Cold Air Intake

[KillNThrill24]

i had an ebay kit for $20 for a long time, the one that was in the fender well. i had noticeable throttle gain. then i pulled the filter off to clean it and it was rusted to ****. i said screw it and got the same size spectre filter and just removed the pipe going into the fender and made it a short ram. worked better than the ebay kit. then i said screw it again and got one of those plastic spectre flex tubes and the longer $40 spectre filter and routed it from the MAF into the fenderwell directly behind my driver headlight. its the best of both worlds, its cold air since its out of the engine bay and behind the headlight, and it wont get nearly as wet as the one sitting by the ground. plus having the spectre on it makes it function 10x better than the cheap ebay filter.

i have since put the normal spectre filter on since i put the huge spectre on my dads 7.3 and made a custom intake out of it for his truck to go along with his exhaust. either way, i HIGHLY recommend putting it behind the headlight. it takes a little creativity but is easily achievable

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by TDavis

So where exactly does the air that goes into the CAI come from?

I see some people cut out the "gills" on the front GT bumpers to let "more" air go into the CAI. Thats why I thought it would get dirty quickly. But from those photos it looks like thats not required.

i'm yet to see anyone cut there grill up for there cai. wow what a great way to destroy the car for nothing

air comes under the car. the filter sits right behind the fog light, which is by no means air tight.

yes the filter does get crappy, and mine gets those little rocks from the road in it. but i agree it wasnt as bad as i thought.

the biggest issue i have is being paranoid about driving through puddles of rain. because lets be honest, sometimes you just cant help it. so far i've had no issues and i have driven through deeper water then i wanted too.

with that being said the fact that the filter is on the drivers side means that MOST puddles will be on the other side of the car. standing water usually is in parking lots, not on the roads. key word USUALLY.

if your in a area that floods a lot and have to drive though deep water every now and then, i WOULD NOT get a cai. its just not worth the risk imo. get a wai (warm air intake) that does not go down into the bumper. if your dump enough to drive through water deep enough to submerge your engine, you deserve whatever happens next.

also a lesson i learned is to avoid filter with the metal frame. get the plastic. the metal frames tend to rust over time.

[KillNThrill24]

im tellin you guys behind the headlight FTW

[Metallman56]

i'm shocked there is room

[Twentys99GT]

Then wht k&n system does custom grand am .com sell then

[Twentys99GT]

I stand corrected the filter from them is just k&n I thought the piping an all was

[KillNThrill24]

here ill show you mine i just went out and took pix of it. hope they help cuz it took me forever to get my headlight back in cuz the brackets are all fckd up on it and i havent been able to go get a new headlight housing for it...

this is the tube i was talking about..



this is a closeup of the filter behind the headlight, dont mind the HID ballast but im keeping IT dry too since i fried 2 already



and heres just a bit further away, which is why i showed the closeup cuz you obviously can barely see the filter




BTW.. that filter has been there almost 2 years now and NO RUST! im telling you do it you wont regret it

[Metallman56]

holy tight fit batman!

how the hell did you get the filter conected to the intake?

[KillNThrill24]

haha tight but not too tight

i connected it to the filter first then routed the tube through the fender into the engine bay. being its all plastic and highly flexible its way easier than you would think

[TDavis]

Originally Posted by KillNThrill24

here ill show you mine i just went out and took pix of it. hope they help cuz it took me forever to get my headlight back in cuz the brackets are all fckd up on it and i havent been able to go get a new headlight housing for it...

this is the tube i was talking about..



this is a closeup of the filter behind the headlight, dont mind the HID ballast but im keeping IT dry too since i fried 2 already



and heres just a bit further away, which is why i showed the closeup cuz you obviously can barely see the filter




BTW.. that filter has been there almost 2 years now and NO RUST! im telling you do it you wont regret it

Now honestly. How does that get air into it when its behind all that other sht?

[KillNThrill24]

first of all the headlight housing isnt airtight theres plenty of gaps around it, plus the same way it would if it were down behind the fog light dude its not in its own area its just above the foglight out of reach for most puddles

[TDavis]

Well der, I know the headlight isn't air tight.

But I don't think that a CAI is THAT much worth it if you get barely any gain in HP. And unless there is a nice place that is protected from water and also gets more free flowing air, rather then sitting behind alot of equipment.

[KillNThrill24]

you must not have read my last post its sitting right above where it does on the cold air kits. meaning its behind the same amount of **** as it would be from the other kits, just slightly up. idc i like it, it works for me, stays dry, and works way better than stock ****. its not my high hp car, i just want to have a little fun with it.

[TDavis]

Chill dude, I was just sayin.

It's just, idk, none of them look like a "clean, practical" design to me. For GAs atleast.

[tipnitty]

I loved my CAI from ebay. Worked perfectly and never had a problem. Cleaned up the engine bay just fine.

[Metallman56]

the only real benefit to a cai is getting the filter out of the engine bay and away from heat. personally i think that advantage is over rated unless you have forced induction.

as far has putting it behind the headlight i dont think it will be too much more restrictive. could be wrong but without dyno numbers none of us can say yes or no for sure.

bottom line no matter where the filter is you have to realize that when the car is moving air is hitting it and flowing all around it. any setup is going to be a lot less restrictive then stock.

[KillNThrill24]

im not worked up believe me if i was youd know i just talk like a ****in sailor

and the GA's dont have a super good CAI. there not meant to. theyre your everyday practical cars.

on the other hand my Mustang has a handful of good, clean CAi's that actually do something when used with a tune. my BBK isnt one of them, it came with the car, but like the JLT's are the best for the 4.6's from what ive seen. Anderson makes a power pipe which i think is just as good.

but GA's are just fun cars to goof around with. which is why id never pay for a "high end" performance CAI unless i planned on doing some crazy **** to it at which point id fab a special CA for it. this is just a fun alternative to the $20 ebay kit, and was completely hand made

[TDavis]

Only thing I would ever do with mine atm would be put in a K&N drop in filter to replace the stock airbox's paper filter

[sleepyalero]

Originally Posted by KillNThrill24

im not worked up believe me if i was youd know i just talk like a ****in sailor

and the GA's dont have a super good CAI. there not meant to. theyre your everyday practical cars.

on the other hand my Mustang has a handful of good, clean CAi's that actually do something when used with a tune. my BBK isnt one of them, it came with the car, but like the JLT's are the best for the 4.6's from what ive seen. Anderson makes a power pipe which i think is just as good.

but GA's are just fun cars to goof around with. which is why id never pay for a "high end" performance CAI unless i planned on doing some crazy **** to it at which point id fab a special CA for it. this is just a fun alternative to the $20 ebay kit, and was completely hand made

why didnt you get real piping?

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by TDavis

Only thing I would ever do with mine atm would be put in a K&N drop in filter to replace the stock airbox's paper filter

dont waste your money. the gains are not worth the $50 imo.

also i must say the biggest gain i saw from my cai was not power. it was mpg.