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OK so here is the proposed plan.
1. Make Styrofoam molds of the scoop w/flange
2. Make plenum chamber out of Styrofoam
3. Fiberglass the pieces
4. Desolve the Styrofoam, thus left with molds.
5. Sand, Paint, Wax, Heat reflective material, and Heat Shield near headers
6. Connect pipe, box and scoop

General rule of thumb is to have the Chamber 1.5-2 times the engine displacment. In our case, 2.25L-3.4L


Holes on the bottom to water drainage. And this pipe actually goes under the radiator hose.
I know the gains are minimal but i cruise 30 miles to and from work/school doing 70-80, so its perfect for me. Its simple, kinda cheap and could potentially actually make a difference, so i have been around these forums enough to know that cheap and good dont go together unless something is really thought out. I need input, any opinions....?

 
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i wanna see if this works out. you may want to look at some of the older pontiac factory ram air setups to see how a working design should look.

 
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even though it wont do much of any thing for you, i think its kind of a neat idea. you can definitely say its some custom work, thats for sure.

what im wondering is why you are going so far towards the driver side of the grill though rather than going towards the passenger side of the grill. im sure you can fit it somewhere around that big radiator hose, cant you?

by going to the driver side:
a) its further for the air to go
b) it also makes the air go almost in a forward, left, then forward again motion rather than pretty much just straight in
c) you are right near the header and engine, so even with a heatshield it still will draw some heat in. when its to the left its a big empty space with nothing there.

i see you have your battery relocated too, are you able to rig something up to make use of all that space?

 
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Easy answer: Radiator support plus latch and radiator fill point in the way...ZOOM in really close and you can see it in the way. The drivers side is the only route,(Over the headers) without tearing into the hood or going down under the car.(and still be unseen). But when you think about it.....for that fast moving air to be heated up by anything hot inside the engine bag its going to need alot of surface area...so the air getting heated up by the engine is not a concern. melting and deformity are more of what i will be trying to prevent with aluminum heat shield and aluminum tape

 
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yea thats what i figured. heat shouldnt be a big problem for the air, but mainly just for the unit itself.

im interested to see how it goes.

 
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ha yea you and me both...im making it with my uncle (retired from Boeing and 20yrs flying helicopters for the army) so hes good with **** like this, and i sure will try anything once. so will just wing it and see what works and what dont.

 
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when are you planning to do it? keep us updated.

id also suggest making the thing, getting it mounted and everything and testing it out, seeing if you like it...before doing any of the sanding, priming, painting, finishing fitment, etc etc. just so you dont do it all and get disappointed haha.

 
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well first ima get these kyb's and sportlines on then the air box..prolly in about 2 weeks or so i should be started on it...Molding it out(cause im sure thats going to be a bitch) and it will prolly take a couple times to get it how i want it.

 
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What I want to know is how do you dissolve Styrofoam?

 
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Acetone, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188980

 
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Acetone dissolves styrofoam. Pore a little nail polish remover in a styrofoam cup but do it outside or over a sink.

I think your idea is worthwhile and an interesting project. Some of the most effective cold air intakes back in the 60's and 70's were the Olds 442 and Chevy Chevelle. The '69 442 had intakes under the front bumper and the '70 442 had large scoops at the front edge of the hood. The Chevelle pulled air from the base of the windshield, the '70 had a flap at the back of the hood that would open and the '69 had a duct that attached to an opening in the firewall in the engine compartment. I mention these because they all pull from high pressure areas and I think your placement in the grill is similar. From what I remember there isn't much ram effect until highway speeds but it should help offset the additional ducting. The Chevy version that ducted into the plenum at the base of the windshield always seemed very effective. It was pulling from the same system that feeds the air vents inside the car. I don't think it was as popular as the other systems because people wanted to see the scoops.
Depending on how directly the system supplies air, you have to deal with water. The systems that had scoops in the middle of the hood usually also had flaps that were vacuume controlled and only opened under moderate to heavy throttle. I don't think your design will have a problem with rain but you might want to make sure that it is angled so that when you wash the car water isn't trapped anywhere. I did notice your drain holes, just make sure you can't trap water in another section and pull it in faster than the holes can drain.
Something else to think about is the air can be too cold. Some intake systems have a temperature controlled valve to mix preheated air with the outside air. The venturi effect of air passing through the throttle body can cause icing. Depending on where you live and the design of your system this may not be a problem, just something to consider.
I like your lost foam design. If you have access to a pair of thermocouples it would be interesting to mount one inside the cold air system at the throttle body and one outside the system and measure the difference.

 
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cool custom work but pointless for our cars.

