DRR98

Wanted to tap out (clean) the air filter.

Then I found the sound damper inside the resonator box, just before the filter housing and removed it.

Pics...
















It increased the intake sound.

Next the resonator and snorkle get replaced with some 4" ABS to the front for some cool air.

Mr Marco

This might also be a prefilter.
Need more pics of the "other" car in your garage!

JCRDX11

Looks like a nice vette! -Drooling!

DRR98

Just a silencer Marco. It is inside the resonator, and the air only goes through the center of the rubber with the insulation outside of the rubber.


Our vert is a fun car.



But, we got the RDX in March and racked up 13k already. We like it too.


Oh yeah, OE intake mods...



Not much room here.

Wait what?



Oh no you didn't.


More later...

DRR98

I put the square end forward...

Then a coupler and this flex tube...



I slipped the end onto the oe filter box inlet, feeding the stock filter with cold air...


Below is the stock intake chamber, the square part is the resonator used to cancel noise.






You can't really tell from the drawing but there are two 90deg bends, plus it draws from the top left side of the rad, hot spot.


So I removed the 180* of bends and moved the inlet down a bit, no longer under hood huffing.

Mr Marco

Nice work with the gutters!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

a velocity stack would really compliment your home made intake system!!!!!!!!

Mr Marco

DRR98

Sniff, dab. Well at least I can hear the turbo a bit.

No sense anyone trying to adpt it to an air box for a CP-E cold air intake, huh?

Well it is shade tree, but this is rev 1, its coarse -
but it moves cold outside air* to the turbo with ~ 180* less bends. (*vs under hood hot air)

Is that so wrong?

Can you see it?


Can't get any cooler intake air than this...



You could fab up "gutter" brake cooling ducts on the other side of the fog light and cover the whole top fog grill with some s/s mesh like...




Its an improvement, no?

Rev 2- get some smooth abs tubing and silicone couplers, black out the bumper, and have new fog grill CNC cut.

Rev 3- ? CP-E with an insulated cold air box and f brake ducts?

Rev 4- Get those velocity stacks, and a loud exhaust.

DRR98

Ok, now I see the fog grill came on the '10, so not an option for '09 or older. Sorry about that chief.



Room at the lower half for brake cooling duct.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I believe the CP-E icebox is one of the best intake designs!

get the V-stack!!

DRR98

I looked at CPE's web site, why no icebox?

Where does it draw air from?

What model years?

Is it no more?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

it is no more.
they designed one for the CL. limited production for the 2nd gen TL.
I dont think the 3rd gen TL ever got one.
and limited production on the 4th gen TL.

its basically a stock looking intake system.
with the filter remaining in the stock area.
but it does have a straight path from the opening of the car, just like your home made system.
it does utilize the velocity stack on the opening of the inlet.

again, for the amount of money you spent, you mimicked the CTE Icebox for a fraction of the cost.
Good job, sir.

DRR98

But it is fed from behind the bumper cover, not the same as my ca set up.



09+ TSX Icebox Cold Air Intake


CT Engineering is proud to announce the release of their Icebox Cold Air intake for the 2009-2011 4 cyl Acura TSX. Extensive research and development has led to an Icebox for the TSX which gains up to 12 HP at the wheels and 10ft/lbs of torque. The custom molded fiberglass lower box features a carbon-fiber intake lid with inlaid CT Engineering logo. Feeding cold air into the box is a lower airhorn which draws cool air from behind the bumper and eliminates the restrictions of the stock inlet. Included with the intake is a precision machined three-piece billet aluminum intake featurings an integrated Velocity Stack, which allows for increased airflow to the engine while retaining stock airflow characteristics and factory MAF Sensor mounting position. Like all CT Engineering Intakes this Icebox is designed and engineered to limit the "Heat-Soak" experienced in "tube-and-filter" style intakes. For full details please visit your local dealer or call CT Engineering at (916)635-4550.

Application: 09-10 Acura TSX (4-Cyl Only)
Installation time: 2 Hours +/-

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^yes, but I'm not disagreeing with you or questioning you.

I LOVE YOUR HOME MADE INTAKE.
Good Job, sir!!!!!!!!

