A home made cold air intake may be vulnerable to allowing water into the engine if the car is driven through standing water. This could cause catastrophic engine damage.
OK, ram air is something different than just a CAI. If there’s a ram effect, you’re absolutely right.
I actually did JUST think of that this morning, and yes, that would be VERY bad! I’m going to have to plan a lot of this out carefully…
Thanks! That setup looks really professional! After I get my paychecks etc. if I think I can pull this off, I’ll post pictures and tell everyone how it goes! I do like the meaner sound haha
Good advice! I think the PVC and ductwork is the best idea yet, I’m doing a lot of research so if I do it, it will probably be within the next month or so, I’ll definitely post how it goes!
Well, if the noise drives me nuts, I’m definitely not going to destroy the original air box etc. So if I do it, I’ll post and tell how it goes. Thanks!
I thought of the fact that ram air would be different than CAI before I posted and went back to be sure the OP was talking about ram air. But I still fell any reduction in pumping losses would be miniscule without changes to the intake ports and perhaps the cam(s).
I’m just acknowledging the pumping loss question. I guess I like a good debate.
To Americar, as I understand the OP’s intent, the intake of the snorkle would be off some orafice in the front of the car, probably the radator support, foreward of puddle splash. Typically these entrys are placed below the engine intake manifold and allowance for water drainage is incorporsted into the ductwork.
That setup is not a cold-air-intake system. It’s hot-air-intake system. The air filter is located under the hood where all the engine heat is. All that heat gets pulled into the engine, dropping the performance of the engine.
Tester
I agree, FoDaddy. Cold air intake is part of the premise behind nitrous oxide, too.
Remember that race cars aren’t street cars. All cars come with a system for heating the air that goes into the intake and it always works to provide about 30% heated air. Some cars will stall without it. It wouldn’t be installed on 100% of all cars unless it helped.
Pleasedodgevan makes a good point. Cold air intake is desirable where power is the primary goal. However, if the OP needs to maintain some of the characteristics of a street car (like pass emissions or idle normally), then lowering the temperature of the intake may interfere with that.
I doubt anyone other than the engine designer can say for certain exactly what ill effects will arise at any given cold air inlet.
Perhaps the OP won’t even notice it, but he should be aware that inlet air temp is another variable that he’ll be disturbing.
Cold air is never supposed to go into an engine.
??
I’ve been running a CAI on my car for years and it works great! I have yet to have a problem with my car.
My first thought is that the amount of work you’d need to do, in relation to the gains you’d get out of it, makes this a bad idea. Especially as much of your CAI would have to be fabricated by you vs. bolting on an aftermarket system.
On the other hand, this might be one of those things that would be beneficial to you, in the long run, to do. I remember a while ago, I had a Honda Nighthawk 250 with a bad trans. Seeing as I wanted a bigger displacement engine anyways, I thought: “Heck, I’ll just buy a CB450 engine and bolt it in place…I mean, all I have to do is fabricate some mounts…” (plus welding, re-wiring, and a whole bunch of other stuff that was not anticipated.)
As a result, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about that bike…and I probably cleared $0.50/hr on my labor! The upside is that now, I could probably field-strip a Nighthawk blindfolded…I suspect you might find out a similar fact regarding your Saturn.
(At the very least, you’ll learn that the dirtiest word in the English language is a verb beginning with “f”: “fabricate!” (The other, shorter “f-word” doesn’t come close…)
no cold air intakes are made out of metal not rubber or plastic, and are positioned to where they get a good strong airflow coming from eather under the car or from inside one of the wheel wells, the rubber and plastic from hoses and stock intakes conduct and hold the heat in longer then a metal cold air intake
The highest pressure point on an automobile is at the joint between the windshield and hood. Do some research into “cowl induction”. It’s what the NASCAR boys have used for decades…
There are plenty of cars from the 60’s that ran fine without heated air from the exhaust. If you’re refering to the duct that reroutes some hot exhaust gases back into the air cleaner assembly, that was done for emissions purposes.
To minimize pumping losses the “delta” between air pressure at the intake and at exhaust would need to be as big as possible, in favor of intake (effectively “pumping downhill.”)
So in addition to a RAI, put some fluted exhaust tips on that Saturn! (Yes, I’m well aware there’s a 99.44% chance the theoretical gains will be too small to be measured!)
If you’re refering to the duct that reroutes some hot exhaust gases back into the air cleaner assembly, that was done for emissions purposes.
I mentioned it in case the OP lives in a state that checks emissions.
Also, in may of the cars in the 60s/70s, if the exhaust cross-over passage that curculated hot gasses in the intake manifold under the carb got blocked, your driveability plumented.