Well I was bored today, and I was thinking about cleaning my air filter. Then I decided to change it instead and integrate a velocity funnel to it. Then I decided to get some ducting from home depot and stumbled on a plastic funnel shaped like a velocity funnel that fits into the 4" ducting.

Basically what I did was take a normal Spectre air filter from autozone and yanked out the bottom rubber base which left a giant hole almost 5" in diameter that fit the velocity funnel fairly well. So then I got some JB weld and stuck the funnel to the base of the filter as you can see below.




Now for the ducting I used dryer duct and this diffuser that was next to the ducting that I modified. It's meant to hook to the duct, so I just mounted it the way the instructions specified.



Next was making a transition from the other side of the duct to fit into the end of the filter. I used my old filter and used a razor to cut off the bottom part of the filter, then stuffed a 3"-2.5" coupler into it and used black silicone to smooth out the transition a little more and to help keep it together, even though yo can pull it out if you tried cause it's crammed in there so damn tight.


Notice how it fits into the end of the filter





That's it for now. I have it mounted on the car at the moment and I'll take pics of it later.
I'll let you know tomorrow night about the performance, but I will say, compared to the dirty filter I had in there, this is night and day.
Normally to do a smokey burn out and not just a little chirp I have to do a little brake torque and then pop my foot off the brake. When I took it out for a spin after I installed it I stopped at a stop sign then just put my foot to the floor without a brake torque and all I got was wheel spin and once it started to smoke I let off a little and it screamed right to second gear.
It was a lower temp than it has been lately when I took the car out so it's probably a bit of both temp and the new intake set-up.

Noise level under acceleration is only slightly more...barely noticeable. The main noise difference is at idle. Now the normal intake hum on my engine is amplified about twice as loud lol. I'll take vid tomorrow to show you guys what I mean. If I take the filter off, the hum goes back tot the subtle drone, when I put it back on it gets loud again. It sounds like a ships horn off in the distance lol.

Low end throttle response is improved with this also.

But like I said, I'm going to update tomorrow with more info on the differences. I'll be driving an hour on the highway to the airport and an hour back when I pick up my wife, so I'll track gas mileage also.

 

Total cost was about $75 which included

$25 filter
$20 Ducting and Diffuser
$20 Velocity Funnel
$5 Coupler
$5 JB Weld

 

 

its all in ur head...

is it a cold air or short ram...

weapon-r already has a ram air kit...all u would need is a heat shield if urs a short ram...

 

I dont understand why you have the black thing in the top of the filter. This whole thing is confusing.

 

u see the at the top of the filter their is a cut out and they have inserted the filtration pad thing. so he mad a funnel for that too. which is imo useless bc its gonna grab the air from the side before it grabs it through the top.

my

 

if u want something like that i would highly recommend the ram air kit from weapon r

 

or get the comptech ice box

 

I don't find any kit on the market that satisfies all of what I wanted.
I was going for a venturi effect, often seen in carbs.
Funnelign the air gradually into a smaller space increases velocity but decreases pressure, then expanding it again causes it to get the pressure back but loose some velocity. the air is being rammed in at the front bumper area, then rammed in again into the front of the filter, I'm keeping the air velocity coming from the bumper to the filter as high as possible. Then the air looses velocity once it gets to the filter, which means it essentially piles up, but it gains pressure back. The filter straitens out the air a bit and then it all gets funneled again at the base of the filter, this time smoother and more gradual. With the ram air and funnel effect bringing plenty of outside air to the filter you're goign to have more air there for it to pull in if it can or if it needs it. Now the reason for the velocity funnel at the bottom of the filter serves two purposes. To take the air that's coming in from all different directions, which is partially straightened out by the cone filter, and it helps gradually straighten it int he direction it needs to go...think about why equal length turbo manis and headers are slightly more efficient(granted you're working with heat pulses, but in an intakes case you're working with essentially vacuum pulses from the valves pulling in the air). Now that this air is as organized as possible and also moving faster as a result of the velocity funnel at the filter base it is starting to loose pressure again, buuut it has a large amount of velocity to make up for this, along with the aid of the ram air effect to help keep that velocity. Once it makes it's way to the plenum the air expands again and gains it's pressure back. In the plenum there is not as much of a need for velocity, as the air only needs to travel down a few inches of runners and past the valves.