I'm planning to make an intake similar to yours, but only I will add the velocity stack.

DRR98

Thanks.

What vehicle?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

2006 acura TL.

DRR98

So inlet thru # 6? Right on.

Just stay out of deep puddles.

And no more stream crossing!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

right on!
thats exactly where I was going to put the inlet.
the OEM inlet sits pretty close to that opening #6 anyway.



you can see the velocity stack on the OEM intake system. where the blue arrows turn orange.

I dont daily drive. so stream crossing and deep puddles are always a NO!

DRR98

I've had bottom feeder experience. We had an '00 Prelude bottom feeder (sold 8/'11, sniff)

We were at a beach in Big Sur. We crossed a tiny shallow stream over concrete going in. We left the beach in a sudden downpour and got back to the tiny stream crossing, no longer so tiny, it was a lot deeper.

Got a good run up to ~ 30mph and hit the clutch and coasted thru, luckily like Clinton, I did not inhale.

DRR98

Sorry, now that I looked closer, the intake you posted won't ever draw in water, it has a nice air brake. And your velocity stack.

I'm kind a slow.

Adds some restriction with the additional bends. (pipe loss)

Do you want to keep the resonator?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^that is OEM.

I plan to change to mimic the CTE- ICE Box.
which is what you did to your RDX.


I laughed when I read the clinton-inhale joke.

DRR98

Roger that.

vaprea

Thats a legit setup.. until you forge through an inch too high of water 1 mph too fast and that duct becomes a straw. bye bye 2.3T.

Trust me I'm allll for modifying any stock / OEM configuration for performance gains!

With that said, in all reality you don't need Cold air as much as you do unrestricted air. Ill explain... The airbox in linked directly to the turbo which is spun by scorching hot exhaust air whihc heats the housing, and if that was not enough then the turbine / compressor, compresses the air i.e. creating more heat / making the Air hotter. This is why the air is then pulled through the intercooler and through then the intake ports to the cylinder chamber to be ignited. This is why your soon to be straw is not needed in my opinion.

DRR98

While your opinion might seem valid to some, the truth is the bottom of the inlet in the fog grill is 21" off the pavement on our '11 RDX.

If someone modded their RDX in this fashion, and then they pulled up to a puddle that was as your example - 22" deep.

At that point generally speaking, they will get to make a choice- keep going into the 22" deep puddle, or avoid go into the puddle.


In Cali we don't get much monsoon weather. 22" puddles do not happen. Great advice, maybe if I lived in Mumbi you point would make apply.

Aem made a bypass valve to prevent hydro-lock after we had already put their long tube intake on our Prelude, where the filter was less than 1' off the pavement. Never felt I needed it. Our vert is the about the same. Do not drive a bottom feeder into a puddle.

Since we "don't need cold air as much as unrestricted" air I guess I will save restriction and gain performance by hucking my i/c, it is way too restrictve.

Thanks for the great idea, ha.

vaprea

The bypass valve / box would be the ideal method of preventing hydrolock, yes. But in my opinion this just seems like a-lot of work, with no real gains.

Not to mention the $12,000 short block GEICO had to replace in my 2010 Lexus GS350 after the OEM air box sucked up water through the upper middle grill.

mind you this was in Florida after our last round our major hurricanes, with my speed demon mother behind the wheel. But not while forging through 20 inches of water, more like 6 inches at 40mph.

If we truly worried about getting cold air into our cylinders, the ideal application would be an intercooler sprayer. like i stated earlier, cooling the air off after its been scorched by the turbo is the goal which will truly yield power gains.

a scientifically sound approach.

DRR98

Are you now saying cold air has benefits?

Should I put my restrictive i/c back on then?

vaprea

Cold air, AFTER the turbo....

vaprea

Cold air intakes work best with naturally aspirated cars.

Since in this application the cold air is being gulped up by the intake, then immediately sent into the cylinder.

While in the turbo application the cold air you are tapping into is immediately being heated/compressed by the turbo, then cooled via the intercooler prior to being sent on to the combustion chamber.

Understand??? I wish someone holding true insight on this topic would chime in about now.... correct me if I'm wrong.

