Hey guys. I was really interested in the Ghetto Air Box (GAB) but did not want to destroy the filter holder (>65 dollar value according to Dave B) So i thought up a way to create the same thing without cutting part of the holder off. This may have been thought up before but i didnt know about it.

First you will need the following:
The basic tools, a hanger (I used a thick guage one), black sharpie, and of course your filter (Mine is the K&N one).


Unwind the hanger:


Straighten up the hanger as best as you can:


Now you want to center the hanger at the bottom of the filter and mark on the hanger where the side of the filter is like seen in this picture below:

 

Now bend the hanger in a 90 degree angle like so:


Do the same thing for the other side (Make sure the hanger is fairly flat against the filter):


Now mark the top part of the hanger where the top part of the filter is and bend those in at 90 degree angles too:


Now move in about 2-3 inches and bend the hanger away from the filter like seen in the picture. Then move out about 1-2 inches away from filter or about 0.5 inches more than the distance from your filter (where the hanger is at) to the edge of the opening that's near the headlight(yeah this is a little confusing)See two pictures below for a better understanding.

 

Stick the filter in and then mark the hanger hangs back out like seen:



After marking the hanger go and bend it so it goes around the lip of the opening of the airbox like seen below:


The final product:

and a closeup of it


I havent cut the ends off yet. Another thing I am going to do is add electrical tape around the hanger just so it looks better and some extra around the area where the hanger is now hooked onto the airbox opening. But i'd figure this will help those out there that are wanting to do this mod but not wanting to cut their filter holder or just have the really ugly ducktape holding it in.
Butt feeling of this is that it feels like the car can breathe a lot better and seems to have better response even in low end.

-Dave Honey

 

lol that is so ghetto...

 

hahahahahahaha

 

Hey, that's so awesome. Very brilliant idea, but very ghetto also.

So, if I get this correctly, the main purpose of having the hanger is just to make sure that the filter seals the opening?


~limsandy

 

If you were to cut the front side of the air box, wouldn't you have more airflow, since the air filter is exposed?

PS: I have a picture, but I can't upload it. Does anyone know how? Must get permission from admin?


~limsandy

 

IMO, the ultimate GAB would be to somehow rearrange the battery, then dremel the whole front side of the airbox out so there's a huge rectangle... (you can still put the filter in and have it held by the airbox, but there would be a gigantic opening)

 

Good idea about the coat hangar. Before I got my Injen, I did kinda the same thing, but I used 3 short pieces of hangar wedged into the airbox to hold the filter. I put one at the top of the box and had 2 at the bottom.

 

good write-up dave!

 

Correct. It holds the airfilter tightly against the back of the box like the air filter holder did. You cant just put a hanger on the top part because the bottom will slipp out from you, espically after a hard bump or you get wheel hop. I put this under a lot of test i guess you would call. Wheel hop.... Speed bump and all. and stayed in place quite well.

I didnt want to mess anything up with the stock setup so that's why I didnt dremel away anything. It cost a lot of money to replace those parts incase you have to go back to them. Plus now that i Have the black electrical tape covering the hanger it can hardly be seen at all. Doesnt stand out.

Thanks Cullen... told ya i would do it. But this is the second(beta) version. The first version was a really thin piece of wire that was really flimsy and didnt stay in place, but the hanger worked out quite well. Now time for the dyno's of the before and after technosquare.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm guessing that since the top part is open, you'll get a lot of dust sticking to the air filter and you'll have to change air filter every 2500 miles now?


~limsandy

 

Why not use as many pieces of hangar as possible to secure the bottom, sides and top to make sure that there are no leaks. I like your set up, it looks cleaner, I'm gonna try something similar but I'll use more pieces just to make sure that there aren't any leaks.

 

Very creative. Just be aware that the air filter is the most important filter on your engine. Any dirt that gets past it goes right into the cylinders and acts like sandpaper. You might consider using silicone grease around the edges of the filter to ensure a perfect seal.

 

Then how are you going to change your air filter in the future?


~limsandy

 

Silicone grease does not cure like silicone rubber does. Some big truck engines use it to make a better seal in the air filter housing. Once you remove the filter, you wipe the old stuff off and reapply new silicone grease after servicing the air filter.

