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Old 10-12-2010, 12:41 PM
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pvc intake piping...

i'm thinking of making a custom cai but out of pvc piping. yes it sounds ridiculous but think about it, intakes are made of aluminum. aluminum is stil some type of metal, and will heat up under the hood (not as much as most metals but still heats up). pvc doesnt heat up much (or at all) when heat is applied. so a cai intake made out of pvc will hold and let air travel through into the throttle body with the air being the same temp as the air outside of the engine bay (which is the purpose of the cai). i was given a pvc cai years ago when i first got into imports, and to be honest it performed a bit better than a AEM cai (which was probably the only aftermarket intake make in 2000 2001 aside from iceman).

so i guess what my point for this thread is, your opinion on this. yes it make look a bit odd when the hood is open but my thing is performance over looks...
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Old 10-12-2010, 12:46 PM
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What I do is header wrap all the aluminum piping for my intakes (got this idea from my buddy Russ A.K.K hornepirate). Keeps the piping from warming up and looks more legit than PVC pipe.
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Old 10-12-2010, 12:46 PM
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Do it and report your findings.
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Old 10-12-2010, 01:29 PM
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Actually I think if you paint your PVC piping black no one can tell that its PVC. Esspecially if you use automotive paint where it has that little sparkle in it and then put some clear cloat over that.
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:43 PM
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^^^the one i had on years back i sold it and the guy that i sold it to painted it. look legit but the pvc elbows gave it away. i'm thinking of eliminating the elbows and just cut the angles needed to make it look less plumbingish lol...

Originally Posted by ChrisMan287
What I do is header wrap all the aluminum piping for my intakes (got this idea from my buddy Russ A.K.K hornepirate). Keeps the piping from warming up and looks more legit than PVC pipe.
thats a good idea...
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:51 PM
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Originally Posted by MaxiNone
thats a good idea...
I just got my PR style CAI pipe that attaches to the MAF and goes into the fender, even that'll be header wrapped. That plus my custom heat shield (thanks Russ ), should keep intake temps way down.

I'll probably also be removing my driver foglight to get more cold air if the filter sits way behind that oppening but I'm not sure if it does..
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:56 PM
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^^^when i make the intake, i'm going to make it to where the filter top sits right behind the fog light opening. my old one was like that and it preformed well (if that makes sense lol)
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:07 PM
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Originally Posted by MaxiNone
^^^when i make the intake, i'm going to make it to where the filter top sits right behind the fog light opening. my old one was like that and it preformed well (if that makes sense lol)
You mean performed lol but I get the idea. That sounds good to me. I hope my cone filter sits somewhere down there, I've never had a true CAI before.
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:08 PM
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Originally Posted by ChrisMan287
What I do is header wrap all the aluminum piping for my intakes (got this idea from my buddy Russ A.K.K hornepirate). Keeps the piping from warming up and looks more legit than PVC pipe.
wrapping also keeps the heat in once its already heated, so it really isnt the greatest thing to do either.
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:23 PM
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Originally Posted by aic96max
wrapping also keeps the heat in once its already heated, so it really isnt the greatest thing to do either.
That's true for headers but the mid-pipe doesn't produce high amounts of heat like headers do, so I doubt the wrap holds any heat.
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:30 PM
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Originally Posted by ChrisMan287
You mean performed lol but I get the idea. That sounds good to me. I hope my cone filter sits somewhere down there, I've never had a true CAI before.
oops, how did that one slip lol...
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Old 10-13-2010, 01:34 PM
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i believe when PVC is heated (it will get warm under your hood) it leaches vinyl chloride into your engine. not sure if that's the best thing for your motor.

just in case you start inhaling the fumes that comes from your super cheap intake PVC tube...
Vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies.


if you want good heat rejection ceramic coat your pipes.
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Old 10-13-2010, 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
i believe when PVC is heated (it will get warm under your hood) it leaches vinyl chloride into your engine. not sure if that's the best thing for your motor.

just in case you start inhaling the fumes that comes from your super cheap intake PVC tube...
Vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies.


if you want good heat rejection ceramic coat your pipes.

thats no fun...if you want a cai get the aluminum pipe...you can usally find them from time to time for $20 on here and i wrapped my midpipe and cai pipe


works great for me
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Old 10-13-2010, 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
i believe when PVC is heated (it will get warm under your hood) it leaches vinyl chloride into your engine. not sure if that's the best thing for your motor.

just in case you start inhaling the fumes that comes from your super cheap intake PVC tube...
Vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies.


if you want good heat rejection ceramic coat your pipes.

