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Airaid convert


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After much trial and error I decided that I am done with the K&N typhoon. I loved the sound but it hurt performance so out it came. I got a really good deal on a new Airaid intake. With some of the positive results on here I decided why not. I installed the intake and excited I took it for a drive. I was immediately disappointed, IATs were even higher than the K&N? WTF?? And even worse was that when you got on the throttle IAT went even higher? Again WTF?? So pull the car back into the garage and wanting to take a hammer to the intake I decided to check the seal to the hood with some chalk. Wow it barely touched in 3 locations with major gaps in between. Ok that is a real problem. I had some weather so stripping left over from another project and I did this. It's similar to memory foam and is designed for high heat applications. qysuvyve.jpg All I can say is damn what a difference, I know it looks a bit ghetto but I will look for a permanent solution. I know where Airaid was going with the design and it's solid. The weather stripping on the hood from the factory does a great job of sealing the front of the box. But the back was horrid. With this setup the Intake temps were pretty much 1 degree above ambient and didn't climb much when stopped. Maybe 2 or 3 above ambient. The kicker is when I went to WOT IAT dropped like a stone to ambient and the car pulled way better. Dare I say even better than the stock intake. I hope to get out to the track to do some testing this weekend and see what happens, but I would be really surprised if the Airaid doesn't run faster than the stock intake. So in closing for those of you that have the Airaid check the seal. Btw did I mention that I have a K&N typhoon for sale? ;)

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Great work! Nice idea on the weatherstriping as a solution. Don't forget that triming the hood seal in front of the intake will help get more cool air into the intake. Also, Airaid was the first to develop a CAI for our cars and has always had great customer service...keep us updated when you get the new seal...if it works for you, I will also try to get one for my car. And congrats on finding the seal problem, it would be great if getting this problem corrected ended up the whole deal with people seeing faster times with the stock airbox...so you may have found a solution that will allow the Airaid CAI to give our cars a touch better performance!

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I will be keeping the Airaid, and will probably be getting the pre filter. The difference in this simple mod is crazy, IAT is dramatically reduced the biggest change is when heat soak sets in. I parked the car today and it sat for about an hour. Got back into it and IAT was reading 57C (135F) ambient was 26C (78F). As I left the parking lot IAT started to drop right away. I had to step on it to get into traffic. IAT went from just over 37C (100F) to ambient in just a few seconds. And then rebounded back a little higher when I let off the gas. I believe that for every 10F the temp drops you gain 1/10 of a second in the 1/4 or about that.

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Two questions' date=' first how did you get the foam to stay on? Did you use any adhesive? And lastly, did you leave the Airaid rubber seal on and put the foam over top of it, or remove the Airaid seal?[/quote']

 

The foam stripping is self adhesive, I originally attached it to the upper side of the Airaid stripping. Which worked well, I have since switched to the K&N stripping of my typhoon. It has a flatter mounting surface. Either way attach it to the top side of the stripping on your setup.

 

Here is the data log after a heat soak. Before I did this the IAT would climb initially even at 40mph when you opened the throttle. I will try to get a log without the stripping.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n55577[/ATTACH]

post-912-142532297004_thumb.jpg

post-912-142532297004_thumb.jpg

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You asked for it! here is the Airaid with the stock weatherstripping, from the graph notice when I step on it IAT goes up, not down as the 1st graph. Just for clarification, note the labels for the graph from top to bottom.

 

Between 204 and 223 you can see a wot run from a stop. Look at what happens to the intake temp, it soars.

 

 

 

IAT1 Temp (At the air cleaner)

CAC Temp After the CAC before the TB

IAT2 in the intake manifold.

TP throttle position

VSS Speed in KM/H

Boost in kPa

 

From this graph pay notice to when I open the throttle, temp actually goes up. This is even when the car is at speed, so the majority of the air being drawn is from the engine bay. So there you have it, I would say that this is definitive that the Airaid is capable of drawing in cold air. Crap what a concept a CAI that draws in cooler air.

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Gentlemen, the results are in! DA tonight was 1750. Not the best but just perfect for what I needed to do. So up till now the stock box was the best option for our cars. Well it is no more! Ran 3 runs with the Stock box and 4 with the modded Airaid. I made another improvement on the Airaid, but more on that later. Runs with the Stock box all 12.95 or Slower. Runs with the Modded Airaid, wait for it..... 12.70 to 12.83 baby! a good 2 tenths faster. for comparisons sake I took the 2 times with similar 60 foot times to prove the point.

 

Stock Airbox

 

60' 1.882

330 5.396

1/8 8.339

MPH 84.20

1000 10.860

1/4 12.990

MPH 107.62

 

Modded Airaid

 

60' 1.873

330 5.327

1/8 8.221

MPH 85.37

1000 10.732

1/4 12.803

MPH 110.48

 

And a personal best tonight of 12.703 @ 111 mph. with a 60 of 1.8 flat. At 0 or better DA it should go into the 12.5 with this setup.

 

With the butt dyno I was expecting it to be quicker, but not 2 tenths quicker. Data logging confirmed that the Airaid was able to recover quicker and had a lower IAT throughout the runs (almost ambient after 3 seconds). I also assume that there was less resistance and the cooler IAT resulted in boost being slightly lower with the Airaid then the stock box.

 

This is interesting as the is the complete opposite result to the K&N typhoon to the stock box test I did a few weeks ago. I now know what needs to be done to the Airaid and will post a how to in a separate thread. Ok now I am going to bed lol.

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Great news and great times! Congratulations! Thanks for doing your test. I'm starting to lean towards the LME Windstorm now. Need to decide by Monday to save shipping costs.

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Thanks and great results, I will be performing this mod to my Airaid...I really think you should contact Airaid with your finding, They have always been great working with the SHO Ecoboost and I'm sure they would welcome your input and the numbers that back it up. Heck, I know if I had a company and you found a simple alteration that would increase performance, you'd be on my team as quick as I could snatch you up! Congrats and thanks for your work!

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Thanks and great results' date=' I will be performing this mod to my Airaid...I really think you should contact Airaid with your finding, They have always been great working with the SHO Ecoboost and I'm sure they would welcome your input and the numbers that back it up. Heck, I know if I had a company and you found a simple alteration that would increase performance, you'd be on my team as quick as I could snatch you up! Congrats and thanks for your work![/quote'] Thanks! Time well spent. I plan on speaking to Airaid on Monday, hopefully they are able to incorporate the idea into future designs. Helping the community one step at a time.
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