People bypass their TB coolant and also use thermal gaskets and spacers for the TB and runners, as did I, to decrease the temp of the TB and plenum, it also helps straiten out the air more with slightly more distance to travel, just like a gun...the longer the barrel the more accurately you can hit the target with the same weapon.
These mods don't do much for hp or tq at all, but many of us still do them.
The point is to get everything possible out of the motor that you can and make it as efficient as you can...in most cases not draining your bank account, as all of those mods listed are relatively cheap.
If you get 2 hp from one, a coule from another, 1 from yet another, you've got several hp...for less then many people pay for the overpriced intakes that people buy that still don't use all the elements that make intakes more efficient....
Why not make my own incorporating the elements that actually work...for less cost? I mean, when you buy a basic intake(tube and filter)...that's all it is, a tube and filter. A mandrel bent tube is a mandrel bent tube, as long as the dimensions and bends are roughly the same amount. A cone filter vs another cone filter will show some differences, but paying an extra $30-$50 for another filter that give you 1 hp more that I'm just going to cut up isn't realistic for me. Especially since one of those expensive filters incorporates the velocity funnel at the base and at the top/front, just as I did, for much less. K&N's may flow a little better than an autozone filter for the first week or so, then the oil that you put on it attracts the dirt and grim as well as fly paper...and then you're spending money on oil and cleaning it more often.

Anyway, I'll get pics today, I've been busy the last couple.

 

so get a comptech icebox

it has a velocity stack in the bumper area and then again right behind the filter. the filters opening is 4" and the velocity stack is their and then goes into a 3" pipe(on my tl-s)

that big 75-80deg. bent tube with the velocity stack on their is whats in the bumper area. the other velocity stack is attached to the filter(somewhat inside it where u would clam it down at the end

 

Considering I just made this intake for a total cost of around $80. Mine has a funnel for the bumper, the front of the filter, and the base, which comes up to be one more than the icebox. The filter I use is a cone mesh with the corrugation design that straightens the air a little more than the foam filter pictured with the icebox. Also, the comptech sits in a box, which has advantages and disadvantages. The box helps sheild a little bit of heat for about 5 minutes at operating temps, then, since it's plastic, becomes a heat soak and the only way to get fresh air is from the front bumper, and having only one point where air can enter isn't as efficient if you're moving slow.
Also, when you are not forcing the air directly into the filter, as in my application, the air can go anywhere, many of times not even into the filter...which is the only reason they use a box in the comptech application...this works well and causes a venturi-like effect as I descibed earlier, but to me it's not worth paying $200 more for a new one or 100-150 more for a used one.
Considering my homemade one took me all of a half hour or so and 1/4 of the cost to do the same thing comptech did, just have the ability to still soak up some ambient air and not be confined to the box, I'd say I didn't do to bad...
So why would I spend all that money for something I can replicate using the stock airbox?
I chose not to confine it to an airbox because I have no fender liner so there's plenty of unheated ambient air in the area to pull from. Also, with the position of my filter, the battery is essentially a heat sheild, and I can beat on the car in hot AZ weather, pop the hood and touch the filter and first half the intake tube and it is either cool to the touch or luke warm. The ambient around the filter location was always much cooler than the ambient air even around the throttle body. I found that it was hotter just holding my hand over the second half of the intake piping than it was anywhere near the filter.
One problem I ran into with intake efficiency was the heat soaking of the intake piping itself, as there was no natural heat shielding for it.
So what I did was wrap the entire piping with reflective heat wrap. I also did the throttle body coolant bypass, installed the thermal TB and manifold to runner gaskets along with the spacers.
Before I did these the top of the manifold was smoking hot to touch, now it gets hot sometimes but I can actually touch it comfortably.
Before the intake piping was pretty hot to the touch, now with the wrapping and coolant bypass this area, even the closest part to the engine is luke warm at all times.
Like I said, pics will be up soon, probably next post.

 

Well, here are the pics of my set-up.

