With the aid of the local parts yard and TGO I made a pair of cool, quiet and factory appearing cold air intake systems.
Parts:
TPI air box
Factory air cleaner flex hose
Cadillac air cleaner bonnet
Crankcase breather
JB Weld

 

.

 

The caddy bonnet is too tall for the stock hood so I cut off the bottom, flipped it over and JB welded it back on. The IAT (intake air temp) sensor was RTVed into one of the existing ports. There are two types of the caddy bonnets. One has knockout ports that need to be drilled out, and the other has thermac vacuum connections and a crankcase breather filter assembly.
BTW: The thermac flapper valve is eliminated. This results in a longer to warm up time and you will fail the epa emissions visual test.

 

...

 

I did the same last year. How well does the Caddy TGI Hatfit with the botttom flipped over? I just cut a plate to take up the room from cutting mine flat that sits under the Hat.

 

please give me the measurement for net height of the Caddy Bonnet only as well as the net height for the TPI air box. is the TPI box a stocker? or aftermarket SLP?

 

i made a cai with this same cadi bonnet. i did like u did. but i riveted and jb welded the rim to the inside lip. works great.

 

I considered the plate method but I wanted it to look as factory as possible.
Flipping the ring over works perfectly. It mates up to the TBI in the exact same way. The mounting ring is the same on both sides. I also gutted the metal frame and ring inside the bonnet. I kept the factory gold metal spacer ring in order to have clearance for the injector pod and future spacer.

I'll get some measurements this weekend.
It is the stock TPI airbox.

 

mine wouldnt clear the hood without taking off the ring. no way i found possible. i stored it away with my open element, just in case.

then again my clearance issue was at the end of the bonnet, because mine is pointed towards the driver healight. bonnet=level... hood=slope... they had to meet somewhere. i 'fabbed' up a gasket for the tb that would tilt the bonnet a little. i love it.

i also removed the metal tripod thing inside. it was just in the way and restricting airflow.

 

forgot to mention that i have a injector pod spacer... and it fits still. maybe my spacer isnt as tall.

 

i dislike the whole TPI snorkle! looks cool but just doesnt work like it looks like it should....

 

I am pretty sure it has adequate flow capacity for the LO3.

 

I really like the looks of your cold air induction setup - good job! I need to know what year of cadi that your air cleaner bonnet is off of. I assume that it was a TBI - right? Is the flex hose off of the same vehicle? Please let me know. I am anxious to give this a shot! Thanks for sharing. Take care.

 

Welcome to TGO Larry Cooper.
The exact years escape me but I want to say late 80s to about 91 4.9L TBI caddilacs. You will need the rubber elbow from the caddy to connect to the factory camaro air cleaner's flex hose. It is a perfect fit. I have seen the TPI rubber hose used too, but I didn't like the way it looked or fit.

 

Do a search under ram air and my username. I did a test at the track with the exact same caddy intake w/ the tpi induction plus ram air boxes vs open element, as well as with and without filters. The tpi/caddy cold air cannot beat the 'ol open element. The only difference is that I do have a cowl hood which may make a difference. Good job on the set up though.

 

r90camarors-
Yes I did read your threads and others before making mine.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...t=open+element

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...light=cold+air

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=242054

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...t=open+element

Not to start a this debate again but I prefer to not use the open element for two reasons, noise and appearance. I like my car to appear stock and be quiet. I do not drag race this car and a tenth or two is of little concern.

 

Thanks for your reply. I'll hunt one of the Caddy air cleaners down with the info you provided. Thanks, again!

 

underside

 

that looks all to familiar. only thing i did different was i rivitted then smeared the jb weld on. i really like the way it turned out. awesome job man.

 

Found some parts in the local J yard. Now if I stay stock with the filters and don't alter the air boxes will I be doing Ram Air or Cold Air? Also do I need the tube for the MAF sensor?

 

$50.00 FOR THE WHOLE SETUP. $15.0 FOR THE MAF and I probably don't need it.

srdynamics: Where did you get the red bow tie? Nice touch and it makes it look factory.

 

There is no such thing as ram air, or so the internet tells me, so I would just call it cooler air. I don't know if cutting the bottom of the boxes out is a good idea, we both know what Chicago winters are like. You don't want the filters to get wet.
Sell the MAF to someone who needs it cause your TBI doesn't use one.
The hood of a Chevy Lumina van at the yard.
Good luck and post some pics when you are done.

