DIY Air Intake.

[crazy.ivan]

I hope I don't get shot down in a hail of fire if this is a dumb idea.

I have a EK1 civic and I have very serious plans of an engine swap, turbo and more, when i can get some money. Till then, I am thinking of doing a DIY air intake. I did alot of research and planning, and I have come up with a pretty much free option i like a lot, but I have two questions first.

I wont explain the details of my plan, but the result will be effectively a small reverse bonnet scoop on the underside of the engine bay. I know where and how, I know it will be high enough not clip on anything, I know how to do it all. My question is this:
Will an intake sitting below the car, facing forward, collect too much more dirt and dust and pollution than any other forward facing intake?
My concern is that it might be low enough to get a lot of crap in it that would clog the filter and end up reducing air intake instead of increasing it.

Also, Im a little paranoid about the intake doing damage to my engine by dirt getting in.

Can an excess of dirt in the filter cause it to let more dirt through to the engine? or am I imagining things?

[4age8u]

yes it can damage what i would do is go get a k&n pod or panel filter and if your paranoid about it getting cloged..just wash it everyday lol

[burner42]

i think you might want to place a mesh at least of some sort, just to prevent anything such as pebbles go up there

[crazy.ivan]

Yeh, the mesh is a great idea.

About the washable filter, I was told that washable filters were a lot less effective and let more dirt through than stock, by a fair few people.

so you really think that if it picked up too much dust it would get through? as opposed to just clogging the filter (i have no problem with changing the filter every little while).

Thanks for the advice.

BTW, it is a good 20cm off the ground... so its not exactly going to be sucking stuff up... only stuff thats already in the air would be a problem.

[crazy.ivan]

I have another option. If i place the intake pipe directly in front of the headers facing forward, and then run the pipe back past the engine and fan and up into the bottom of the filter box. It will be a lot higher than my old idea, and will get cleaner air in, but the downside will be that the pipe will run past the headers. If this is the case, do you think the heat from the engine and headers would heat up the pipe and hinder the performance? or would the speed its sucking air in the pipe, plus the air passing over the outside of the pipe, cancel out the heat?

[Red_EG4]

Have you had a look in the DIY section?
there is atleast one for this kind of thing.

[crazy.ivan]

Yeh, I have looked at some DIY posts and things.

I just need some advice as to whether or not the heat of the engine will heat up the intake pipes too much, and hence the air.

I did find a DIY about a temp gauge... i might have a look into that...

[burner42]

it's true that washable filter don't stop as much dirt, but compared to a stock unit, i find that the engine sounds way better with my K&N, plus throttle response is better, a cheap repco one stops more dirt, but also let less air through

[Moey.C]

ivan i think u are being a little paranoid lol.

[crazy.ivan]

Yeh I probably am, lol.

Well, after more deliberation, I did it. $0 mod and I could feel the difference in throttle response straight away.

What I ended up doing was removing the air box and bumper, taking out the stock intake pipe and big box attachment (resonator?). I then just sawed the intake pipe off at the bottom of the U bend, and but the air-box end of the pipe back. This means the pipe is now half the length, only a slight curve and is taking cool air from a big pocket in the front bumper.

So I ended up tossing out both my other ideas, and did a simpler and much more effective mod. What do you guys think about that?

Also, I have read people saying that the improvement in throttle response and gain disappears over time because of the ECU resets slowly.
Does that mean the difference I can feel will go away? or become less noticeable? please explain with an in-depth answer.

Thanks

[burner42]

pics? i'm interested in seeing what it looks like

[g_kn]

all the trouble for such little gains.
Good luck anyway

[crazy.ivan]

all the trouble for such little gains.
Good luck anyway

Dude, thanks for being so harsh and belittling...

I will post some pics in a few mins...

[Moey.C]

Dude, thanks for being so harsh and belittling...

I will post some pics in a few mins...

lol dw bout him

i know heaps of people that spend heaps of time just doing little things to their cars which they love.

[crazy.ivan]

lol dw bout him

i know heaps of people that spend heaps of time just doing little things to their cars which they love.

Thanks. I guess I get a little annoyed with people who don't realize that we all don't have enough money to do big mods just yet.

[burner42]

exactly, you can only do mods that you can afford, each people have different taste

[chauster]

Shouldn't you be scared of getting hydro-locked?

aka water in engine?

[DvSnGuYeN]

I did the same thing with my intake... cutting the resonator pipe in half, and using that as the extension from the air box to under/behind the bumper... much more noticeable if you have a hole in your bumper to feed the cold air into the pipe, into the air box, into the throttle body... lol... you get the jist...

and there's no hydro-lock, unless you hit a creek or something...

[redefine]

Shouldn't you be scared of getting hydro-locked?

aka water in engine?


doubt it. for that to get hydrolocked you'd have to drive through a 50cm puddle. unlikely at best, and little splashes arent gonna do anything, cause air is easier to suck then water.