Here's the first funnel set behind the slot under the fog light that I used a razor to cut out


Here's the ducting from a view behind the bumper/fender


Here's where the ducting gets funnels into the front of the filter, it is set up to pretty much "plug" into the front reverse cone part of the filter. This is so the air that is being forced through the ducting has nowhere else to go but the filter


Filter close up with the velocity funnel as the base


Filter is angled gradually, as is the ducting, in order to keep the efficiency up in the movement of air, also this shows the position of the filter and how it is set in an area that does not heat up much at all while having lots of exposure to fresh outside air through the fender well below it


As you can see, the tubing WAS wrapped all the way, until the new filter, which doesn't sit as deep now on it as the old one..doesn't matter though as this area isn't really exposed to much heat as I said before


I've done this all to aid all of the other mods a little bit better. I have an underdrive UR pulley installed, headers, TB & mani spacers, and TB coolant bypass. My next project is fabricating a custom exhaust. This exhaust will incorporate 2 super 40 flowmaster mufflers and a catco high-flow cat. I won't go into what I'm planning exactly with the exhaust but it won't be just a knock off of a comptech lol. I'll be doing the exhaust within the next few weeks, keep your eyes out for the thread.
After the exhaust I'll be doing a few dyno runs in Tucson without nitrous, with a 75 wet shot, 100, and finally a 125 shot.
Hopefully the transmission holds up, if it starts to slip at all or do anything out of the ordinary I'll be backing off on the nitrous and probably just sticking with the 75-100 shot.

 

 

uh...that makes no sense

y would u wana use a domestic part on an import? have u heard flowmasters on a v6? it sounds like ass...

anything u put on other than comptech xhaust wouldnt b considered a knockoff...o.O

 

nice ballast just chillin right there...

 

that section of teh engine bay does look a bit messy

 

what the hell are you doing to your 03 type-s???
i would kill to have your car and your ruining it
if i were you i'd be so embarrassed to open the hood.
::shakes head and walks away::

 

okokokokok

hes just trying to share his little performance creation with people, its not like hes putting 22's on it or anything. Its ugly, but he did a good job trying at least. Its under the hood where nobody will see it, chilllll

 

The car on the outside looks completely stock except the wheels are from a stock '04 TL, the 17x8. Someone hit the right front side so I'm waiting on my fender and bumper to come in, then this bish is getting a brand new wdp paint job.

I have a hard time not going full drag on the TL but I have to subdue my desires because it's a daily driver.

Yes there's a ballast there, it stays nice and cool. I replaced both of them when one of them started to go. So, pay $100 for a used stock one or $80 for 2 brand new ones and an extra set of bulbs, which were later sold. Now I have to order another set of kaixen because one got taken out in the accident. I'm putting white angel eyes in the housings, thank god these purple ones are going, they looked retarded.

Actually the only thing that doesn't look stock in the engine bay is the intake...and if someone wants to pop my hood, they'll see that...i dc if they laugh, cause there's a 125 shot waiting for them if they want to run.

I would never put 20's on an acura...only an acura cake(check out my acura cake I'm making for my wife in the general section). Also, spending the money to re-badge is completely over my head. Here in America many people don't even know honda and acura are the same. Also the A definately looks better than the H and you don't have to pay for it. So many people on this site make their cars looks like riced out accords, it sickens me. I make one performance modification that's hidden under the hood and I get knocked for it. It can see the high school logic floating around here, seriously, relax and go paint your calipers jdm purple or something.

