Do-it-Yourself RAM air intake system installation photos

[Caretaker]

Originally posted by StrokeD z
i used a dryer hose and ran it underneath my car and it worked very good

and it costed $0 and it probaly is more effective than yours for sure and it was very easy to install

IMO you went through alot and didnt get much out of it

interesting StrokeD. I thought I should avoid that pipe going down thinking some water would splash on the filter when it rains. Of course, I don't run rallyes with this car, maybe it is not a big issue.

maybe if you can show a picture I'll better understand.

tia

[Caretaker]

I get the idea now StrokeD. I found a dude who did the same thing as you did with the dryer pipe.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/DIYIntakes.html

this page worths taking a look at. It shows a list with photos of different Do-it-yourself ram intake ideas.

One even had a paint can covering his filter..that almost beat my flower pot :-)

I got another idea while looking at some mods there. I'll build a different one by adding a shield on one side only that comes flush with the hood when it is closed and adding the dryer pipe idea which is brilliant the more I think about it. Maybe I could stick it in the tunnel after the flower pot for an even better cold air intake as well.

[sxtasy]

props to you for taking your own idea and fabricating it onto your car and not taking everyone else's shit to heart. Its probably the best way to learn how to tune and know your car, who cares what other people think. So you got some "flower power " who cares, as long as it works for you. Most people after all the criticism, would not dare answer back to this thread. Keep doing the tests and find the intake that will be most effective to your application.

[Caretaker]

2 people asked me the type of temp sensor I used:

i used the compunurse. it is available here and can monitor as u drive, the temp in 2 different areas:

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sidewind...coduledse.html

[Caretaker]

After reading the comments above about the dryer pipe, I decided to give it a shot. I removed the infamous "Flower chamber" and built an aluminium based casing. I also added a dryer pipe that is getting cold air from the bottom of the bumper and removed the flower pot that was good but "psychologically" decreasing my torque ;-)

The air chamber is now wider and the K&N filter beeing "fed" by even colder air by the addition of the dryer pipe scooper.

Temperature monitoring showed only a 2C increase after a 30 min drive in the air chamber..a dramatic improvement from the infamous Flower power chamber.

Click here to see the new version with air scooper that is even better

It was a really nice experience and I thank the posters for their ideas. For those that just sent flames at me, well, I've seen it before. I would have reacted maybe the same way if I did not have this 'investigator' personality. When you are a scientist, people often don't accept your ideas because they don't understand well. Just look at History..

But I believed in myself because I scientifically verified I was getting colder air in the air filter and therefore more oxygen. I did not do any dynamometer tests but I am sure I prevented the loss of torque you get with an exposed after-market air intake like K&N.

If you have access to a scientific library, I recommend reading this interesting article:

Multipoint temperature and oxygen-concentration measurements using rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy,Optics Letters, Vol. 25 Issue 20 Page 1535 (October 2000) by Joakim Bood, Christian Brackmann, Per-Erik Bengtsson and Marcus Aldn

In the end..who wins usually?.. the Macgyvers! So go ahead, experiment, learn from your errors and you will come out as a winner.

[StrokeD z]

there you go....this is way better if you can try makeing a V like shape so the air has some pressure when going into the pipe


btw i had a 5in piping your is like 2in if you where to make a scoop it would work even better

i bottomed out my car and my scoop and everythink scrumpled so i took it off sorry can give you pics

[Caretaker]

Originally posted by StrokeD z
there you go....this is way better if you can try makeing a V like shape so the air has some pressure when going into the pipe


btw i had a 5in piping your is like 2in if you where to make a scoop it would work even better

i bottomed out my car and my scoop and everythink scrumpled so i took it off sorry can give you pics

Yeah I tried the 5 in piping but it did not fit in the hole going down. Maybe I could add a joint and put the 5 in type after that causing even more pressure.


Next step is to add a flat funnel scooper like you mention under the car.


But so far, the temperature data (u can see the graph on my web page) after 1 one hour run (city and highway) show that the temperature in there was the same as the air temperature outside the car. Difficult to get any better. Maybe it would if Mazda would be using a positive pressure system like in some Honda.

