Re: Airbox Mod

["M Tipton" <miktip@worldnet.att.net>]

Well you can all probably guess by now, that I too have fallen victim
to the
"Swiss Cheese-Airbox mod" scenario.  I heard about this several years
back 
from a fellow in California, so I decided to give it a whirl....
This of course with a "bone- stock" engine, 86 Coupe GT.  

Result- Nothing I could tell, except dirtier filters.

Then a couple years later I met a man in Ontario, that claimed if you
ran a 3 inch
tubing, from the grill to the air box, it would make a difference.

This too I tried, however, again my motor was "stock" so results were
minimal,
if any.

After I had built the "Mega-motor" (naturally aspirated-N/A motor) I
again wanted to "open-up" the intake tract all the way back to the
air-box.  Installing the intake runner on a flow bench we found the
"throttle-body" to be the biggest obstacle to getting more air into
the motor.  Hence it was modified(enlarged) and resulted in a 6%
improvement in flow on a flow bench.  Now this is a LOT of precision
work, for a street car, to yield only 6% in results.  But never the
less an improvement.

So then I re-installed the 3 inch hose setup on the air box, BUT found
the entrance
tract to the airbox, smaller than 3 inches, so it to had to be
modified.

After all was said and done, in mods to the air box, a friend
convinced me my
labor was in vane, when he insisted, I run an SCCA lap or two, without
the lower portion of the airbox NOTinstalled!  We "taped" the filter
element to the upper portion
and even on a drag strip, and track course, the "missing-lower
portion"
made no difference in performance, or times.  I even went so far as
running the car
once down the strip with no filter!  That too yielded no results,
except maybe some
dirt ingested into the motor(installed the screen filter to keep rocks
out! )

So today I have a piece of dryer hose(3 inch) going from the grill
next to the right
head light, to the airbox front intake duct.  The "thermo-flapper" is
removed, 
hole blocked off, and a smaller hose is installed it the back intake
hole in the airbox
and routed towards the front grill.

Does it make a difference?

On a "stock N/A motor"  no!   On a "fully modified N/A motor" no!

If you still have doubts, remove your airbox completely, tape on your
filter, and make a few runs!  If your really brave, run with no
filter!  

You'll be able to tell for your self!

				M


                                      M