I posted this up to give people an idea of what they can do for 1/4 of the cots.
I hope you guys realize that by always just modding car by spending almost $1000 on an exhuast that is really just a couple mandrel bent tubes, and mufflers, it's kinda dumb.
Why the hell spend almost 300 on an icebox, when I can do the same for 1/4 of that...but fix what they did wrong?
And to those who don't get the black funnel to coupler...It make it so the air from the front bumper has only one place to go, the filter. And no rajca, it's not pointless and will not be second to the air coming in the sides...only when not moving or moving at low speeds. The point of having an open filter and no box was to satisfy my desire for having cooler air available from any direction when the ram air effect is not at play..which is like 30mph and below or so. I'll be putting an airflow meter to figure out how fast the air is actually traveling to the filter, along with the temperature. Once you're going fast enough the air from the bumper is going to overpower the air from the sides and create a bubble and air from the sides probably isn't going to enter at that point, but until the ram effect is actually functional the side will continue to bring in air if needed. It also allows for more surface area of filtration...If you guys didn't know, more area of filtration = more ability to flow...I'm not saying go buy the biggest filter known to man, but there's a benefit to having a larger filter surface area...just like there's a benifit to having a larger plenum in some cases.
And to the other person who said it's either cold air or ram air, short ram, etc...that's completely false. You only think there's a difference because that's they way you can buy them. So if I made my own turbo kit, what stage is it, a stage 1, 2, 3, 4?? It's not, that's why stages are dumb too, they are just references for the manufacturer and the consumer to see which one FOR THAT COMPANY is goign to handle more power. Anyways, what I just did was try to get the good aspects of the intake styles just mentioned. Mines not 100% short ram because as you can see, I can make that pipe almost half the size, then it'd be pretty much a short ram...but then the filter would run into heat soak...common with short rams. So the piping is as short as I can get it without heat soaking. Now It's also somewhat a cold air intake, because it's sitting right near the fender well, expose to cooler ambient air. Now it's part ram air because I'm getting the ram air effect from the bumper. I kept the filter up where is is to keep my throttle response, unlike a full cold or ram air, and to reduce the chance of debris or water getting into or on the filter. The filter is angled down slightly to reduce the chance of water log if there's a magic flash flood(which is common in monsoon season in southern AZ). It also serves the purpose of reducing the a sharp airflow angle which can cause turbulence and work against my ram air and velocity effect. To say if I put a heat shield on it then it would be a cold air is confusing to say the least. That has nothing to do with what makes it a cold air intake. On top of that, my heat shield is my battery, it's the thickest heat shield you can buy lol.
Modding cars started before you guys were born. People take their daily drivers, looking stock, and modified their engines to produce more hp. They didn't go buy expensive overpriced parts from the internet, what internet?, they sat there and made them.
Now we have an availability of extra parts, but there's still a satisfaction in creating you're own intake, exhaust, turbo set-ups, etc.
It's stupid to buy a 4k supercharger kit when you can fabricate a turbo set-up for about a grand, including the piggyback.
I'd rather spend the money I saved on my intake towards something that matters how it looks, like the paint job. Also the money saved on doing the exhaust myself, more towards the paint job. Money I saved buying used headers...etc. Go ahead knock me for buying used headers too, cause you're also dumb if you don't realize a header is a pipe which doesn't change the flow characteristics over time(just clean it out inside with carb cleaner ceramic coat it, good as new).

Like I said, check out my exhaust thread when I start it, it's not going to be a knock-off, otherwise, for the price I'd just buy a cheap exhaust kit, sell the mufflers and put different ones on.
And yes, I have heard v6's with flowmasters, from mustangs and camaros, who freaking cares if it's a "domestic product." That's like saying I'm only going to put super jdm tyte oil in my car.
I am still debating between the super 40's and a magnaflow. I'll be putting long resonators in it to keep a lower growl and reduce rasp.
But you'll see, just keep calling it a knock-off, why do I care...if you care so much about my car why don't you buy it?
I'm fairly certain my dyno numbers will show for themselves off the nitrous that I'm not just some dumbass that pretend to know what he's doing. This is the first TL I've modified, I usually don't do hondas, I'm a nissan guy.

 

ballast should really be secured to minimize vibration for max life. I highly recommend the CT Ice Box...nice little bit of sound at WOT and proven gain results..plus looks good in engine bay

 

The ballast is actually secured by 2 bolts, that's why I chose this spot to mount it, so I didn't have to drill or anything, I used 2 bolts that were already there. It's not moving.

 

nice work,
dont mean to go too off topic,

i need a new ballast, were did you get those for 80 bucks? thanx

 

Go on ebay, and search HID conversion kits. Get one that's d2r.
It will come with ballasts, ignitors, and bulbs that will all plug into your factory plugs. You can mount them to the bottom of the light, which is what I did. The ones in the picture are actually for the HID fogs, but I forgot in my previous posts...

 

magnaflow for sure...

i have to say 1 thing tho...only ppl that show their car have the rite to say knock-off or ghetto...kuz they pop their hoods for shows...if u dont do shows then thats fine to have something that looks pieced 2gether from home depot...

y do u have an xtra ballast there? HID fogs? or ur OE ballast blew n replaced it with that

 

The ballast is from the HID fogs.
And no, I don't do shows with my stock looking TL hehe.

