Modifying the Stock Air Intake System

[ks2527]

Nothing against zerocover... everyone has their personal preferences. I too, prefer a stock look. With the highest upgraded internal parts, I would still like it to look the way it did the day I bought it new...rims included.
The extra boost is nice. I taped the holes last night. Can't say I noticed a difference from the day before...nevertheless it's so smooth it feels like a different car.
goldstar
appreciate you "rehashing" this all over again for us newly joined to get this info.

[zerocover]

One of our main problems is the snokle its self is really poorly designed. Someone found that removing it all together gave some power. Hopefully a scoop thing helps.

The air box is really horrible for flow as well. In a few days I intend to take my trusty manometer and see what kind of pressure we get by the tb, its really all that matters. Then randomly pull stuff off and see if it gets any better.

PS no offence taken, I know Im a ricer.

[CubanSF]

Can guys post new pics of the airbox mod? i've been reading all ur posts for some time now, but I dont wanna do anything on my car until I see some pics.
thanks in advance.

[goldstar]

CubanSF,
Welcome to the Forum. You can find photos of the grill mod in post #'s 49 or 63 or 99 in this thread. They're actually the same photos but they'll give you a good idea of how to proceed.

[CubanSF]

I forgot to mention that my car is a 2nd Gen. Protege. The Intake system is not the same as the one in the pic.

[VTprotege02]

Just wanted to share some pictures

[goldstar]

Welcome to the Forum.

Good work. Have you done any of the other mods to the intake and have you noticed any gains.

Happy Motoring!

[VTprotege02]

I haven't done any other mods. This was my first actually. I am starting to get interested in car mods now. I've always been a computer geek and been modding my computer for the last 5 years now. This potentially new hobby might take over, we'll see.

I am not going to touch the MAF because I am still new at this. Are there any other worth wild mods I can do to get my feet wet?

As far as I can tell so far, the car does rev a bit faster, other than that, I haven't noticed anything else, but of course, you get what you pay for or work for in this case. I paid nothing and did the mod in 45 minutes.

[Leijae]

i did this mod and i instantly noticed an improvement of performance. and by the way a friend of mine does work with plastic and he said he would make me plastic tube that fits over the mouth of the intake and feeds air in directly behind the grill.

should i just leave it alone?

[zerocover]

Never leave anything alone! The only way youll ever have any fun is to just go nuts. There is pretty much no concivable way to do harm thats not reversable.

I was really getting into a custom ram air intake involving one of the foglight holes. It would have been pretty slick to have a tube from the foglight hole to the intake. But I really enjoy having fog lights.

I took some measure means months ago, where I found there is less restriction if the entire intake is taken off right to the filter. The engine does breath hot air but I dont think its a big deal past idle. Im gonna take a randmo night and do some 1/4 mile runs untill I find the best set up.

[goldstar]

Leijae,
Good that the mod worked and made a noticeable difference. As far as any further experiments are concerned, anything that can potentially increase airflow into the inlet would be worth working on. Just be sure that you don't make the inlet overly susceptible to water ingestion. Please let us know the results of any efforts you undertake as I'm sure many of us will be interested.

zerocover,
The foglight opening seems like a neat and appealing place to site the air intake. However, there may be two problems with using that location. The first, of course, is the danger of water ingestion and the second is a problem found by Edgar in his article, Siting Cold Air Intakes, when he measured air pressure at various points on the front of a car (reported in www.wihandyman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2921). The highest pressure was found toward the center front with the pressure falling off, though still positive, as the ends of the bumper are approached and the airstream starts to accelerate around the corners of the car sides. Thus, air pressure due to forward velocity of the vehicle may be less than optimal at the foglight openings.

I believe the effect of intake air temperature on performance is more important than you assert but I look forward to your further experiments. I read your past measurements in this area with great interest.

[marciobusi]

Hi guys,

So..... Any final thoughts on the MAF screen removal ? Read it all, but still there is no conclusive awnser on it. Do it or not ? I am afraid to say that although it is restritive, the PCM was calibrated to a best air/fuel ratio with the screen on. Therefore, even if you increase flow by removing the scren, you may be loosing performance due to changes to air/fuel ratios. This probably not being the case on a close loop operation, but defenitely under WOT (open loop). I also want to take the screen out to have more flow, however the air/fuel calibrations makes me feel confortable having the screen in place, until, of course, some dyno results are shown.

regards,

[goldstar]

marciobusi,
In order not to repeat myself, let me refer you to post #152 in this thread. My reason for removing the screen was based on measured data indicating its removal caused a reduction of negative pressure in the intake duct. A references for that can be found earlier in this thread.

In any case, it's a simple matter to remove the screen and determine if this produces a performance increase. If not, just replace it and no harm has been done. You're not making an irreversible change here.

Happy Motoring!

[Proto-G]

E-Bay intakes

I have ordered two different intake kits for my 1990 LX Protege from E-Bay. There are no instructions, and it appears as though you have to modify the stock air filter housing to make either work. Am I missing something...?

[goldstar]

I have ordered two different intake kits for my 1990 LX Protege from E-Bay. There are no instructions, and it appears as though you have to modify the stock air filter housing to make either work. Am I missing something...?

Welcome to the Forum.

This thread deals with the modification, not the removal and replacement, of the 3rd gen engine air intake system. Your car is a 1st gen vehicle with a somewhat different air intake system layout. In general, installation of an aftermarket air intake system requires the almost complete removal of the stock components. There is much information about modifying your air intake system that you can access by doing a search.

Happy Motoring!