 

Definetely cut the bottom of the tpi piece. The stock set up is very restricting. As long as you place the IAT somewhere in the air stream, the ecm should compensate for the cooler air. Further more, keeping the bottom pieces in place isn't going to make it draw in warmer air, just less air.

I actually put my set up back on a few weeks ago, but with a conicle(yeah I probably butchered the spelling...). The caddy hat is perfect for the dry shot I'll have pics up in another post.

 

Okay, so some say cut the bottom and others say don't. I won't be driving my car in Chicago winters if I can help it. It would have to be an emergency for that to happen.

r90camarors: What is a IAT? I will be in Morris on Sept. 3rd at the h.s. after 12 noon refereeing a football game. I would love to see your setup and how you cut it out. Maybe you could pmail me.

Also wondering where the different filters and that little electronic thingy/vacumn line in my current OEM air cleaner would go in the Caddy bonet. Maybe that is the IAT? Is that the piece that srdynamics has fabed into the side of the bonet? I guess I will have to fabricate too.
Thanks

 

86niterider,
The IAT detects the temp of the incoming air. This allows the ecm to adjust fuel and timing w/ respect to the air temp. It is origionally located on the bottom of the stock air cleaner. You can fab the caddy hat to work w/ it using one of the 3 "ports" on the side of the piece. If you have a 90-92 tpi piece with the sensor on the drivers side, I assume you could make that work as well.

The vacuum line I believe you are refering to is not needed and you can plug it on the tbi. It is origionally intended to help the engine warm up faster, but is pretty much useless.

As far as the breather filter goes (the tube/filter stemming from the passenger side valve cover) the easiest thing to do is by an external filter w/ grommet. It is inexpensive and easy to do.

Just shoot me a PM when you get a chance.

Roy

 

Thanks. Just waiting to get my car back from the deallership. getting a new intake manifold instalded and some other odds and ends, then on goes the new air system. I'll keep you guys informed.

 

Looking at your pictures, it almost appears that the section you cut off and reattached would shroud the entire top of the TBI. Have you done the ultimate mods to your throttle body?

 

i did this sort of thing with my tbi a couple of months ago.i did`nt like how it seemed that i would always get more bugs and what not in my filter,although i did feel alittle more kick up top.i had to go with an open element due to the eddy tbi stb.there are alot more ideas in the archives than useing the caddy hat it just seems to look weird to me IHMO.but good job none the less.

 

Tbi to Tpi conversion is complete. New radiator-3 core alum, new thermo stat-185, and new temp sending switch makes this '92 run real cool. Next up is to install new intake and valve covers. Here are pics.

 

Personally I don't like the idea. It involves too much money and time. Do you have any idea how many cars are out there that run the quarter-mile in about a minute and a half faster then you that run an open element?

 

pic2

 

pic 3

 

I personally am not interested in a 1/4 fast time. I have a '86 with an open element and it's okay. With my '92 I am interested in perfect performance which means optimum engine coolness. I have done some research on this and there is not as big a difference as you might think. Go to this website and you can learn a lot about building a goob TBI. A Open Element while probably letting in more air to your engine, is letting in HOT air. Not good at all for the TBI. The Cold Air system I have just set up let's in more non restricted COLD air which also increases horse power and is more "happy engine" friendly. http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/modthel03.html

I didn't spend that much money either as the junk yard is like a cheap gold mine. And I took my time doing it as there was no reason to rush.

 

Do you have any idea where you just linked me? Even the TBI mods will chuckle...

 

What's wrong with that info? Did I miss something? And I don't care about the TBI mod's. I have my own opinions and if a change to my cars works for me that's all that matters to me. Besides all of that, I have no plans to race this car so open element vs cold air or fast track times vs slow times don't matter to me!

 

Ahh internet forums. If I didn't think of it or run it on my ride it must be crap, useless or rlcey.

Any schmuck can go to autozone and slap an open element on and listen to that annoying woosh up and down that track for cars that can't turn. (and still get laughed at).

Brody- If I cared about 1/4 times I sure as hell woudn't be driving a lo3 3rd gen.

 

Okay, finally got the new intake on and just got to take some pics.I really love the performance of my car now. Think I will put it up for the winter so that when the garage door opens in April everything is GREAT.

