custom aliminium air box

[n/a]

hey guys, made a custom aliminium airbox, but i noticed it heats up pretty easy.. any big problems with this or a way to reduce the heat from the box?

thanks.

[bennjamin]

its the material which is the problem ~ since its quite thin the heat transfers to the intake air more so than say a stock airbox or thicker walled airbox

[SKREMN]

i made mine outa fiberglass its doesnt heat up and easy to work with

[Project R]

Bang for your bucks - make a custom airbox out of cardboard.

Its easy and it works

[sivic]

yeah, and as soon as it gets humid or wet you get a nice paper mashe coating round your filter lol
but seriously, as far as metals go aluminium insulates quite well.
but if you're really concerned about it you could glue down a layer of flameproof insulation foam on either side of the aluminium. that should stop any heat transfer. its fairly solid stuff. i think they used to sell it at clark rubber

[Slow96GSR]

... but seriously, as far as metals go aluminium insulates quite well...

Not really. That's why they use it for heat sinks and parts to draw heat from the components. It soaks up heat, any heat. If you want the air to be cooler but have a lighter air box use a carbon fiber box or thicker fiberglass. If the fiberglass is too thin it will flex and can collapse when heat is added. You can get carbon fiber off Ebay or locally and do the fabrication yourself. It works like fiberglass.

[n/a]

crap.. i spent a good 2hrs making that box fit perfect.. now i'm hearing it's rubbish.. damn thick aliminium.. i noticed though sometimes it's hot and times it's not at all, thrashing the car on both occasions..

[ginganggooly]

I did a bit of experimentation with a custom airbox design. I made a template out of cardboard, and did some dyno runs. I lost about 6kw peak over the modified stock airbox.

Heat soak wasn't an issue because the bonnet was up and the dyno fan was blowing cool air over the engine bay. I don't think the air was turbulent, because the pod filter was enclosed in a box, but the carboard airbox didn't have the smooth taper of the stock airbox along the joins. The only thing missing was a bit of pipe sticking out the bottom of the box to pick up air from behind the splash guard.

After reading up a bit about it, i think it may have something to do with having the corect length of intake pipe...

[BiGANG]

i wouldnt say your aluminium airbox is rubbish mate. I would get that insulation form clark rubber that the guy was talking about. I did this on my crx when i had it, I actually made a partition with metal and stuck this stuff to the inside of it. Worked a treat. Its pretty thick, looks a bit like foil on one side and has foam in the middle with a adhesive layer on the other side. Pretty cheap too.

[Slow96GSR]

It's a good idea but really the stock airbox does just fine with a better filter. If you want performance get a intake system and screw the air box.

[n/a]

yea i need to partition some parts off, worried about rain getting through to the filter..

i was hoping the pod would add some power, i know there's a definite loss in low range but i swear my Si has Vtec now!

what's the main difference with my current setup and an intake system?

[n/a]

here's a pic of how it is.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/hotboxcivic/EF3/DSC02145.jpg

it's bolted on my PVC piping to my stock intake arm. anyone see what i could do to improve it?

[jun]

how thick is the aliminium sheet? i think its too thin .. i m using 0.8mm sheet on my ek4, 1mm will be better

[[ricer]]

looks heavy
i think the all that extra weight would probably equate to the same power loss as heat...
narh i dont know

[Nuttz]

i think you shouldnt worry about it. IMO the box is just there to stop your pod from sucking in warm engine bay air. Eventhough the box does get warm the radiated heat from the box will not be as great as if the pod was sucking in straight enigne bay air. Most of its air will come from the hole underneath the box.