[chauster]

is OP from syd or melbounre?

cause in melbourne it buckets down like...knee high level or water once or twice a year.

[redefine]

is OP from syd or melbounre?

cause in melbourne it buckets down like...knee high level or water once or twice a year.

since when?? i've been in melb since i was like 2, and i've only seen it get knee high once.

[drsilliez]

^^ lol i agree. it rains but it doesnt "flood" to knee high level.....

edit: to OP, pics of what you did :)

[crazy.ivan]

Ok, pictures.

So I will explain the workings of it, just in case you don't know what the intake looks like in detail (I didn't till I removed it).

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakestandard.jpg

That is the intake pipe. the air runs around a piece of the air box, into the top left hand side, down the pipe, past and opening to the big white tank (resonator?), then around the bottom curve and up to the top right hand end of the pipe, which attaches to the air box.

I realized that this set up was mostly to reduce noise, and as a side effect, reduced performance. The resonator and covered mouth both serve this purpose. So I got rid of them, lol.

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakecut.jpg

I cut it right on the U bend, and put back the air box end. This changed the set up to having a massive 3" intake mouth, and draws very cold and clean air from a big pocket in the bumper.

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakemouth.jpg

Works a treat, great induction noise and throttle response, and the best bit, costs nothing.

Hope thats helpful.

PS. How does one get a Post Quality point?

[joyride]

i made a DIY CAI that had the pod filter sitting where the resonator sits (on an EG sedan). never had a problem with water/dirt etc.
i dont see why your one wouldnt work.

PQ point is given by members if/when they think you done something good.

[crazy.ivan]

i made a DIY CAI that had the pod filter sitting where the resonator sits (on an EG sedan). never had a problem with water/dirt etc.
i dont see why your one wouldnt work.

Yeh, I really don't foresee any water or dirt issues... mostly because I don't intend on driving through knee deep water in a civic... I will leave that to the bigger cars.

[crazy.ivan]

Oh, come on. Not a single PQ point?

Wasn't it a helpful and informative post?

[TheSaint]

iv seen a similar setup on a Subaru Gen3 Liberty B4 Twin Turbo

we made a small alloy scoop under the fender that fed air straight into a CAI and it pulled some nice gains too =)

[MWAKU]

lol.. its nothing new everyone knows what the reso does and removing it creates a greater induction noise so its nothing new

good post but, maybe someone mite give you a pq point lol

[crazy.ivan]

What, does it like, taint your name if you put a point on a post that isn't brilliant?

Everyone sounds almost afraid to PQ point anything... at least, thats how it seems so far.

[drsilliez]

dont ask for PQ points. if someone think its useful, then theyll give you one. ive been on ozhonda for years (reading stuff and learning), hardly post, dont have a PQ post, but im not bothered. who cares....

its only a online car forum. just because you have a point, doesnt mean u know more than others or anything...etc

[crazy.ivan]

I guess thats more my point. I want a point so the message goes away from the main page. But I'm not hung up on it.

Yeh, its about the cars!

[aznalex]

interesting post

[tiksie]

You can close that message dude, but you will still be a newcomer.

The more you ask for PQ points, the less chance you have of getting one.

[TheSaint]

Ok, pictures.

So I will explain the workings of it, just in case you don't know what the intake looks like in detail (I didn't till I removed it).

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakestandard.jpg

That is the intake pipe. the air runs around a piece of the air box, into the top left hand side, down the pipe, past and opening to the big white tank (resonator?), then around the bottom curve and up to the top right hand end of the pipe, which attaches to the air box.

I realized that this set up was mostly to reduce noise, and as a side effect, reduced performance. The resonator and covered mouth both serve this purpose. So I got rid of them, lol.

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakecut.jpg

I cut it right on the U bend, and put back the air box end. This changed the set up to having a massive 3" intake mouth, and draws very cold and clean air from a big pocket in the bumper.

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt158/crazy_ivan/Intakemouth.jpg

Works a treat, great induction noise and throttle response, and the best bit, costs nothing.

Hope thats helpful.

PS. How does one get a Post Quality point?

i pretty much did the same thing but with a stock VTIR integra intake arm - which has a larger diameter

i fitted it to the hole where the airbox used to sit in my EG civic, than cable tied it really tight into position facing forwards under the car, i tested it with an air compressor from a meter away from the front of the car and it works really well, it does collect a little bit of dust but not enough to get stressed over

it sits just above the lip line of the car, even better now i have a front lip =)

ill put up pics next time i am out working on the car

[lefty]

I did similar to my Accord and drove in the rain no probs.
ps I'll give u point if you give me one lol

see link below
http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2558572#post2558572

[TheSaint]

I did similar to my Accord and drove in the rain no probs.
ps I'll give u point if you give me one lol

see link below
http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2558572#post2558572

haha almost exactly the same as mine =)

point given =p

[crazy.ivan]

Update: just for the info, 7 something months on after I did this mod, and no problems with water or dirt at all.

And the induction noise is pretty sweet =D.