i made my own cai on my car i just have a couple of questions about it. what i did was take that little ram air thing that goes inthe air cleaner offand connected a bendy tube type thing from home depot to the whole it was a perfect fit. anyway i removed my horn and fit the tube down the fender to the fog light whole on the driver side. at the end of the tube i put the middle joint of the orignal ram air thing. it fit in perfect. Now what i wondering is, do i have to much bending going on, i figer when driveing the air goes right in it. could u tell me if this is a ok why on makeing it?
oh and the car is a 84 LC1.

 

This is my cai/open element...

 

woops wrong image lol..
dododo

 

sorry wrong one again...

 

mike1986fyrbrd you did the exact same thing that i did for a cai. i have the same stock set up all the way until where the square box was. i took that off and put the open element. mine looks the same as yours in the pics

 

Icebird...good thinking on getting that intake as far away from the engine as ya can..theoretically, down there is a perfect place. But take it from me...(someone who's run stock intake on my car, plus 4 separate homemade setups)...bends, or lack thereof, are just as important as getting cold air in is. I had a system similar to what you described, but I've got a Camaro so it was easier..I routed dryer ducting down and relocated the filter behind the passenger foglight opening. While it did run better than stock, there were so many bends and kinks in the tubing that it was still being restricted. I discovered that once I tried running that stock plastic flexpiece with the conical fitted directly at the end..straight in..made a HUGE difference, BUT when the car heated up it got gradually slower.. It should be better than stock, but you're gonna have to experiment to get something that'll truly work good. I think mike and v6 have the right idea..it doesn't take in the COLDEST air and it doesn't have a ram kind of effect, but it's a good compromise.

 

ya i thought i did ok for my first try, the only diffrence is that i dont have the fog light the air is goin right in the whole when i drive. i got it fit in there perfect. is that ok?

 

As I said before, you're getting nice, cold air, just you've probably got a lot of bends in the system. From what I've noticed...cold air will get you to pull harder, but less bends in the system gives you added throttle response. Just gotta fiddle with it and find something ya like. Like I said, I've been through 4 systems.

 

Here are some of my systems to give you ideas.

This one gave excellent throttle response and hauled butt until the engine warmed up.. On a warm engine, it got sluggish cause it only got hot air blown from the radiator.

 

This got nice and cold air but the throttle response was sluggish because of all the kinks in the system... You could hear the difference in the engine too..it was having a bit of a hard time pulling the air in.

 

Gave cold air AND excellent throttle response...BUT I didn't have it rigged up very well and it fell apart in the Home Depot parking lot after I got off the interstate... Not to mention I was down one high beam...

 

hmmm i wounder why it looks the same?? you copied me!

hahah jk
I actually copied you.

 

thanks i willsee if i can think of anything better.

 

Which one mike? Lol I've been through more systems than I can count. Right now I've got stock minus the can..I've got the filter in a can system. Everything else was too much of a PITA and I can't afford a good conical right now..I sold the one in those pics to a friend to fit up to his Saturn after the last system I mentioned fell apart.

 

Nixon 1,

I would rather have a setup where the filter is close to the engine, even though it draws more hot air, but one question, where's your MAF? I get the SES light if the connection to MAF is disconected or loose. I like that simple setup. If I can add some extra wireing to my MAF then I am going to move the MAF more towards the throttle body. Having a fuel injected bird kind of eliminates the possibility of having a simple and short setup.

 

Dev...my car's a 91, I don't have an MAF.. I've got the MAP sensor...very convenient. But since you DO have the MAF..you're gonna have to try to find a way to incorporate it in there. Can't run without it. I recommend Home Depot and Lowe's for pieces... They've both got quite a bit of stuff you can use to fab up things there.

 

I already have the know how to frabricate something up, I have all the neccesary parts. My main concern is adding extra wire length to the MAF since it uses live wires and is sensitive to resistance changes. If I add extra length to the wires I might screw up the resistance changes and thus screw up the idle, it may even not start.

 

great ideas on my 85 bird i started with just the cone filter bu then decided to go the full way. I replaced the stock box with 3.5 inch pvc pipe with a 90 degree bend that leads to the tp. i filed out the inside of the tube at the straight end and fitted the maf which then goes to the filter. i was shocked at the power diference. the bird goes like a bat out of hell off lights and has the nastiest sucking sound and whine that makes it almost sound like its turbo. best $3.44 ive ever spent (plus 15 for filter) who needs the 250 $ kn stuff this works awesome and looks good. as soon as i get a digital cam ill post a pic. I'm glad im not the only one that thought of this idea!!

 

Wow, your first post. I would love to see your setup.

 

Heh...isn't it a great feeling the first time you remove the stock setup? Big difference. I used to be able to hear the hiss of the air being sucked in when I was on the throttle, but I guess I got used to it..don't hear it anymore. Now, I just wish the exhaust note would overpower the whiny, strained, overworked sound my engine gets in upper rpms. :\

 

Here's mine.



I just used PVC...

 

I like the whine that I hear from my inverted cone filter. Let's me know its working. That's why I like medications that burn, because I can feel it working.

 

does that include tucks?

 

whats the point in putting the cone thing at the end, what does it do i am guessing just to keep dirt out, would it not cause less air to get in???

 

Its a filter.... It filters out stuff that shouldn't go into the engine.

 

what i mean is mine has a filter on the carb so what i am asking is would there be a point in me putting it on my car>??

 

OHHH you've got a carrrrrb.. No. Don't get a conical. You'll need something completely different. Find a carb intake..plenty of companies sell them. Edelbrock makes particularly pretty ones. They replace the stock can on top of your engine that holds the filter around the carb...they're usually open all the way around on the sides, and chrome. Some come with a filter but it's usually paper or foam...you could throw a K&N into it for better performance. I'd go with probably the same size pan and filter, although if you can clear a taller one under the hood, taller is always better.

 

You could put a conical filter on if you wanted to, but the circular type, which you have now is better. K&N even has one where you can have a filter on top of it too. in place of the normal air filter housing.

 

ya i know i seen them before, i was going to get one but what do u to with all the vacume lines?

 

I assume you have just one or two lines going into the carb pan.. And most replacement have provisions for the lines...just plug them right back onto the new one.

 

Whoops, I totally forgot about those. In that case, just stick with the ordinary style air filter.

 

well i am goin to look into that. but with carb its the same concept with the cai setups, get as much air in the air filter (carb)as possible?

 

Yep. Simple as that.

 

thanks for the help, i would be lost with out this site.

 

So would I man..so would I...