I've got a '92 RS, 305tbi, with a flowmaster crossflow. I wanted to go to an open element air cleaner, but have been saving up for some tires. So, to save some money I used an electric drill, a hole saw, and some drill bits(for centering the holes) to cut about seven or eight holes on the sides of the stock air cleaner. It took a few hours, and the holes still need to be dressed with a die grinder and painted to prevent rust.

The results: I didn't notice an increase in sound at idle. But, when I accelerated to get on the freeway the sound is louder and more aggressive than it used to be. Before, I wasn't too happy with the muffler; it wasn't loud enough. But, now the exhaust note sounds a whole lot healthier. The car accelerates so much easier now. At first, I thought that the trans was slipping, because the needle on the tach was sweeping faster than it used to, but the trans shifted fine.

I want to remove the air silencing ring, but I read that it is tack welded on. When I looked at it, it seems that it is just pressed into a circular lip. Can I pull it out with some pliers?

Free horsepower is awesome!

 

hey coach that is cool as hell...I also bought some flowmasters and the sound is not as load and aggressive as my roomates bird. same muffler, same pipes, everything. but he has a k&n air filter. it is louder than mine. will this mod help my sound plus actually give me more acceleration? if so, well, tommoroww is my day off and if you give me the word, ill go to town...let me know coach!!

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Well, formula90, here's what I did. I used a 1-3/4" hole saw(a drill bit surrounded by a socket with teeth) and some smaller drill bits to start off and center the holes. The hole saw's drill bit was too large to start off with. Where the cold air throat meets the air cleaner, I made seven holes going towards the breather filter, and I made two holes on the other side(driver's side) of the throat. I left about a half-inch of space between each hole. There's some spots where I couldn't put any holes, because the side is dented to fit around the distributor. Make sure you clean the assembly when you're finished to get all of the little metal fragments out of the assembly.

I don't have a scanner, so that is the best I can describe what I did. I just used what I had lying around. If you have a smaller hole saw, I'm sure that'll work as well. I don't know if the air cleaner assembly is the same on your firebird as on my camaro. My assembly is on a TBI engine. Try to center the holes as best as you can. Don't cut into the bottom or top of the sides. Do one hole at a time!

I have to get my car inspected soon; I hope this mod doesn't keep me from passing. I did notice an improvement in sound(in mid rpm's and WOT) and in acceleration, so I'm assuming it'll do the same for a similar setup. I don't know how much improvement you'll see, but you should see some noticable gains. I guess in stock form, the air cleaner just doesn't flow enough.

There's a tech article about this subject, so I'd read that first to get some ideas. Cold air induction setups are better than what I did, because when the engine gets hot, my engine is going to be fed a bunch of hot air. But, it's a trade off I guess. I also want to get a K&N air filter, but I'm putting that off until I get some new tires.

Whatever you do, let me know how it turns out. Hope I've been of some help.

Almost forgot. Wear safety glasses, gloves, long sleeves, and jeans when doing this. The little metal chips do fly and can make you itch like crazy. I also forgot to mention to take the air cleaner assembly off the engine when performing the mod. Yeah, yeah, I know that's common sense. Sorry. :-)

[This message has been edited by coach (edited May 28, 2001).]

 

Hey coach, that's an old hot rodders trick. It works pretty good. Next, take the seal off the hood by the windshield. It allows all that trapped hot air out of the engine compartment. A cheap cowl hood effect and it works well with the open element air cleaner.


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82 camaro--original steering wheel, brake/gas pedals, seats--everything else modified
82camaro

 

Cool, 82camaro. I hadn't heard about that. I had read something about adjusting the hood hinges for the same effect, or placing wooden shims between where the hinge bolts to the fender to lift the rear of the hood a bit. Or something to that effect. I don't know if the hood latch will still engage after doing something like that though.