[jun]

i think you shouldnt worry about it. IMO the box is just there to stop your pod from sucking in warm engine bay air. Eventhough the box does get warm the radiated heat from the box will not be as great as if the pod was sucking in straight enigne bay air. Most of its air will come from the hole underneath the box.

i agree ~ thats wat heat shield use for ~ even u use carbon fabric heat shield it will still heat up by the engine bay's heat ... so, dun worry abt wat material u use, unless it can stop the pod suck in the engine bay's heat, that will be fine ~ :)

by the way, remember to fit a tunnel from the front bumper to the inside of the heat shield, it will give the pod more cold air

[SKREMN]

here is a pic of my box
I have no battery here so that makes it a bit easyer
fiberglass transfers no heat and it sits shut with the bonnet
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b164/skremnLS/motor.jpg

[PeZ]

So is it proven that an aluminium air box does improve performance?

[n/a]

the aliminium is pretty thin, i didn't really think that i'd need a thick sheet.. yea the main objective was to stop all that engine bay heat going straight to the pod.

the airbox is actually really light, i'd say 500grms or so.

SKREMN thats a nice setup you have, btw where is your battery?

PEZ as for performance.. hard to really say, honestly it's a piece of mind knowing that the POD isn't directly sucking in hot engine bay air. *cuckoo!

[SKREMN]

the battery is in the boot
put it in there to clear up space but also its a deep cycle optima yellow top
i want it to be close to my amps and subs

[Dxs]

nice box skremn.. and ur bay is ****en clean..

so did u get a fibreglass kit and just make two sides and glue a rubber seal?

wanna give a more thorough run down?

[SKREMN]

my engine is heeps cleaner now less wiering and some braided lines
i made a mould of the guard witht he fiberglass and then stuck two flat sheats onto up and cut out a hole
then i painted it black to look good
the rubber has pinch well in it so it slips on and off

[egSi]

shit u guys have nice lil setups but my mate had a similar setup and it got hot quick, but surely there is a way to 'insulate' the alluminium. maybe some heat retardant paint?

it looks good tho man.

btw ef si :thumbsup:

[n/a]

SKREMN did you DIY the battery to the boot? really tempted to do that.. engine bay needs a good spring clean :p

thanks trav, gotta love the ZC in the EF.

[SKREMN]

yer did it my self
pretty easy
just connect the battery lead to the starter motor and the starter the the fuse box and remove heaps of unuses distributers and connectors for the battery connections

[n/a]

what type of wiring did you use?

[BrianC]

Hey, some of u guys are suggesting that aluminium gets really hot and so on. But from what i gather, aluminium dissipates heat quite efficiently, which means even if it gets heated up, the heat dissipates and it cools down very quickly. Im pretty sure some race cars use aluminiums box's because of this very reason.

Brian

[tinkerbell]

race cars use carbon fibre...

[n/a]

race cars are gay..

[n/a]

sorry to bring an old topic to the top, but with fibre glass mouldings, could i use a fibre glass kit from bunnings and make a perfect enclosure with that? or would the fibre glass be too thin? also any gayass gases given off fibre glass when heated?

[n/a]

btw, this is off topic but anything wrong with using zinc as an intake arm? as in zinc gives off "such and such" when heated.

reason for asking is i was using PVC pipping which is really bad when heated for my intake arm so i was wanting to get aliminium instead, but can't find anything ali pipes that are 3".. unless of course someone can tell me where to get some

[iamhappy46]

Aluminium dissapates heat very quickly and is actually a good material for it. That is also why they use aluminium on intercoolers and heat sinks, because if you get a match and heat up a small section on aluminium, 10cm from the match the aluminium is cold

If your really worried, get some ice cubes and make it a chilled aluminium air box ;)

[94vtirozguy]

what about getting it HPC coated ?

[incoming]

u can get ceramic spray paint..
places like bunnings/repco/supercheap should sell it

cant rem where i got mine

[n/a]

If your really worried, get some ice cubes and make it a chilled aluminium air box ;)

i was thinking more like dry ice :eek:

can anyone answer my question about the fibre glass and zinc pipping?