Yowza... Learn something new everyday.

What kind of plastic is the stock intake made of?
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Old 10-13-2010, 03:52 PM
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Originally Posted by hornepirate
if you want a cai get the aluminum pipe...you can usally find them from time to time for $20 on here and i wrapped my midpipe and cai pipe works great for me
Yup, got my CAI pipe for $25 shipped. I already have my mid-pipe wrapped, CAI pipe will be too once its installed.
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Old 10-13-2010, 04:01 PM
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Yes most plastics leak chemicals over time, either when heated, or used continusly.
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Old 10-13-2010, 04:45 PM
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All the research I've read has said that intake air simply travels too fast to be strongly affected by engine heat. By making your intake out of an insulator or wrapping it, you're probably lowering your intake temp by less than a degree, at least at WOT when air is moving the fastest.

On the same grounds, I doubt that PVC or ABS or whatever type of plastic you decide to use will actually get hot enough to release toxins at a significant rate, unless you idle a lot in the desert. Just to be safe, though, I would consider making an intake out of ABS piping instead of PVC to avoid those hazards.
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Old 10-13-2010, 06:52 PM
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Yeah I think although the outside of the intake might heat up but the inside will be cool from the air moving inside of it.

And I don't know how hot is actually gets but my intake piping is only warm to the touch after like an hours drive. Unlike the radiator and other things that are considerably more hot. And so just like another member said I don't think your intake piping can get hot enough to release toxins... unless... you drive in the desert.

And who knows those toxins might act as nitrous oxide and give is a slight boost

One thing I wonder is... what if you add A/C lines and coil it around the intake to super chill the pipes. Would that cool down the air fast enough to make it act like a cold air intake to increase power while having that advantage of a short pipe during high RPM? Hmmmmmmm.....

Last edited by Leo_Koneval; 10-13-2010 at 06:55 PM.
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Old 10-13-2010, 07:33 PM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
i believe when PVC is heated (it will get warm under your hood) it leaches vinyl chloride into your engine. not sure if that's the best thing for your motor.

just in case you start inhaling the fumes that comes from your super cheap intake PVC tube...
Vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies.


if you want good heat rejection ceramic coat your pipes.
but your not 100% sure about the toxins being released? and if it is 100% true, how hot is hot enough for those toxins to be released? also, how hot does a maxima engine bay get?

like i've said, i've already had an intake made with pvc and didnt have a problem with it. but the only difference was that it was in a civic and the engine bay temps are different compared to a 4th gen engine bay...
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Old 10-13-2010, 07:56 PM
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i did this mod, it works pretty well actually!
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Old 10-13-2010, 07:59 PM
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i did this mod, it works pretty well actually!
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Old 10-13-2010, 08:13 PM
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^^ hey i have the same battery. i hate to say it but the intake piping at pep boys works great and is made of pvc or some type of plastic it comes in all angles and looks nice too. one other thing i noticed is it DOES NOT retain heat it was 20 degrees cooler than the engine.
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Old 10-13-2010, 11:05 PM
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One way to actually find out, get something that plugs int your OBDII and view the intake temperature. That way we all have some real valid proof that it works or if it's just rumors/myths.
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Old 10-14-2010, 12:16 AM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
i believe when PVC is heated (it will get warm under your hood) it leaches vinyl chloride into your engine. not sure if that's the best thing for your motor.

just in case you start inhaling the fumes that comes from your super cheap intake PVC tube...
Vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies.


if you want good heat rejection ceramic coat your pipes.
Well, Used engine oil has been known to the great state of California to cause cancer.
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Old 10-14-2010, 04:05 AM
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you should try using the PVC and seeing where it leads bro. If you used a similar setup on your 00-01 civic, it should be fine. Our exhaust manifolds aren't really close to where the piping is going to be anyways. In civics, they usually go down and sit right by the headers. Oh yea i forgot to mention that the melting point of PVC ranges from 100-260 degrees Celsius. if your really worried, you should heat wrap it and it wouldnt get extremely hot, plus that would hide it so nobody would even know its PVC lol.!!

Last edited by saylee; 10-14-2010 at 04:08 AM.
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Old 10-14-2010, 06:10 AM
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Originally Posted by FallenOne
Well, Used engine oil has been known to the great state of California to cause cancer.
i think you missed the point.
i'm not telling you to drink the oil or sniff the fumes from a hot PVC pipe. i'm saying that the chemicals that leches from the PVC pipe is not good for the engine.
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Old 10-14-2010, 06:14 AM
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Originally Posted by VQ30MPG
All the research I've read has said that intake air simply travels too fast to be strongly affected by engine heat. By making your intake out of an insulator or wrapping it, you're probably lowering your intake temp by less than a degree, at least at WOT when air is moving the fastest.

