Poor mans Ram Air.....that's me =)

Hotrodvw · August 3, 2003

I've hear dof a set up that worked ok, and I also mowed it over on my own. I consider myself fairly bright when it comes to fabrication, but the cards aren't in my favor this time. I bought a 4" id dryer vent duct (corrugated alum.), and was planning on hooking it up to my stock air box on my 02 5.3. I was hoping to force more air into the air box, but the friggin thing is just shaped to weird. The stock openings just don't cut it for me, I'm not convinced the are enough cfm for my liking. I am about to buy a cone style filter and and fab a tube or something for the T/B. I am trying to avoid spending more than 50 bux on a set up.....the K&N's and Airaids are nice, but too rich for my blood.....I aint made of money. Any ideas guys????????? Looking for ideas, pics, instructions, parts lists, etc.....Thanks, Eric

vortec4800 · August 3, 2003

Been there, done that. I think I still have pictures of my install, I'll post a little howto on it. I recently tore it out for a cold-air type intake, and I couldn't really tell much of a difference between my psuedo ram-air and the real intake. I was very impressed, you could hear it move much more air. Just make sure you have a good filter (K&N would be best, there's much more dirt being shoved in there) and make sure to be a little bit careful about going through water, you don't want that to get rammed into your engine. Its unlikely that water will get in, as it has to go up the tube, through the air box and filter, and then through the intake.

I'll post again with pictures and a quick writeup later

greyghost03 · August 3, 2003

I used the dryer tube you mentioned to do mine and it works very well.

I just cut a round hole in the bottom of the airbox, using the hose connector as a template, and also in the plate the airbox mounts to underneath. Best to get a metal blade for the jigsaw as the plate is pretty thick, or you can use a 4" holesaw. I sealed around the hole with some silicone to fill in any voids from my cuts. I then ran the tube behind the towhook and secured it with a ty-rap. I put a black microfiber sock over the end of it to keep out dust, debris, bugs, etc. The way the tube runs behind the hook it kind of angles down before it starts to go up to the bottom of the airbox so I cut about a 1/4" hole in the bottom of it to allow any water that gets in the tube to drain out when it rains,

This mod did increase throttle response and I did notice a little SOTP gain. The whole project cost me about $25.

vortec4800 · August 3, 2003

Looks like somebody beat me to it! Though you'll see the pictures look very familiar, I did the exact same thing except I used a funnel type thing on the end to get more air pushed in, and I didn't drill a drain hole - I figured I'd let gravity take care of the water for me...

This little mod worked great, you could hear the air wooshing in.

Only thing I need to do still with my current intake is get rid of the resonator chamber, whether by buying a new tube or ripping it off - anybody else do this?

Oh - and I also got rid of that extra little tube thing in the intake box, but I did that after I took the pictures

greyghost03 · August 3, 2003

Only thing I need to do still with my current intake is get rid of the resonator chamber, whether by buying a new tube or ripping it off - anybody else do this?

This is how I got rid of the resonator chamber. He!!, I got rid of the whole factory intake! Much better and works great w/the ram-air!

Ultimate Performance & Design Intake

vortec4800 · August 3, 2003

I saw you post about that the other night, and I looked it up as a possibility - but the thing costs like 250 bucks and I don't need the funnel peice (don't even have my stock airbox anymore). Any idea if I can just buy the tube that goes from the lid to the manifold to use cheap, maybe somebody who went from one of those to something else?

greyghost03 · August 3, 2003

I saw you post about that the other night, and I looked it up as a possibility - but the thing costs like 250 bucks and I don't need the funnel peice (don't even have my stock airbox anymore). Any idea if I can just buy the tube that goes from the lid to the manifold to use cheap, maybe somebody who went from one of those to something else?

There are some members here who had one and did not like it for one reason or another. I don't know if they still have them or have returned them.

You might want to post up in the For Sale / Wanted forum and you might find someone here who'll let ya have it cheap!

BTW - I got in on a GP on another site when I bought mine. Total cost to my door for the smoked clear - $226 ($216 + $10 s/h)

Hotrodvw · August 4, 2003

Thanks guys soo much for the replies. Big Help. Pretty straight forward as I thought, but I wanted to ask anyway. NOW.....2nd ques......Tube from air box to T/B??? Any other replacements that are budget friendly???? Eric

vortec4800 · August 4, 2003

Yeah that's the tube with the resonator chamber, what we were talking about earlier. If I find something I'll let you know, and if you find something do the same for me! I posted something in the for sale board, so maybe somebody will have an idea.

Hotrodvw · August 5, 2003

That resonator tube is a bunch of crap. I don't buy that for a minute. It GM had done their homework to begin with, they would have just installed a smooth bore tube. I also noticed that the tube side and the M.A.S. are different sizes. The quest only gets more interesting......Lucky for me I work in a hose house!

vortec4800 · August 5, 2003

Haha, yeah I hear ya - if you find something where you work that will do the job well, let us know, I'm sure we'd all be happy to take part in that!

bigtruck21 · August 6, 2003

That resonator tube is a bunch of crap. I don't buy that for a minute. It GM had done their homework to begin with, they would have just installed a smooth bore tube. I also noticed that the tube side and the M.A.S. are different sizes. The quest only gets more interesting......Lucky for me I work in a hose house!

gm does this to keep things quiet (which is also restrictive) so grandma and grandpa don't have to keep taking their car in and complaining that it's making "a funny whistling noise" and they don't feel "safe"

jimw · August 12, 2003

Everything looks great with both of your setups. I'd love to do that to my sub. One big ? though... I know you mention something about rain getting up in the intake. Well what about snow? I think snow would have a tendency to travel up to the filter and get it wet when you're driving 60+ mph down the road. What do you guys think. I encounter a good amount of snow in WV. Just thinking out loud...

Any opinions before I do this mod?

Thanks

Jim

greyghost03 · August 12, 2003

Everything looks great with both of your setups. I'd love to do that to my sub. One big ? though... I know you mention something about rain getting up in the intake. Well what about snow? I think snow would have a tendency to travel up to the filter and get it wet when you're driving 60+ mph down the road. What do you guys think. I encounter a good amount of snow in WV. Just thinking out loud...
Any opinions before I do this mod?

Thanks

Jim

What I did was poked about a 1/4' hole in the tube, where it runs flat behind the towhook, at the lowest point before it starts to curve up towards the airbox.

As far as the snow - You could put the sock on like I did, or if you think it's too thin you could buy a K&N filter wrap and cut it to cover the opening and that would keep out the snow. It would, however still let some water through but if you poke the hole in the bottom of the tube that should take care of the water!

I would recommend this mod! It really opened up the breathing on my truck!

vortec4800 · August 12, 2003

Well I live in Arizona, so rain and snow aren't really big issues for me here... But about the snow the silk screen would help, and you've really gotta be movin to make the water go straight up the tube and into the airbox, then straight up through the air filter, through the MAF Screen, over the resonator tubes, and in to the intake. So I wouldn't be TOO worried, but some simple precautions you should be good