engine Temp=180

-While on the turnpike, my speed averaged 65-85. Also, I half heartedly raced an STi and tried whole heartedly to get a new challenger to race me...no luck with him. 6miles on the turnpike, readings at the exit. IAT=69 Engine Temp=170

-After the turnpike, I hit a light and sat for a minute or so. IAT=77 Engine Temp=190

-At this point Im sort of in stop and go. And I get to one light that gets backed up...and is really long. So I was sitting for over 5 minutes on pavement that has cars sitting still on it for hours. So its hot road. IAT=86 Engine Temp=190

Thats it. The highest I saw was 86 degrees, and that was sitting on hot asphalt with a 190 degree motor huffing all around the filter. Once moving past this light, the IAT dropped back down to 70 or so within a mile. Keep in mind, things get exaggerated on a 85-90 degree day. With the heat from the road, and the sun beating on the car, things just get hot. With good airflow, the temps will stay down, but as soon as you slow it up or stop, it starts getting warm.

Hope thats helpful in some way shape or form haha.

J.

 

that's major information! thanks for taking the time to do that for me.

i'll be ordering my new CAI stuff from intakehoses.com very soon, and also relocating the IAT sensor.