On the same grounds, I doubt that PVC or ABS or whatever type of plastic you decide to use will actually get hot enough to release toxins at a significant rate, unless you idle a lot in the desert. Just to be safe, though, I would consider making an intake out of ABS piping instead of PVC to avoid those hazards.
do you have links to these so called "research"?
during idle the velocity of the air going into your engine is quite slow/low.

i'm not going to sit here and argue with you guys that can't afford a metal pipe and two couplers. it's your motor and your car...i'm just throwing some warnings out there so you don't come back saying that there's a mysterious coating inside your intake manifold and it's causing weird issues with your car.
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:10 AM
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OP, keep your stock resonator as a mid-pipe and have a PVC pipe coming off the MAF and going into the fender. That pipe tends to stay pretty cool anyway so don't worry about that.
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by aznprid972
One way to actually find out, get something that plugs int your OBDII and view the intake temperature. That way we all have some real valid proof that it works or if it's just rumors/myths.
i used a digital laser heat gun
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:40 AM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
i think you missed the point.
i'm not telling you to drink the oil or sniff the fumes from a hot PVC pipe. i'm saying that the chemicals that leches from the PVC pipe is not good for the engine.
no, i got it. I was just giving you a hard time.
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Old 10-14-2010, 08:13 AM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
do you have links to these so called "research"?
during idle the velocity of the air going into your engine is quite slow/low.
Awesome....how slow?

Could you post the link?
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Old 10-14-2010, 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by DanNY
do you have links to these so called "research"?
during idle the velocity of the air going into your engine is quite slow/low.

i'm not going to sit here and argue with you guys that can't afford a metal pipe and two couplers. it's your motor and your car...i'm just throwing some warnings out there so you don't come back saying that there's a mysterious coating inside your intake manifold and it's causing weird issues with your car.
I'll keep looking, but a quick search didn't give me anything I've read before. My point about idling in the desert depended on air moving slowly at idle.

In the interest of science, I actually found something that might contradict my earlier statement. In the link below, the experimenter managed a significant drop in intake temps by insulating his intake. The experiment was in no way rigorous, though.
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-te...xperiment.html
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Old 10-14-2010, 06:36 PM
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In plumbing, you are not supposed to use pvc pipe for hot water because it softens as it gets warm. IIRC, you heat pvc pipe to 180 degrees if you want to bend it. This may not be a problem while the car is being driven, but after you park the car, especially in summer, this could be a problem.
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by MaxiNone
oops, how did that one slip lol...
Is that what you told her nine months later?
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:46 PM
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I had a pvc y intake pipe. Basically it was part true CAI and part SRI. First filter sat behind the battery while the second was routed like the injen but the filter sat ziptied to the lower front grille. I also bought blockoff plates for them so I could choose between either, or, or both. I painted it a flat silver so it actually didnt look too bad. Couldn't complain about the performance either except for the loss of low end tq which is pretty much the norm for this mod. Its really more of a "sound" mod anyways. But at WOT with both open, the VQ roars .

Will upload pics of the setup as soon as I get a chance.
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:48 PM
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Interested to see pics of this double intake..
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:57 PM
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^ Sup Chris? For you, I'll do it now. I have to get on my other slow a$$ pc to get the pic.

How's the wheel shopping going?
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Old 10-14-2010, 07:57 PM
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^ Sup Chris? For you, I'll do it now. I have to get on my other slow a$$ pc to get the pic.

How's the wheel shopping going?
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Old 10-14-2010, 08:30 PM
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Hope I did this correctly. I had my lil cousin use his Photobucket to upload the pics.

Anyways, dont mind the dustiness. Thats what 4+ years of sitting around will do to ya.







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Old 10-14-2010, 08:34 PM
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Originally Posted by VQ'rInWLA
How's the wheel shopping going?
Pretty bad. A woman backed into my driver rear quarter panel so rims shoppin' is gonna have to hold off till that's fixed.

Originally Posted by VQ'rInWLA
Anyways, dont mind the dustiness. Thats what 4+ years of sitting around will do to ya.
Thats a crazy *** set-up, I've never seen anything like that. What size piping is that? Looks huge no homo.
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