 

Ya'll are some creative a$$ people. Now I'm sitting here wondering who is going to try and make one of those electric superchargers and mess around and think they have to change their pulley's also.

Nice work though I would have never got the nerve to do something like that!!

 

You are the man! I have been wanting to do the no cut GAB and havent had time to research the bracket to be used. This is exaclty what I have been looking for. The silicon grease is an excellent idea too. I have already got the hanger straightened and just got my filter out of the car. Any ideas on where to get silicon grease? Would it be at your standard autoparts store?

 

Excellent idea! Reminds me of my old setup on my camry... but I used a magic marker to hold my filter in place Those were the days! But your setup is very ghetto, yet somewhat classy. I like!

 

The silicone grease is an excellent idea, but the filter is very firm against the hole going to the throttle body, that i wouldnt be too afraid of anything getting by.( I mean I cant move the filter at all) But grease is an added percaution which never hurts at all

 

NAPA or Carquest would probably have silicone grease.

 

I tried the GAB like Bluesbrekr and my car sounds more aggressive than the original GAB, I like it a lot more and the hangar does fall off.

Last night I had a Celica GTS pull up next to me to run (sorry it was on the street) but I smoked him so bad.

 

What kind of GAB does Bluesbrekr have? Any links/pictures? I cant search.


~limsandy

 

I only took the filter holder out, and secured the filter with 3 pcs. of coat hangar. I did not do anything else. I was thinking about it, but on the 2K2, you'd need to cut off the bottom of the elbow to attach another air tube, and I didn't want to do that.....in the event I needed to get it back to stock for a visit to the dealer. Th pic I posted above is about all I have about it, but feel free to check my homepage for a couple other engine bay pics.

That said, it was a bit louder at WOT and seemed to pull a bit better but I only had that set up for a couple weeks......then I got the Injen.

 

I recently changed my intake setup. It is also a new version of the GAB that is essentially OEM but allows increased air flow. No increase in noise, no noticable decrease in low end torque, pulls harder from 2500 to redline. Check it out here:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....0&page=1&pp=30

 

I just finished up the fitting of the coat hanger. I was really skeptical of the holding power of this homemade wire bracket, but I am really surprised how strong the transformed coat hanger really holds it in there. I tried to dislodge it with my fingers and it held until I used unreasonable force. You are right man. Silicon grease is not needed. The difference in the noise is noticeable. Its not much but it sounds... better in my opinion. Just using the filter with the stock bracket I observed a noticable but very slight increase in power at 2500+rpms. Now its even more noticeable in that same rpm range.

 

I just want to commend you for an excellent write-up and documentary. Although this "mod" may not be for everyone, you did an excellent job and its guys like you that really make maxima.org what it is today - helping each other out by experimenting with different things.

 

Motion to add the original post to the "Installation Instructions /How-To's For..." sticky thread.

 

...

 

hense the reason why it is called GAB (GHETTO air box) genius!

 

anyways, excellent write up. please post it in the "how-to" thread at the top of the page.

i've had a GAB for several months now. i simply bought an extra filter holder form IGOR911 here on the ORG for a few bucks (since Nissan wants like $70 for a replacement one). that way, i have the original one and an extra one that i could cut the top off of. mine probably looks a bit prettier...but works the same. good job again on your craftiness.

 

Ok. I'll create a web site for the hanger GAB and guess what's coming in a few hours..... How to install heated mirrors on the 5th gen maxima. I'll have a couple of websites up for them soon.

 

Ok guys. I got it in the How-To Section... Also have a website for it:
http://home.insightbb.com/~dwh/GAB.htm

 

VERY nice writeup.

Unfortunately, I personally have not noticed any track improvements between an open or closed airbox. During a day of testing while stock, the differences between open airbox and closed airbox was maybe 1/10th sec +/- which could easily reflect track conditions or launch technique....

 

A true backyard fix. Very nice set-up, it's the low buck improvements I respect most of all. Anyone with access to a welder could make a beutiful copy which is what I intend to do with some nice polished stainless.

 

Holybringanoldthreadbackdayagain

 

IBsomeonesaysatleastitwasn'tarepost....

 

 

goodbye, thanks for playing

 

geez i remember this thread...thought i was loosing my mind when i got an email saying a 2 year old thread i was watching had a reply.