DRR98

Delta-t for the i/c is what needs to be understood.

It is only going to remove so much heat.

The colder the inlet temp the colder the outlet temp.

vaprea

I understand, in this application the mass of heat energy produced by the turbo is to great to essentially be diluted by pre chilling the air. if the air temp was -12 degrees pre turbo, i believe the temp would still declare an equilibrium across the map post turbo.

DRR98

So are you saying you think that no matter what the ambient air temp is (30-115f) the intake temp will be about the same?

30-115f are my normal daytime temps thru the year.

modrid81

I think what he is trying to say is that the turbo runs so hot that the cooler air from the fog light inlet will still be heated to the same temp as the air pulled from the short ram intake position would be. The small difference in temp from the two intake positions will not matter, as the extreme temp of the turbo will negate it.

DRR98

Ok, thanks for being patient. Ha, yes this is my first turbo.

It's hard for me to accept things I do not understand and I question easily.

If I understand correctly you are saying that no matter what the pre turbo air temp is, temp will always be about the same (very elevated) coming out of the turbo.


Is the air intake temp sensor located on the outlet side of the i/c?

My data logging air intake temps can't answer if long (cold outside air) vs short (hot underhood air) intake gains occur, due to the effect of ambient air temp on the i/c?

Maybe a surface temp probe on the i/c inlet will give up some truth?

What about the turbo cooling, does it affect the post turbo air temp much vs non cooled?

And loading must play a big part in the post turbo air temp. Like driving up the mountains and holding boost for quite a while = much more heat to the i/c?

If it is truly useless to use cold air intakes on a turbo app help me understand a couple of examples?

On TGG (#1101) this week they showed a glimpse of a quad turbo'd mid engine (body was off) with an alum air intake tube that looked about 10" dia. running all the way to the front. Quad turbos have to be a plumbing nightmare, so why go to all the trouble to add a cai and all that extra plumbing if there is no benefit?

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng.../photo_13.html


This quad turbo engine breathes through two scoops in the lower portion of the nose. They are based on jet engine intakes to maximize the flow of air into the engine without increasing the drag from the body cutting through the air.

wspy

Guys..... The colder the initial intake air is the better the engine will perform. This is true for all engines. Colder more dense air will allow more fuel to be burned to produce more power. A larger intercooler will cool the intake charge more - too big an intercooler will result in more turbo lag. Cooling a turbo (via water) is for the operation of the unit itself. The colder the initial intake charge is the less the system has to work to cool the final charge air (as it enters the throttle body). Cold air intakes are a good thing.

DRR98

Thanks wspy. I'm trying to understand.

So colder (denser) air into the turbo will be reflected on the outlet side of the turbo as well?

As in the charge air won't heat up as much?

So to use the practical example of inlet air temps of 0 vs 100F, all other things being equal (impossible) would the charge air temp before the i/c be 100 deg cooler?

wspy

Temp change across the turbo (input to output) depends on various things but all we are concerned with is that its heated due to compression. So we attempt to cool it with the intercooler, which is a heat exchanger. Some cars also spray water onto the intercooler core for added cooling. The RDX intercooler is also suseptible to heat soak because it sits on top of the hot engine. The hotter the intercooler gets the less potential it has for cooling the intake charge so the engine makes less power as a result.

Colder the ambient air the better (more power) the engine runs

DRR98

So maybe I'm on the right path with the fog grill inlet?

No one wants to do the work for a long tube. I tried 2 mfgs.

So a well insulated c/a fed box housing the filter on a short intake?

wspy what intake is on your car? C/A? Pics?

Along the idea you pointed out...
Has anyone tried to fab a water cooled primary i/c fed by a secondary fm i/c, w/12v pump, maybe an ice resv, stat, sol vlv?

I'm just wondering out loud...

I saw that bigger i/c, could that mfg/tuner make a wet i/c for an RDX?

DRR98

rdxtypej

I've been advocating this mod^ for 3 yrs but never seen anyone else do it.

This was my path to a cheap and easy TRUE cold air intake. It only works only on '10-12 models.

Besides bring ambient air temps to the stock filter housing, it also lets you hear the turbo and bov better.