This threadshould be added to ultimate mods as another alternative to making your engine run cooler.

 

The website that you linked to has been discussed many a time on this forum. While the author does provide some good theoretical points about engine performance in general, many of the things he mentions on the page are either lacking important details or just pure misinformation.

He spends a huge chunk of the page talking about making a cold air intake (and believing that there are "huge gains" to be had from one), but barely touches on PROM tuning/burning, a critical part of any EFI performance buildup, including TBI. Instead, he recommends a JET chip.

The author also goes into detail about changing out the stock accessories such as the water pump, thermostat, radiator, cooling fan, and oil cooler for a performance replacement. Not once (yes, not even ONE TIME) does he mention replacing the stock manifolds on the LO3 with a set of headers, which would most certainly provide more power than replacing all of things he mentioned above.

He also make a big deal about upgrading the stock TBI unit by porting it out or buying a bigger aftermarket unit. I don't have a TBI car, but from what I hear, the gains from an aftermarket or upgraded TBI unit are not that impressive, especially considering the fact that a better camshaft would provide much better results as far as $$-to-HP ratios are concerned. He barely mentions anything about a camshaft in the entire page.

And most of all, my favorite two quotes on the whole page:

This is simply bure . I know from first-hand experience that this is simply not true.

I can point out more bits of misinformation on his site if you would like, but I believe these are the most relevant to the discussion at hand.

In any case, I don't believe the author wrote this with the intent to trick or decieve anyone. I think he was simply misinformed and unaware of where real power can be achieved with the LO3. Not to mention the site is more than a few years old now. Stick with the advice given on thirdgen.org, and you'll be alright.

 

would a 96+ tbi blazer intake fit the throttle body?
they do not have the weird curve like the caddys

 

I don't think it will, but I'm not 100% sure. A few years ago I bought a CAI kit for a late '90s blazer off of ebay to attempt to use on a tbi camaro. It was only $50 or so and was actually pretty nice. However the tbi hat was way to tall.....I didn't have a cowl hood at that time, but I seriously doubt it would have even fit under that. I may have been able to sand it down, but then at that point you may as well just go with the caddy housing.
Like I said, it was aftermarket, but I would have to assume the housings had to be pretty similar to oem.

 

Nate: At least you had an informed intelligent reply that can to the article link that can considered as opposed to brodyscamaro smart mouth post.

 

Everyone keep it clean please. Unless you have something intelegent to say, don't say it. And I'm not just talking to a few people, that goes for anyone. You have been warned...

 

90RS305: Okay can you addt his post to the top with the Ultimate Mods.? I think it is helpful for those that want to do this mod.

 

I did that mod quite a number of years ago. I took it 1 step further though. The Fog light area to the TPI air box has been sealed with aluminum, caulking thus turning the fog light area into 2 air scoops.

I used the original TBI air cleaner box rotated towards the tpi air box to act as a large air resevoir at low speed. The air heater assembly/heat pipe from the exhaust was removed and that part sealed.

TPI K&N air filters are used.

I think it works rather well. I had my L03 running traps of 93 mph with STOCK intake, heads, peanut cam, exhaust manifolds...

 

There was already a thread for CAI on TBI up there, so I added a link to this thread in it...

 

Thanks for the link to CAI.

Slade1: Any pics or drawings?

 

I'll take some pics today, weather permitting. I'm getting my stickers renewed Monday for it...

I haven't driven an f-body for 2 weeks now... suffering from f-body withdrawal symptoms... or the flu lol. Sucks to see both my cars idle due to weather.

 

did something very similar to mine except i used the hat off of a 96 vortec and 3 inch rubber hose. worked real good until the nitrous popped back and busted the hat and the tpi piece. Oh well I bought a ss style hood so now i am going to build a ram air set-up for it.

 

Slade1
I realize this is an old post, but this is the exact idea I had also..I bought the parts yesterday, except for the ducting...Where did you get yours.???? Also, are you still using this setup???? If not why???? If so, are you still pretty happy wth it????? Thanks in andvance for your help, Tom

 

I did that to a couple of camaros worked good. The 3" hoxe is just a piece of rubber hose like for a radiator for a semi truck, most parts house have these. As for under the tpi base in the front end I left this open but have heard of ppl using metal duct work for a house from Lowe's or Home Depot.