Did you have any problems when it rained with the scooper like 20cm above the ground?

[StrokeD z]

no i didnt but because so much air would go through and it was such moist air my car was idleing low thats all

[Toms-Celica]

I hate to be an asshole but you must get over a certian rolling velocity to achieve a 'Ram Air' effect. You merly created a extended vacuum hose.

[5.9 R/T]

That velocity happens to be about 100mph or so. hahaha

[Caretaker]

It's difficult to tell at what speed the air is rammed. To get an idea, I first made a test with the pipe outside my window ending in my car. I checked with different pipe size, and a 2.5 was giving the highest air velocity/volume effect vs let's say a 5 inches. So it is a balance between air volume and air velocity. I thought also of removing the foglight and go through there but it would have been more ugly. In any case. the temp data show that I got rid of the hot air, which was my primary goal. The cold air box is not sealed also and I still have an 0.5 by 3 inches hole in the front of it getting air from the left side of the radiator.

[three.eighteen.]

Originally posted by Caretaker


In the end..who wins usually?.. the Macgyvers! So go ahead, experiment, learn from your errors and you will come out as a winner.

mcgyver got cancelled about a decade ago...im sure the dude that played mcgyver feels like a winner right now

[Caretaker]

Originally posted by three.eighteen.


mcgyver got cancelled about a decade ago...im sure the dude that played mcgyver feels like a winner right now

yeah and he was too skinny to do BayWatch

[StrokeD z]

Originally posted by Toms-Celica
I hate to be an asshole but you must get over a certian rolling velocity to achieve a 'Ram Air' effect. You merly created a extended vacuum hose.

well i have to take the highway every day so i am pertty sure this is alot of velocity

[Dr. Evil]

Originally posted by Caretaker
build my own ram air intake system.

Thanks for the photos - looked like you had some fun

Anyway, too bad you weren't able to dyno your car before & after to scientifically calculate any performance gains.

One suggestion I have is to create a scoop at the end of that hose (under the car) to grab more air & shoot it up into the intake. My concern would be that it leans out combustion too much & your performance would go down the tubes.

[Dr. Evil]

http://members.cox.net/marklein/cai/cai5.htm

Holy mistake... someone tell this fool that water is going to rush into his intake when he washes the car!!!

[Caretaker]

Originally posted by Dr. Evil

Anyway, too bad you weren't able to dyno your car before & after to scientifically calculate any performance gains.

Yes that is true but the fact that the temperature of the air beeing aspirated is 15C cooler suggests it is better this way. As long as the box is not sealed and depend only on the hose for its air, it is fine.

So I combined the idea of Autoexe and this pipe. (see below)

Originally posted by Dr. Evil

One suggestion I have is to create a scoop at the end of that hose (under the car) to grab more air & shoot it up into the intake. My concern would be that it leans out combustion too much & your performance would go down the tubes.

That is a good idea. If someone has an idea about what I could use to make that scoop, I'd love to hear your suggestion.

[Caretaker]

I found Ingen developped a CAI for my car. The picture below show how they did. The basically went down the hole where I passed my dryer pipe. (see picture below)




If I knew about this before, I would have got this filter instead of the K&N. But in terms of functionnality, I'm there now..less pretty but as much functionnal. And maybe the sound is better with the K&N.

[Caretaker]

Ingen also has the ghetto flower pot idea for their filter:

[tt398]

Nothing the matter with using low-cost materials and products for
prototyping! Thomas Edison was famous for this approach..
Maybe you could show the finished product at some future date..

The idea of getting colder / denser air to the intake tract is not new. Suggest you use the the idea of "cowl induction" - where you take the high pressure air front at the base of your car's windshield as the source of engine intake air. It is more efficient than the "ram effect" at the front of the car. General Motors engineers discovered this in the mid-late 1960's. Most of the G.M. muscle cars (big block Chevelles and Camaros) of that era had cowl induction systems offered as an option.

Happy prototyping!