Building a CAI

[Rikadyn]

If i build a CAI, I can use 3in PVC for the entire distance correct? Also I would have to make out lets to plug in the other rubber hoses that come off of the main tube correct? Also How would I attach the cone to the end of the PVC tube?

[aqwkmf]

why build one? get a ingen or or one of those adapters for a cone filter

[Rikadyn]

1. Its cheaper than buying one
2. the adapters don't make it a Cold Air Intake, they make it the equivalant of a short ram

[hurleyboi514]

a pvc pipe would look really gay. have you considered that?  i mean, its a good idea to make a cheaper CAI (as i plan on doing), but PVC?  i dunno about that.  i plan on gettin a 3" pipe madrelly bent myself.  it may be a little more than the PVC, but it should flow better and look quite good.  try and see if you can find a place to do that.  it shouldnt be hard.  and still should be pretty cheap.

[Rikadyn]

eh...what does looks matter? its in the engine bay under the hood...

[Kitahara]

Yeah, PVC might look kinda gay but... PVC would offer really good heat isolation.  How would you negotiate the bends that you need... use 45 degree angle connectors?  Put it togeter with PVC adhesive?  Might work... maybe you can paint it so that it wouldn't look too bad.  I'm not sure how you would put the cone filter on but I think it can be put on by using a circular clamps and possibly a silicon tubing connector.

[MasterOFDrift]

I pretty sure the cone is kept on with a ring clamp... ?

[hurleyboi514]

another idea i had is to buy the SR IC hot pipe from heavythrottle.com as a CAI. &nbsp;its $89 though. &nbsp;what you could do it just cut where you want the MAF to be, and then insert it into place and remove that little section of pipe and connect a filter to under that panel with the hole. &nbsp;reason i wanted to do that is b/c i plan on using the stock IC b/c its cheap and thats a part i would end up having to buy anyways! <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

[aqwkmf]

well if u dont care about looks go for it. its like a catback vs a fartcan.....thiers a reasons things are made the way they are.

[Grant]

just keep the stock intake tube and add an extension if you can. keep in mind the car's throttle body is 60.5mm so having a 3" intake pipe does not necessarily help.

[240meowth]

i love your thinking, do waht i did, make the whole intake piping <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>

http://mrclam.com/pictures/MEOWTH1.JPG

[Wiisass]

I just tried doing this on Saturday. &nbsp;I was using 2.5" stainless steel piping that i had from the intake i build for my integra. &nbsp;The pieces i have looks like they will fit but we didn't have what we needed to connect the two hoses going into the pipe closest to the intake manifold. &nbsp;I ended up just mounting a cone air filter in the normal spot. &nbsp;Does anyone know what the hose going from the stock airbox into some black box is? &nbsp;I wasn't sure if it was necessary or not so we decided to keep it attached. &nbsp;except now it's kinda open to the air rather than under the filter where i think it usually is. &nbsp;That might be something i have to take care of soon depending on what it does. &nbsp;but one of those little like valve cover breather filters that you can get at pep boys should fit in there. &nbsp;

anyway i just took out the airbox and resonator and cut the top of the airbox so i could connect the filter to the MAF. &nbsp;If you have ever looked in the stock airbox you'll know that the metal gasket connecting everything if flaired on the inside. &nbsp;now what we did is kinda ghetto but it works. &nbsp;we just bent the flaired part in with a pair of pliers to we could get the other piece over it. &nbsp;the air filter itself wouldn't fit around it so we went to home depot and picked up a 2" to 3" rubber pvc pipe clamp. &nbsp;the 3" end went around the modified airbox and the 2" end went into the airfilter and then it was all clamped together.

it's not exectly what we were going for but like i said before we didn't have a way to deal with the hoses at the point. &nbsp;i wanted it to go down into where the resontor was but the hole there is too small and i didn't have proper tools to make it bigger. &nbsp;but right now it's as far away from any heat as possible. &nbsp;

BTW, 240meowth, i like what you did with yours. &nbsp;i'm guessing you put the battery in the back of the car.

and sorry for the long post.

[Starlin]

Well, looks wont be a real concern if he is only talking about the cold air part. I don't think that from where the stock filter box is down into the fenderwell wont be to noticible. If that is what he is saying. I know my stock intake is kinda square like and I'm not sure 3' PVC would fit good enough to allow enough room for the hood to shut.

Starlin

[Kreator]

Get a mandrel bent pipe in a U shape. You can find 2.5" one for around $14+s&H and that will fit your needs.

[Rikadyn]

if the throttle body is 60.5mm wouldn't 2½ to 2¾ in piping would be more appropriat as to create a smoother flow and not letting excess pressure build when more air is trying to flow into a smaller hole?

[Anubis]

i read somewhere once that PVC pipe isnt made to take the under hood temps while the car is running...but I could be wrong. 240Meowth's setup looks sick &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[NissanNewbie]

If you don't paint it, and I would if I were you, then don't open the hood. I have seen a Saturn with a PVC intake and my friends and I laughed at him. If you paint it it wouldn't look too bad but if you leave it unpainted it will look incredibly gay. Also I wouldn't be surprised if you can find a used intake on ebay or maybe the for sale forum for quite a bit cheaper than a brand new one. A friend of mine with an Eclipse bought a used AEM intake with bypass valve for like $100 used. My $.02.

[tkrolo]

I happened across meowth's install some time ago and have planned to do that ever since. &nbsp;If you move the battery, you could extend the intake in front of the fenderwell pretty easily. &nbsp;The air "should" be lots cooler since it wouldn't be traveling as far in the engine bay.

[MyFirst240SX]

My Semi CAI intake uses stock intake pipe. Then A adadter for the MAFS then a Cone Filter.If you remove that little black box which is part of the intake system. and make that hole a little bigger. Seal off the Cone filter with something. No piping needed.
where did ther people put the MAFS Temp Sensor at? im drilling a hole in my Cone Filters metal for it.

[chickenmanq]

First of all, I commend you on not being a sheep concerned with two and a half feet of piping looking good. PVC works just as well as any injen thing. If you have issues with the way it looks when you're done, make it out of stainless. The principle is the same, however. More HP for next to nothing. And I don't want to hear any bs from the rest of you saying it won't work as well. Christ, you're just changing where the air enters the intake. It's not rocket science. Here's what I had on the Nissan. (mutters under breath dammit why did I sell it?)

Oh yeah, the hole in the front clip was already there and I didn't make the entire thing out of pvc. &nbsp;I molded it into the plastic cold air intake that was originally connected to the fender. &nbsp;Doesn't look very good, but for budget and 10 minutes, worked quite well.

<img src=http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~mka/coldaira.jpg>