Not sure if this has been tried before, if so let me know.

What I have been thinking about is a dual feed CAI using the fog light holes in the lower bumper area and feeding them through the area between the rad and drivers headlight.

To give credit where credit is due, it was jclaw that gave me this idea after he told me he relocated his rad to make room for the piping for a CAI. However after a little looking I decided I could even put a 4" pipe through that area without relocating anything.

After reading a bunch of stuff on Auto Speed Magazine about siting CAI's etc I decided to give it a try. Here is a pic of a Lexus showing where the areas of maximum pressure are. Since it looks very similar to the maxima front end I assume we would have similar pressure readings. ie the fog light openings give maximum pressure.



I used a couple of old filters I had to make the inlets and used some old lexan pieces I had to fill the rest of the hole. I currently have some clothes dryer hose and some 3" abs from HD to tie it together but that is just temporary until I find something better.





Results??? Who knows. I replaced my 350Z setup with the stock IM at the same time. I only did one run at my normal timing and a/f settings which netted a 12.5 @ 111 mph my best this year. Was it the intake swap or the CAI??? Never change more than one thing at a time otherwise you never know?

Future testing will determine, in the meantime what do you think?

 

wow....very interesting.

 

Get that VQ30 spark plug cover out of there

That pressure info is interesting. Have you considered smoothing out the coupling where the two inlets meet? I'm sure a 'Y' coupling exists instead of that 'T' style coupling.

EDIT: http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/SPT9479.htm I know it's only 3" but I'm sure there's a similar 4" counterpart somewhere.

 

Hey its only a 3.0??

Yes I have its just a start, its the idea that got me interested. Not sure that a Y would help much since you are bringing together two 3" pipes which is a much larger area than one 4' inlet. However thank you for the suggestion, I need to experiment much further.

I just can't see spending $400+ for an intake that can be a simple
DIY effort. KISS=Keep It Simple Stupid My motto for any mod.

 

Jim, a few days after Maxus. I removed the resonator under the battery, then put a hose coupling on the port for that, and ran a hose to my driver's side foglight. I didn't really notice any gains, but I don't really race, and I didn't make a scoop for it. I do think more of a "Y" style connector would be better. Right now, it seems like the air from the left side will hit the air from the right side dead on, and stop, losing any sort of "ram air" effect. Whereas I think if they flow together in a Y, you'll get a higher air velocity.

Look in the HVAC section of the hardware store... they have all sorts of cool fittings in there. You could probably find a Y-piece.

What filter, if any, do you use? I don't see a spot for one.

I was actually thinking of removing my factory scoop, then hacking up the bottom half of my stock airbox so I can clamp a 3-4" hose on it, then running the hose down to the two foglights. I think my 97-99 foglight openings will have a little better air pressure than the 95-96 due to my bumper sticking out more, but I agree that you won't be able to find a 97-99 lower bumper in your color.

 

^I think the tubing itself is way too long for there to be any ram air effect. This is mostly for intake temp reduction...

 

Wheres the filter located?. I got A ram air set up but this one looks like alot more air will be pushed in....nice idea

 

Jime when you say stock IM you mean no VIAS delete or SSIM?

that's pretty impressive....i wonder what you would run with VIAS delete!! what rpm is the motor going to??

 

Wondering the same, but I see the VIAS canister still there so I assume it was not a SSIM. Impressive if it wasnt.

 

Dave that is the main reason for my doing it, for the air temp anything else would be bonus.

No filter yet, this is a track only mod at present. I am thinking about building a box where the Y is and putting a filter there but its still in the design phase.

Correct no VIAS delete or SSIM. RPM for that run was 7k but I only made one pass like that because I was trying to slow it down for the 13.0 index.

 

wow that is truly impressive that you ran that with a stock IM!

i know this sounds dumb...but does it still make power close to 7000 with a stock IM?? i mean if you did VIAS delete you would trap like 113 or more maybe....

 

Jim, I went for the OEM location for a CAI, but made everything a little bigger. Here are some early photos from last year - I've made the intake port about 30% larger since then. Some day I'll tidy it up.

It uses a OEM air box with K&N, stock MAF, 70mm tubing and TB, 8" aluminum ducting covered with black RTV now, and scoops up the cooler air from the front of the car as compared to the hot air down closer to the track - a few degrees difference. This required cutting out some of the hood bracing on the driver's side of the hood, but nothing shows from outside. I've actually made several improvements since last year, but you get the idea....




http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...8/DSCN0154.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...8/DSCN0161.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...8/DSCN0160.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...8/DSCN0159.jpg

 

I figured as much. I was just replying to the dude above me...

 

I have been running a setup close to that for over 6 months now

my cai sits below the battery in the corner above the splash guard, I took some flex duct and ran it from the foglight location and cut a hole and ran it directly to the filter

maybe I'll take some pic's this weekend

 

Jime I have a question are you going to spray with the self still in the uim, I cut mine cause I was worried that self would cause the cylinders to be uneven

 

I sprayed it last weekend, see my racing thread. The 2 classes I entered were 13.0 and 11.5 index. It took quite a bit of detuning to slow it down for the 13.0 (timing from 26 to 16 and shifts from 7000 to 5800). For the 11.5 I sprayed a 50 shot and kept a 125 on the 2nd stage to use if necessary. I did once for a short burst and ran 11.4.

When I had my 2k2 I sprayed all the time with the stock IM so I don't think its a problem.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if an unmolested IM provided for more even airflow distribution than an SSIM.

 

I have thought of doing similar setups.... (I'm sorry for using such a The Wizard's car as an example....) Oh and my wack skills on paint.... but its just a quick illustration of my thoughts...

Do you think any of these would work?

1st idea I had was to buy a broken headlight, cut the inside, gut the out the housing, and use it a headlight ram air setup. Have the headlight funnel into a 3" tube or pipe connected directly to the intake.





2nd idea was to see if I could find a race shop, to custom make or customize a headlight with an intake duct... as seen on some modified race cars... the housing is kept, even the functionality of the headlight, but you have a direct duct for the intake...



3rd idea, was to running an extension of piping, from a CAI, and have the air filter sit in the back of foglight section... I've seen some turbo'd car setups where they have the cone filter positioned in around the foglight (foglight is removed), but I'm pretty sure you run issues of getting water sucked in...

 

the third idea i have seen in person, but it was on a older sentra.

 

i have see all 3 ideas tried out mostly on hondas but i would say functioanlly wise go with number1.

but if you want to keep a nice clean look going go with number 3

 

what would you do about filtration for idea 1 and 2?
i would also incorporate a velocity stack in the headlight one was to go that route.

if your assumptions are correct about having the highest pressure readings at the fog openings, wouldn't it be contradicted with longer than factory tubing/bends, hence more pressure losses?

it would be interesting to see the velocity and volume readings from your setup though...

 

wouldn't a sheet metal manifold for air conditioning work for this? I mean the come in all shapes and sizes. My old boss had one riveted to his bumper of this truck with a flex hose going all the way to his throttle body and swears by it

 

I lost my orig pressure readings but will take again this weekend if weather's ok. 4yrs ago I started on some of this based on this 5 part Autospeed article.
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_0629/article.html
Used a manometer combined with my Auterra for intake temps to create various air density figures. I threw out my PR CAI for a short WAI. I also gave up on ram air ideas as forcing the air didn't prove better than sucking it in.

 

whats WAI

 

really?? WAI=warm air intake

 

sorry, I am not up to speed with the acronyms

 

You could always cut an area in the bumper, and install one of these ducts:

http://www.dalhems.com/stylingsidor/airducts.html