D.Stillwell

DISCLAIMER: Another intake thread. Some of you I'm sure will not like it or not care but I'm pretty sure some people should find this useful.

So I installed this nice looking piece on the end of my snorkel pipe to deliver cold air right up to my K&N. (The black rubber pipe next to the filter):



I've seen a few people with like a home depot dryer vent in there on the snorkel pipe, which is crazy to think how much heat those aluminum pieces draw on warm to hot days even when the car is off and not moving. But then I was helping a friend with his Acura TL and I got the idea for the parts, since the TL's have the rubber inlet pipes coming up from the wheel well it gave me the perfect idea as I looked at the front of my car today.

Here is a pic I made up with a little diagram, hopefully you guys can kinda figure out what I was trying to illustrate there:



Basically this should work on any 5th gen I believe, that is if your cone sits somewhere right behind the headlight or right behind the battery. The idea is as follows:

1. On the 5th gen stock bumper the lower air grille has like 4-5 vertical crossbars that make several square like sections there. The right and left squares of the bottom bumper air scoop is what will be used. A 3"-2" coupler will fit in there perfectly and sit inside looking good (3" side exterior with the 2" side going inside)

2. connect both left/right couplers to a 90 degree 1.5" flex pipe and turn both to run to the right side. Then connect hoses to both sides.

3. Left side has to run along the bottom (on the inside) of the bumper and the hose goes up through the cracks and leads to your filter. The right side is right there so pretty much just goes up and to the filter.

4. I'm thinking for the end piece you can either have 3 seperate rubber inlets right there and tie em all together. Or better yet, throw the 3 hoses together and throw a big 4"-6" coupler on there for the end piece.


I believe that's pretty much it. You get 3 air-inlets that carry cold air directly to your intake and help keep that whole area way cooler. Now me and my boy tested this and I can tell you for sure that this creates quite a difference when at HIGH speeds on the freeway.

Thing is, this system actually creates pressure inside and a real true ram effect with the air due to the system being 3" to 2" to 1.5" and reverse. It still needs to be perfected and tested, and I'm getting ready to do the whole thing.

So far we've tested the one I have with an air control tool (just the piece itself off the car) and it definitely creates a ram effect inside the pipe. Whats even better is that the part has perfect fitment (it will fit over the rectangle like snorkel pipe and conform to it perfectly) and looks like it came from the factory.

Also, we tested air flowing thru that inlet pipe (w/ a pressure sensor) on the highway at 100-120mph and 120-140mph. The 100-120 test was ranging from 11-13PSI, and at 120-140mph it was around 17PSI. Now if you add another 2 more inlets to the equation and go real fast you can really benefit from this.

Once I finish installing the finished product in mine I'll give you guys an update and of course lots of pics and full details.

Chris Gregg

iTrader: (59)

Any changes in intake air temps or even the grid area around the filter?

What about results of air flow and pressure at normal road/interstate driving speeds (45-80mph)?

melvinman2003

Heck just get a hood scoop. My alltrac hood cooled under hood temps alot!

D.Stillwell

There has definitely been a change in the air temps. I haven't tested it fully yet as I said. So far I've tested the grid area around the filter with an air temp meter and there have been some very noticeable changes. I've had upwards of 25 degrees in temps drop after an hour of hard driving. And roughly around 10 after about 30 min driving. Now I also did put 3 layers of thermal wrap on my intake, and that also helps alot.

But the inlet does work, it definitely delivers way more air, and it definitely helps keep the area way cooler.

Results at normal speeds are what I'm about to start testing now, I will definitely post updates in here with info and pics as I move along. But I mean, pretty sure there's gonna be results because if I got 11PSI extra from 100mph I should easily see at least half that from 70-80mph I would think, but that's just guessing I'm gonna do an actual test. The real question is if it does anything at all around town at normal speeds, but I'm inclined to say its well worth it for the $ the mod costs.

You know I've thought about this already. Only thing is I don't think I wanna go that far on a Maxima. I tend to leave the hood scoops alone unless I have a real sports car like an M3.

So I installed one air inlet today. Once I got the parts to try doing one side I realized that it wasn't going to be good to try doing both sides so I just did one inlet. Here is what it looks like right next to the intake, the one on top is the one I just installed and the one below it is the one on the snorkel.



Here is what it looks like in the bottom of the bumper, right in the middle behind my tag:



Here is what it looks like up close:



Now I think a good idea would be to put like a mesh grill in front of it and just in that whole bottom grill opening so no crap gets in there.

Finchum

Good idea, OEMs do it for a reason. My HR powered G35 sedan had dual ram air inlets, one for each air box.

D.Stillwell

Yup, exactly. I got the idea while looking at friend's TL stock intake system, and they have two inlets coming in there, one from the wheel well and another from the bottom of the fender in the front.

I know it's gonna do something, might not be much, but to someone trying to go all motor everything counts. I know at higher speeds when the wind is blowing at 50+mph it's going to make a difference, it has to it's just math and physics.

Not to mention, that inlet just looks plain sexy and mean in the bottom middle of the bumper, you can't really notice it unless you really look how I have it tucked behind my licence plate but when you see it it's like damn what is that thing.