Well, not really. But I am starting one tomorrow for the hell of it. I doubt it will turn out well nor do I plan on providing it to others if it does work, but it has been something I have been playing around with.

I kept hearing about the fitment issues with the RC unit and realizing the importance of the fitment, particularly since there are oil passages below it, I questioned the need to make a mold. Why not just take a stock piece, cut the openings where needed and weld in the upper chambers.

This way several designs and size chambers could be tested fairly easily, provided a way to swap the chambers is made (which is the intention).

I'm heading down to the dealer in the morning to pick up a new Upper Cover and gasket to tinker with. The cover's list price is $59 (I hope to get it for less than that), with 1/8" aluminum sheets and welding I should be able to be done for well under $100. Add in $100 for the dyno and I’ll be happy either way, more so if gains are seen. It should be a fun project…

Maybe some CAD drawings will come out of it at least, JK…

I’ll keep you informed of the progress this weekend, if I do more than just pick up the cover.

 

That is great.... Good luck for you and keep us in the loop...

 

heck ya, maybe this post will get us an update

 

Maybe contact www.portflow.com this is the guy who does all the work on most honda drag cars. Granted he port matches and mills heads but he has done a lot of work for other race teams. He seems to understand the way air needs to enter the engine. Maybe send it out to him and see what he thinks could be done with stock piece????

 

Scalbert,

Check your pm

 

what about making one out of fiberglass? you can shape the mold however you wanted and make as many as you want.

 

It was thought but there still needs to be attachment to the stock piece which is aluminum. This would require bolting in with a gasket.

In the end I decided to go aluminum with welding the upper chamber in place.

Plus, I know fiberglass could take the heat but I wasn't sure how the fitment would change with bolting to aluminum.

 

Heat ... lots of heat ....

 

carbon fiber? carbon-kevlar? would any of those handle the heat better? i think those can, but maybe not the resin. i've tried burning carbon fiber and it just turned red for an instant.

how hot could it possibly get anyhow?

 

About 200 F, so it is within the tolerance of all mentioned materials, but what is the easiest for me to work with is the key. So aluminum it will be...

 

Scalbert,

Ideas:

try this, a 20 mm deep dish style RES with Flat top and rounded inside corners..

Also the non plunom cavities should be left alone... Only the cavity above the butterfly should be augmented.

 

Exactly the idea!!! Flat walls going up from the cover plates to a flat roof contoured to the same shape as the openings in the top cover...

 

also you could do this:

1) cut the cover plate exactly into 2 pieces:
2)The lower parts that bolt on the existing gasket.
3) The upper part that would be raised by 20 mm.
4) Build the " Flat wall ring", 20 mm high.
5) Weld part 2 to 4 and Cap it with part 3...

 

I'll probably just use the cutout pieces as a template and cut new one's, but you are on the same train of thought that I have been on...

 

BTW, if I get it cut tomorrow I'll snap a few pics and post those...

 

I wish if you were close by, I would let you use the garage at my work. fully equiped with probably every thing you need.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the offer, but considering the weather ya'll just got I'm glad I'm down here.

I have a few tools in my home shop to make due for a single piece work. Well, except for the welding and no cutting torch but I should be able to make due. I figured I'd get things cut and fit together and then make use of a few machine shops for the final welding.

After that, I'll do the polishing here...

 

Now I wish I had a shop to use, my band saw blade broke on me during cutting...

But anyway I did it the hard way by drilling out the area and then cutting the joining peices, took about an hour. It is very rough right now and I'll grind it down in the morning. I will also be able to have the upper box ready tomorrow with more pics since I have it started already.

More tomorrow and forgive the quality:

 

Awesome man. Thanks for taking the initiative.

I inquired at a local shop about extrude honing the intake manifold but the length of time I'd be without the intake manifold would have been around 3-4 weeks as the shop doesn't do that work in-house. Otherwise I probably would have worked something out with them.

I guess I could always get the supercharger, but why waste ~$6k on a car that's FWD and known to have transmission problems? I'd rather save that money for the same mod but a different future car.

Anyway, keep us informed of your progress!

ps - check your PM in a minute.