And also, if you look at the pics, it just looks like a normal intake when you pop the hood, just with some heat wrap on it. The ducting can't be seen unless you dig your head down near the filter or inside the fender area.

 

i will say ive been thinking of doing pretty much everything you did with the intake except i never thought of the velocity funnel behind the filter. good thinking! you have to have more pride in youe car when you do real custom work, and not overpriced products off the internet. im probably going to work on mine a little bit tomorrow, but still tossing a few ideas around. where did you get the main intake tube? that is really the only thing putting me behind

 

Just buy a the cheapest intake you can find off ebay...If you can find one with a filter that has the reverse cone filter element on the top then you can use the filter off it too.
Here's one with a red filter
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-03...Q5fAccessories

here's one with a blue filter
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-03...Q5fAccessories


All you need to do is take the base rubber part off the bottom of the filter...cut it out with a razor if needed, then jb weld the velocity funnel to the bottom. You should be able to get the stick of jb weld...roll it all together to mix it up...then roll it like playdoe into a long snake thing and wrap it around the edge of the filter on the bottom, then push the velocity funnel on it and hold it there for a few minutes.

I recommend heat wrapping and doing the spacers and thermal gaskets also...you'll find that the intake tube temp drops quite a bit...like i said before when you touch my intake tube now it's at most luke warm.

 

So I've settled on magnaflow mufflers for the exhaust. I have also decided that I'm going to dyno the car with and without nitrous before I add the exhaust. Then I'll be able to roughly see the increase in power with and without nitrous that the exhaust will have. Like I said before, it's going to be a one-off exhaust....but I've decided to delay it because I'd rather just get to the dyno and track first instead of dropping 600 or so on an exhaust at the moment for only like 10hp.
Anyway, I'm redoing my nitrous system. I'm going to be using the p2r spacer and get a machine shop to drill and tap a hole angled toward the intake mani in it. It's a zex kit and I'm putting my old kit on my 240 soon and I just bought one of the blackout kits from zex today. So i should have the nitrous pics up at the end of the week or early next week with how I routed everything and what it looks like. Even if you know I have nitrous, you won't be able to find it unless you look at the pics I'll be posting showing what i've done to conceal it. I'm using the same method of hiding it as I have on my old nitrous set-up that I've done on this TL and my 240 when it originally had the kit on it...which it's now going back onto for some extra boost. With the 240 I will be running 18 lbs of boost and a progressive shot going from 25 off the line to a 75 once it's at full boost...before I do so, I'll be wiring up a second walbro 255, as the single pump may not be able to handle the load with the e85 I'm running. I'm also in the process of putting together a meth injection through the intercooler and controlled by the AEM also. I can't wait for all my goodies to come in

 

wow nice homemade intake. looks complicated and the tubing looks cheap and could have holes in it.

 

the ducting is cheap, and no, it doesn't have holes in it...doesn't matter if it does...it's just ducting the cooler air to the filter.

 

Only issue is that your filter is still drawing in hot air from your engine bay.
This in turn defeats majority of the purpose of your ductwork. you need to do a heat shield around your filter or put it in a box for max performance out of your set-up.

 

geez, how many times do I need to say, that area is luke warm even after spirited driving. That battery is a better heat shield than any 1/4 inch plastic, sheet metal, or aluminum. On top of that, since I have no fender liner, the bottom half of the filter is exposed to the cool outside ambient air...or in AZ the warm ambient air

My piping never gets hotter than luke warm, neither does my filter.

 

interesting..-

 

Now to see where my priorities are...I'd rather spend the money I saved on the intake, used headers, and used pulley on this....hehe
It's our 1 year anniversary, so we're bringing out our '96 Dom Pérignon Rosé and the only glasses worthy of such a bottle, our Swarovski Crystal champagne flutes with crystals stuffed into the stems and accented with silver.

Don't mind the ugly fridge lol, I can't wait till our house is finished and we can move out of this freaking apartment.

 

Eh, as far as the intake setup goes...if it works, it works. It's not like you're showing your car in car shows or anything.

