The last time I did a CAI, i was on my NA 1997 Monte carlo. What I did was actually pretty ingenious as I used the car's existing intake system and just opened it up at the very end with a cone air filter. Throttle response improved, sound increased, and I might've even got another horsepower or two out of the whole thing
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I think I see a way to do that with this system too but I think I'll post my idea here and see who else has possibly thought of it or perhaps done something similar.
Materials needed - Some wire mesh (nothing too hardcore but it will be in front of the air filter), some form of rigid sheet plastic around 1/8" thick(possibly do 1/16" but I think I have some 1/8" stuff left over), plastic adhesive, short plastic screws, and thermal insulating wrap.
Tools needed - Something for cutting plastic (sawzall), possibly a dremel if you want to be precise, and a screwdriver
Step 1) Remove everything before the throttle body/MAF sensor
Step 2) Using a cutting tool, open up the stock air inlet area on the intake box.
Step 3) Using the same cutting tool, cut off the baffles on the intake hose
Step 4) Once the baffles have been removed, and the inlet opened up, cut out shapes in the plastic that are slightly bigger than the holes created from the baffles.
Step 5) Use the dremel or some sandpaper to make a level yet rough surface on where the baffles were
STep 6) Prep the plastic pieces for bonding to the intake hose. Use the adhesive to secure them then wrap the hose in the insulating wrap.
Step7) Use the plastic sheet to create a new "guide" for the air before the air filter box to go a bit lower than the stock inlet. The screws are used to secure it to the existing assembly.
Step 8) Use the wire mesh in the new guide (or possibly right in front of the air filter, haven't decided yet) and secure using the plastic adhesive from earlier. This is done to protect the filter from small rocks and debris that could get sucked in by the intake
Step 9) THe side of the guide that faces the engine should have a layer of insulating wrap on it and putting some on the air box also seems like a good idea
Step 10) Re-assemble your air intake in the engine bay and drop in a K&N air filter.
Ta-da! A proper cold air intake using the existing architecture. I'm debating on the use of PVC pipe for the air inlet extension and I think I might want a few brackets to mount the lowered inlet. The main benefits of this are the insulated wrap on everything and the better noise from the lack of baffles but I think if combined with a more open exhaust it should improve airflow.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Improvements? I thought of this when looking through my garage and seeing that I had a bunch of the materials already available. I think the only parts I would have to buy would be the insulating wrap so it could be a real cheap DIY weekend job for those of us on a budget.