 
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Well I mean if you really wanna get techinal, nothing is worth doing to any car cause you won't get your money back out of it. Most the people on this forum spend money, time, and effort cause it's their hobby, and there is a sense of self accomplishment when you do or make something custom. But yes gains will be minimal but bright side of this mod is I can take it off if I want to and it won't cost much to make.

I'm going to start molding the stryofoam in about 2 days, pics will follow.

The key here is to find an area with high pressure. The front of the car and right below the windshield are the 2 main areas that you want to induce air. I was thinking if I had an extra hood lying around I could cut a rectangular hole insert a grill and connect to the air chamber( that would be directly below it). And of course do the same to the other side to make it look good. But this is assuming I have the bronze to hack the hood up.... Ha na...

 
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i like this idea got me thinking, that hood layer thing could work... like for e.g on an impreza, but obviously not so obvious.
Two little flutes in the bonnet on a rubber seal to some custom aluminum fabbed tubes to the tb, dunno were the filter would go though.....

 
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Ok iv been doing some numbers and trying to think of different ways to accomplish a higher intake pressure without turbo or supercharger.

Lets just say i could find a way to increase air flow 28% at 6500 RPM?

My idea is this. Get a Jabsco 4in 12vdc blower drawing 9amps moving 250CFM, with the push of a button.

OK BEFORE EVERYONE FREAKS OUT

1. This would never work on an engine bigger than 1.8 to 1.9 liters. (It just barely works for a 1.7L)
2. Our Alternators make 30 amps at idle, (or so the meter read when i had it checked). So 9 amps is not alot of draw especially when the ac is not on and you have a decent battery.

@6500rpm our engine draws in 92L/sec
1cfm=.4712L/s
250CFM=117.8 L/s
@3000rpm 117% Increase
@4000rpm 106% Increase
@5000rpm 66% Increase
@6500rpm 28% Increase.

To the wheels i dont see why i could not see a 10% increase in TQ and HP
From Stock rated 117 to 126 Or 9 Horse power for around 150 bucks. AND not to mention way more HP and TQ at LOWER rpms and a flatter dyno curve.

So some would say....Energy. Ok, Its on a button so i CAN turn it off. It only takes 9amps at 12vdc so it COULD be on all the time. My goal here is not to conserve energy. Its to go faster when i want to, duh, ha.
Fuel: Would i need to find a way to make my engine run a little rich.(o2 Sensor extension would do this?) or would i need something more drastic?

To me this seems like it would work. The RAM air box might help as well but will see about that. ANY comments
http://www.coolebuys.com/jabsco-flex...r-p-38251.html

 
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can it stay on for long periods tho non stop without overheating, and will the car sound like a leaf blower all the time?

 
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Yes it can stay on as long as your car has the 9 extra amps to run it it. Also I have emailed them asking how loud it is but my guess is you prolly will be able to hear it but it won't be a high pitch wine. Iv emailed them and asked this question.

I think wiring it 2 diff ways and being able to switch back and forth would be nice. 1. Only on under wot. 2. Simply ON, and off of course.

 
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lol this topic is going in some strange directions!

 
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How much increase you see would depend on how much pressure the blower can generate not the CFM. Your assumption is that 250 CFM always goes into the engine, but most of it will simply be backpressure at the blower. I'm just guessing but I doubt the blower could generate 1/10 of a PSI boost in pressure. If you can find the manufacture and get the specs you may be able to calculate the pressure.

 
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Something else to think about is that you may have to leave it on all the time since the only path for the air is through the blower. If it is not on then the air is spinning the blower which would be a restriction.

 
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Ok so iv been thinking and need some advice about the stock engine managment system. Say I were to install this blower on the intake of my car, would the mass air flow sensor sense the increase in air and add more fuel to compensate?

1. If so would it be instantanious? Or would I need to have it on all the time to let the computer " learn" the fuel curve?

2. My idea is to replace the dc motor with a higher rpm motor and add a 2 or 3 farad capacitor so when I hit the button it won't drain the electrical system as much. Only would need power to the motor for 10-15 seconds. (cap would recharge much more quickly than a battery while not in use)

Comments?

 
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you would have to let the computer relearn it... same as if u added a sri or cai

 
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So in other words, it would have to be on all the time?

Is there a way to add more fuel on demand?

 
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yeah it would have to be on all the time... i dont think there is a way to get more fuel on demand but i could be wrong

 
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I was thinking, how do nitrous systems give more fuel? Or do they?

 
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they dont ur just adding another highly flammable gas into ur combustion chamber making the ingtion of the mixture more violent therefore u get more power

 
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it would have to stay on for ecu to learn, with nitrous you have a piggyback fuel controler setup like vafcII to add fuel otherwise you risk blowing the motor every time you spray. and our cars have MAP sensor not MAF. it does make short term adjustments based on air pressure, but still needs to learn for long term WOT fuel trims.