Wow, how much did that dom perignon cost? lol

<3 240sx (check my sig)

 

that set up defeats the purpose of running a velocity stack.
the air also flows from the radius edges in to the middle.

if you wish to run a stack order one that made to be used with a filter

http://www.bpinitiatives.com/stacks.php

 

umm, I don't know if you know this, but the bottom of the filter was completely taken out and was about 4.5-5" in diameter....as was the stack. The stack works exactly how it is supposed to. It uses it's gradual grade to pull the air faster. I really could care less about responding to these posts anymore that tell me certain things are pointless or wouldn't work properly when I clearly have everything explained and mapped out in previous posts...if you're going to post something about it, at least read the posts thoroughly first.
Also, I've finally got the zex blackout kit up and running and it works great. I am running about 4.5 gallons per tank of e85 to increase my octane to about 94.5 octane, as in my area we only have 91 which sucks. I'm running a 100 shot through the zex wet kit. For normal gas you would use a .46 nitrous jet and .26 fuel jet for 100 shot, but since I am currently running between E25-E30 I need roughly 14% more which would mean a .30 sized fuel jet. I had a .32 laying around and decided to use it until I can get this baby to a dyno and hook it up to a wideband to determine better what sized fuel jet I should be using with my ethanol mix. I'm happy with the .32 at the moment as it give a slight bit more fuel which will help reduce the risk of detonation, along with the e30 mix and the zex plugs I have that are 2 steps colder than stock.
When I ran the 75 shot yesterday and had the .40 nitrous/.21 fuel jets the plugs looked perfect after using 5 lbs of nitrous over the course of a few hours. They did have a slight bit of soot on the intake side of the plug, and progressively more as they got closer to the throttle body. What caused this was a surge in the tank. The way I currently have it mounted it surges when I get below 5lbs in the tank, but in order to fit my sub box and hide the bottle I had to mount it like this. I will be remounting it later on for less surging at low levels of nitrous. When I hit around 115 the car felt like it wasn't spraying anymore and it just bogged because it was still spraying the extra fuel, which coated the front of the plugs a little bit. But like I said, this was off the 75 shot...it would be more noticeable off a 100 shot.

The car is definitely much faster with the 100 shot vs no nitrous...of course right duuhh

Anyway, I'll get video soon and post it in this thread and make another new thread for it. A pull in 2nd-3rd from 60-a little over 90 takes about the same amount of time as 60-75 without nitrous. I'll get video at the dyno also.

 

i loved my 100 shot, then my trans blew. anyway, we need some stock dyno and velocity stack dyno runs

 

cant wait for the vids and dynos

but u better say to your tranny

 

update:

I just ran with a mid 90's supra w/bolt-ons and an evo X a filter and exhaust tonight. The supra was left about 10 car lengths back and I'm assuming he was a bad driver or mis-shifted. I managed to pull about 2 cars on the evo on the first highway run from about 55-120. The next run I pulled about about a car or so from 80-130 something. The next run I pulled about a half car then the nitrous started to surge due to the bottle mounting which I need to fix, which allowed him to pull about 2-3 cars on me from 90-120ish.

I'm glad I was able to run down some cars that run low-mid 13's...It makes me glad I had the 100 shot armed lol. Now I know pretty much where I stand on the street and what not to waste my spray on.
This makes me want more power, but I'm not gonna push things with the dd. That's what my 240 is for.

Tranny is still holding up just fine.

The whole event was pretty exciting and funny. When we rolled up to a redlight after I showed the evo up twice he looks over and says in a suprised voice "ha! I guess you're built huh?!" I was like, "NOPE! pretty much just running a 100 shot through a couple bolt ons" I lol'd and told him "I'd run you again but I'm too low on nitrous...and you pulled on me a bit when I was surging"
Pretty much after that I turned on my street and continued with the drive back home from the grocery store before the milk got warm lol.
I'm thinking I may have the fastest second gen TL in AZ, possibly the fastest TL in AZ period. If someone wants to run to test this out feel free, just pm me. I'd like to get her to the track soon to see what I'm running. Keep in mind I'm at 4500ft and probably gonna be hot out now that summer is coming in, so the 1/4 mile times will be a few tenths slower...but so will every other cars down here.