[dundas]

hey nothin about da zinc n fibreglass.
but i used aluminium and i just sprayed it with heat resistant paint. works well ^^

[iamhappy46]

Dry Ice = Carbon Dioxide entering your intake... Very good at putting the combustion flame out ;)

[ginganggooly]

Aluminium dissapates heat very quickly and is actually a good material for it. That is also why they use aluminium on intercoolers and heat sinks, because if you get a match and heat up a small section on aluminium, 10cm from the match the aluminium is cold

If your really worried, get some ice cubes and make it a chilled aluminium air box ;)


correct me if i'm wrong, but i'd have thought the conductive properties of aluminium would make it less than ideal as a material to use for an air intake.
the heat you get with an air intake is mostly from sources other than friction i.e. the header and the series of fiery explosions taking place within the combustion chamber.
which is exactly what makes aluminium great for coolers- it allows for quicker equalibrium between the hot air on the inside of the intercooler and the cool air on the outside.

so- you want something that insulates the cold air that you've just made ducting for against the hot underbonnet air.
maybe coating the aluminium would be the go...?

[SKREMN]

sorry to bring an old topic to the top, but with fibre glass mouldings, could i use a fibre glass kit from bunnings and make a perfect enclosure with that? or would the fibre glass be too thin? also any gayass gases given off fibre glass when heated?
you can make the fiberglass as think as you wish
the glass want give of any fumes untill it is really heats up/burning so you have no problems there
the fiberglass resists all heat and donst retain any
it stays normal
its very close to carbon fiber

buy a kit from bunnigs or if you want better and cheaper to go a fiberglass shop
its easy stuff to work with but very messy if you not used to it

[iamhappy46]

Aluminium dissapates heat very quickly in ALL directions, whereas steel and other metals conduct and retain heat.

Aluminium uses the available cold air(from say, a CAI) and will cool the alloy sheet metal. this would greatly reduce the amount of heat being drawn into the intake pipe.

Keep in mind, that intercooler piping is often aluminium and is often routed past sources of high heat going from the intercooler to the throttle body. Yet the air does not get warmed(unless it goes near a hot turbo)

The inlet manifold is often alloy and the heat from the head/cooling system does warm the manifold up but I doubt the engine ingests 70 degree intake air after being warmed by the head/cooling system...



correct me if i'm wrong, but i'd have thought the conductive properties of aluminium would make it less than ideal as a material to use for an air intake.
the heat you get with an air intake is mostly from sources other than friction i.e. the header and the series of fiery explosions taking place within the combustion chamber.
which is exactly what makes aluminium great for coolers- it allows for quicker equalibrium between the hot air on the inside of the intercooler and the cool air on the outside.

so- you want something that insulates the cold air that you've just made ducting for against the hot underbonnet air.
maybe coating the aluminium would be the go...?

[n/a]

ok guys, thanks skremn looks like i'll have some fibre glass fun later on.

[saxman]

you can make the fiberglass as think as you wish
the glass want give of any fumes untill it is really heats up/burning so you have no problems there
the fiberglass resists all heat and donst retain any
it stays normal
its very close to carbon fiber

buy a kit from bunnigs or if you want better and cheaper to go a fiberglass shop
its easy stuff to work with but very messy if you not used to it

fiberglass itself resists heat and isn't really affected by it, however, the resin used to make the piece can be. Some fiberglass resin(mainly the cheaper stuff you're likely to find at a hardware store, etc) will start to go soft at like 150 degrees f... a temp easily achieved in the engine compartment during a hot day.

[ginganggooly]

You want the material of the CAI to not transfer underbonnet heat to the cool air rushing up the intake. Bearing this in mind, you'll find that aluminium pretty decent as a thermal conductor, meaning if you heat up one side -for arguments sake lets say the side of the ducting that is facing the engine bay- the thermal energy will very quickly pass to the other side -the side that is facing the cool fresh CAI air.


useful link for picking a material to construct your airbox/snorkel out of... try to avoid using things like asbestos though ;)
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

[saxman]

note to self: don't make charge pipes out of silver