 

I just finished smoothing the edges for the most part and started the polishing process. Now the last this is the top chambe which I am debating on how large and if I should take it over the egdes (the upper chamber being wider than the lower one) nearly filling up the opening in the engine cover (plastic one):



On the car:

 

Scalbert: Very impressive man! I rememeber the issue of hood clearance with first chamber made. I have thought of a hood scoop to allow the extra clearance needed to have the larger chamber and I think it could be fabricated fairly easily from existing hood scoops available! Lets hear a "Charge" for Scalbert!

 

great job man deff keep us updated!

 

oh...i see what you're saying...i think it's good idea...as doug seemed to indicate thAT more was achieved by a larger unit but
hitting the hood was a problem...your way if im understanding what your talking about could achieve more volume...i.e. more hp/lb.ft. with out being taller...and if thats too much....well...maybe you could temp install ...dyno...check results then decide weather you need to baffle that area or make a new cover

 

is this what you mean????roughly

 

Close, but I really can't cover up the retaining bolts. Nor can I cover part of the plastic shroud. But below is close to what I am working on. I've got the two bends done and am working on shaping the bottom of the walls to fit the contour of the plate.

But now due to rain I won't be able to do any more on it tonight (my dogs also use that room and the I doubt they would like the tools running not to mention the mess). More tomorrow evening though.

 

Instead of a hood scoop, would it be possible to just create a powerdome sort of how the stock Corvette's hood looks? Much more subtle that way.

 

Steve, would there be any purpose in fitting a small scoop onto the hood, and then building the res into that?

 

I wouldn't see a reason to go that far. We haven't see these gains yet and a scoop would take quite a bit more with propably minimal gains, if any. There has to be a maximum size limit to where the gains stop, just IMO...

 

Everything is cut and molded now. Tomorrow I will cut down the height (I need to drop it to 1-1/8" above the stock lid) and will plane the top of each wall and hopefully be cutting the lid. Next step will be to tack all walls and the lid in place until it fits right. Then it is off to the welding shop to all of the seams.

I am surprised of easily this is going now and it might be ready for initial testing by this weekend. I had thought of polishing it but I think I want it lower key now. I may go with powder coating it red, blue or the gun metal grey (original color), any votes??

Below are more pics, again excuse the quality as these are taken with my digital video camera. Also the walls are just taped together right now as evidenced by the black electrical tape. But I ground all of the matting surfaces down well and everything is fitting together nicely.

 

Great Work

 

Wow man, where do I sign up to have your babies? That looks good!

 

that's awesome Scalbert, looks good, let us know how th ewelding goes....

I would go with powder coated blue, but i"m partial to blue....

 

Looks really good!
Where did you get the aluminum stock? How much?

Btw, I think it would look best in gun metal grey!

 

You can get this stock at Home Depot or similar. It comes in various widths, this is 2" and 36" long. You can get thicknesses in either 1/16" or 1/8" which is what I am using. Price is like $3 each.

Now I need to track down some 1/8" x 6" x 12" for the lid today. But I need to stop by a machine shop anyway for some work they are doing for my office and hopefully they might have some to spare.

BTW, I'm feeling a little partial to the grey as my intake is also grey. Plus it would keep it somewhat low key and less noticeable.

 

I'm going to laugh my freaking azz off if you manage to pull this off and get some nice gains! I mean that in a good respectful way though!

I mean, this is super ghetto but I think its really awesome that you are willing to try something like this out to see if it works! Its stuff like this that makes working on imports so much more fun than doing all the typical stuff on a domestic that everyone and their grandma has been doing for the last 20 years.

I really hope this works out man! Keep up the great work and thanks for all the pictures and updates!

 

Amen to that. Hook it up to a dyno if you don't burn all the rubber off your tires on your way there.

 

Scalbert is our hero....

Best luck for him....

 

You won't be the only one to break out in laughter if it works, I may need counseling.

But the intention is to make it look as stock as possible, or at least near the quality of the production RES. Which is why all of the seams will be welded and then smoothed out with the whole unit powder coated. I hope that if a novice opened the hood they would not be able to spot it or know it wasn't factory.

We'll see though, it hasn't cost much and has been a fun project.

 

You are my hero!

 

You know I was thinking on my way home today -
what if you welded some sort of vane in it at just the right angle or attitude, you might be able to create a cool whistling sound at high rpm as the air rushes by it. Would scare the crap outta someone racing you.