Joined: Sun Jan 07 2007, 07:37PM
Location: London,Ontario
Posts: 166
Cold air intakes are a fairly inexpensive modification and easier to install than most other engine modifications. No, they won't add quite as much power as other engine mods, but they will help your engine in some other ways.Think of a factory air intake system as like having a cold that clogs up your head and restricts your breathing. Now go running. It's not going to work very well is it? A cold air intake is like amazing medicine that allows your engine to finally breath.Cold air intakes move the air intake outside of the engine compartment so that cooler air can be sucked into the engine for combustion. Cooler air brings more oxygen (denser air) into the combustion chamber and that means more power.Now you understand why today's modern cars draw intake air away from under the hood and away from the swirling cooling fans that cool the radiator. That being said, one of this winter's projects was a cold air intake system that ensures combustion air is drawn from outside the engine bay. By itself, you'll probably notice an increase in power when the throttle is fully open. Some manufacturers claim as much as a 5 to 20-horsepower increase using their system but their overly engineered and expensive. But if you team up a cold air intake with other engine modifications, like a new exhaust, you'll create a much more efficient system. This "mod" basically gets cool air from under the front of the car to an existing air cleaner housing without the high expense of steel tubing or high priced conical air filters. It can be done on pretty much any Mopar (or any classic car) regardless of engine size.
All parts and pieces for this installation were courtesy of Spectre Performance and a local sheetmetal shop and include:
2 - Spectre 8741 air duct hoses with memory bend 4 - Spectre 8148 air duct mounting plate (2 are optional) 1 - piece 18 ga metal 8 x 14 inches for frame brackets 2 - Spectre 87411 threaded hose couplers ( optional ) 2 - fabricated air snorkels 1 - high efficiency air cleaner The most difficult part of the job involves mating the air duct to the air cleaner snorkels which are, anything but round or the right diameter.I modified a 1970 Mopar air cleaner base that had totally damaged snorkels.Spectre also sells a ready fabricated hat that fits right on top the carb or TBI with the inlet snorkels welded on but their quite expensive and require two conical air filters that mount on the inlet ends of the ducts. Not the best choice when space is limited. I did a bit of math prior to this project to assess it's compatibility and worthiness. The effective actual square area of my TBI inlet is 19.6 square inches (5 1/8 inch horn) and, the two 3 inch duct hoses which will feed the cold air yield an effective area of 14.0 square inches, so I,m a bit mismatched, but, the original snorkels square inlet openings were only 14 square inches combined (dual snorkel) so I'm matched perfectly in air delivery capacity from originals. Keep in mind that both TBI's and carbs have restrictions projecting into their interiors which lessens/restricts their actual effective openess. Never the less it's cool air that'll be flowing up the ducts and into the engine.
I had a local sheet metal shop fabricate me a pair of snorkels to replace the ones that were damaged.I went this route because the original intake openings in the air cleaner housing were rectangular (2 x 4 inches) when the original snorkels were removed but the hose end of the snorkels had to be 3 inches in diameter and round to accept the ducts. This fabrication was a bit beyond my talents. I think the fab shop did a fine job and it was a paltry $50 the pair. They were attached much in the same manner and position as the original snorkels but with slight pitch downwards to make a neater curve in the air ducting when connected.
Templates were made of cardboard before any metal cutting was done for the left and right bracket plates for the air duct mounting plates (#8148) to ensure the tubes terminated in the right places to access cool air. It's a straight shot from the duct mounting plates downward as illustrated by the pic. I mounted a screen under the duct mounting plate to keep debris out.The right bracket mounted to the frame rail using an existing vacant hole,the left side required me to drill and tap the verticle supporting arm for the battery tray. An air duct mounting plate (#8148) was attached on both the topside and underside of the bracket plates so I can carry ducting down to the underside of the front of the car in the near future to get a "ram-air" effect, if it's even possible. Under no circumstances did I wish to cut the rad support,hood or the inner fender wells to perform this project. The tube is called "memory flex" and holds it's position once bent into shape and it's resistant to heat, oil and other chemicals. Removal of the tubes is accomplished by just pulling them out of their connectors which are a friction fit.
Conclusion: Total cost was under $140 and the quality of the parts from Spectre were a solid 5 out of five. Spectre anchors these flexible connectors with gear clamps but they can look messy. There are other clamping methods that give better eye appeal.Time alloted was about 8 hours but that was on the "retirement" clock.The outcome was as expected with no real disappointments and I think the overall look is pretty tidy and looks somewhat "in place" rather than distracting. Many may disagree. I enjoyed the challenge of doing this project immensely.I'd give this "resto mod" a big worthwhile "PLUS". You don't necessarilly have to go the route I did but I can guarantee, should you decide to install a cold air intake on your ride, by whatever means, you won't be disappointed.
