Well it's been raining here in Jersey for the past few days and this morning on my way home from work it was coming down real hard. I have the same exact OSCAI as Empz (thanks for the ideas!), but I have the intake below the car. All you have to do is bend down a little bit and you can see it from the front. I know that's not the smartest way to have it positioned but I just wanted optimal performance. Anyway, on my way home I was $hitting in my pants cuz the last thing I need is for my car to break down. Despite the heavy downpour and medium traffic, I was traveling an average of 65-85 mph. Water coming from everywhere...rain, puddles, and water streaming towards me from the cars in front. I was almost certain that at least a little bit of water must have entered my filter box but to my surprise there was not even a trace of water. When I took out the K&N panel filter, the entire filter box was completely dry! Score one for the minds of maxima.org! My intake hovers only 5 inches from the road and is completely visible. The intake itself was soaked. Thank God for that factory scoop! Just wanted to share this information with you guyz.

 

I always thought about this water problem, that's why i didn't install OSCAI(also because i live in Boston where there is a lot of rain and snow).
But now i guess i could install it since you described that nothing happened.

Thanks for the info BTW

 

Amazing. Why anyone would concern themselves about water intake through an OSCAI when a wide open upper air inlet exists is simply beyond me. It's like having an AEM bypass valve installed in the OSCAI with the valve open all the time. I guess some people will never believe that water is heavier than air.

It isn't water you need to be concerned about, it's foreign material or fine particulate matter entering the OSCAI and clogging up the air filter. (I'd be much more concerned about sand than water.) It's for that reason that I choose not to expose the open end of the OSCAI to an unrestricted air source, opting instead to keep it inside the bumper skirt.

 

Yeah, its us place racing CAI people that gotta worry about water. like y2kse said, from your oscai install you have no worries about water unless you get it above the upper intake. If you do that you drove that damn car into the lake anyway so ...

But anyway, I'm glad to see that there is someone else besides me who's butt puckers when the rain starts fallin'

 

My butt puckers, all right. But that's because I'm still riding on my stock RE92s.

 

I guess I'm lucky that I got the 16" rims so I didn't have to deal with the RE92s (i have never heard anything good about those tires), but I'd rather have the 17" rims. Aftermarket is the only way for me

 

Hey Hey ... good to know my design is working good!

Well I was driving in Heavy Downpour as well ... and it was Damn fine! ... Not 1 drop of Water got to the Filter ...

I was going to get a AEM Bypass valve ... but its Not needed now!

 

You only needed to worry about water lock if the entire inlet gets submergered. The vacuum effect from the manifold could feasible pull some water into this track and into the motor. If you don't believe it then look into Mustangs and Camaro's as they move air inlet into fender and have such a problem. You could use your home vacuum to drive this point home. Maybe the upper air inlet would cancel this out......but I would not be the first one to try this.

 

I've driven with the OSCAI many times in rain.....no problems at all. A truely ingeneous design

 

No, you only need to worry about water lock if BOTH inlets get submerged. Sport Compact Car already proved this with an AEM Bypass Valve. (See the April 2001 edition, pages 84-89.) If anything, the upper air inlet is less restrictive than an AEM Bypass Valve when the valve is fully opened. Moreover, the upper air inlet is wide open ALL THE TIME. But there are those who will never be convinced even with the facts staring them right in the face. And I know better than to underestimate the power of denial. To them I say, believe what you will.

 

To be honest, I was concerned about that as well. But I saw more and more people doing it and these guy'z know what they're talking about so I went with it.

Note: I would not jump off a bridge if they did
Working perfect

 

you sure?

 

Good good!

 

I think they were talking about the CAI and not the OSCAI. Yes, you do have to worry about water with just the CAI if you don't have the AEM bypass valve. (which I don't!) As for the OSCAI, yeah it takes both inlets being submerged before water could enter the engine. Also if you note in that article you mentioned that at full throttle and sudden dunk of the filter water can climb pretty quick. It rose almost to the top of the tube in their experiment before the bypass valve had a chance to open. If you don't have that bypass valve and you did that (being our intake tubes are only 1/4 the length of what they had in their article, you are screwed!

As for you OSCAI people, as long as your upper inlet is open, you pretty much have a bypass valve open at all times and therefore water should be no concern.

 

There is NO WAY I would install a Place Racing CAI without an AEM Bypass Valve. I've never heard of anyone flooding out a Place Racing CAI, but $45.00 for the valve is a cheap price to pay for a whole lot of peace of mind.

Thanks again for stating the obvious regarding the OSCAI. The difference between the AEM Bypass Valve and the upper air inlet is that the upper air inlet is NEVER CLOSED! As a result, water won't rise up the OSCAI even when the OSCAI tube is completely submerged. It won't even rise up if you dunk the tube in and out of water. The fact is, it's simply not possible to flood an OSCAI if the upper air inlet is functioning properly.

 

I need to install the bypass valve but to be honest I can't figure out how to install it without cutting the pipe. I know, I know, I know you don't have to preach at me about how the bypass could save me heartache and misery!

As for the obvious, there are apparently people who don't believe! We need to reach the masses brother y2kse ... We need to reach out to the non believers and convert them

 

Amen to that, brother !

 

where can we find the master blue print for this engineering master piece?

 

check the stickies up at the top of the forum...