Home made CAI under $50 bucks

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GOTGOO
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Home made CAI under $50 bucks

Postby GOTGOO » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:16 pm

Its getting painted black tomorrow. Everything but the filter was bought at Lowes. I did use the straight section of the air box lid for the mass air flow sensor but left enough on the lid so it could be reatached with a rubber grommet. Still in testing I need to make a braket cause the zip ties are oh so ugly!
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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Sat Apr 04, 2009 8:21 am

Finished except for a bracket and some sheet metal work to make it a true CAI.
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Gonzo
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Postby Gonzo » Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:37 am

Looks good except for the zip ties holding it. I might just be anal about it. A braket under or over it might do the trick. Looks good though.

Gonzo

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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:00 pm

Thanks. Yeah the zip ties are a temp fix I plan on making a nice bracket and boxing the filter in to suck air from the fender hole. I would have made it but it was a nice day so I went mountain biking instead!

LittleStevie
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Postby LittleStevie » Sat Apr 04, 2009 6:23 pm

Sweet. Nice to see someone getting creative and not shelling out big $ for something on the mass market.

As far as the zip ties and white PVC go, who cares? Not like you're going to be showing off the engine at a show. CAI on a Pathfinder is purely functional and I really wouldn't care how it looks if it's under the hood.

The fender hole air box is probably critical though...I would imagine that the whole setup is not worth much if it's just sucking hot air from the engine compartment.

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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:17 pm

Thanks! I think I may shorten it a little and add another 45* piece to the end. That should get me over the lower half of the stock air box then i'll just make a lid for it that buts to the hood. I'll take pics of whatever I do to it. The way I look at it even if I spent $100 look how much you can save.

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myriad46
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Postby myriad46 » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:02 pm

The only peice that I don't see is any kind of water diverter. In many of the aftermarket models, there is a baffle in the engine compartment that will allow air to be drawn in if the engine needs to pull too hard on the main air filter, due to it getting too wet.

Hope it's not under warranty, cause when it fires a 02 sensor, they're not available at NAPA and cost about $500.

Nothing personal, but I got burned on an ebay special for my previous Sentra. Good luck.

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Postby SHAWNATGERBROCK » Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:16 pm

... First off its not a CAI ... Thats a WAI ... The stock air box is CAI ... I bet you would see a loss on a dyno on a hot day with that setup ... Probably no gains to a loss all the time ..

I guess that a great setup for a beater , but for a newer car ... I had that same setup on my wifes old '87 Mustang a couple years back ..

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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:08 pm

I'm aware its not a cai at this point i need another 45 to get me over the box then ill make the lid. If you would have read what I posted you would aleady know this and I wouldn't be on repeat... Take a look at this one its a straight shot nothing fancy just $300+ chunk of plastic and a heat sheild. Mine is just less than a third of the cost, the same idea and function as this. As for a baffle i could see the use of one if my filter was behind the bumper sucking up puddles and I bet that this one here doesn't have one. If your going to criticize make it constructive criticism instead of saying its ok for a beater now you just look like an ass.
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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:31 am

GOTGOO wrote:I'm aware its not a cai at this point i need another 45 to get me over the box then ill make the lid. If you would have read what I posted you would aleady know this and I wouldn't be on repeat... Take a look at this one its a straight shot nothing fancy just $300+ chunk of plastic and a heat sheild. Mine is just less than a third of the cost, the same idea and function as this. As for a baffle i could see the use of one if my filter was behind the bumper sucking up puddles and I bet that this one here doesn't have one. If your going to criticize make it constructive criticism instead of saying its ok for a beater now you just look like an ass.
wow... if your going to let that little comment get to you... i should probably gear up for a fight...

the "heat shield" you are referring to isnt really a heat shield. as in, it isnt there to protect the materials from direct heat from the engine components... it is really there to seal against the hood, and to force the K&N intake (in your picture) to pull air from outside the engine compartment. to get nit-picky, that K&N isnt really a true CAI either, but it will at least pull cooler air from the outside. your intake is going to pull hot/warm air from the engine bay, and since hot/warm air is less dense than cool/cold air, you will potentially lose HP compared to the stock air intake. even though the stock intake might be a little more restrictive, it is drawing air from outside, and the air will probably be cooler than the air your intake is drawing in.

btw, yours doesnt actually have the same function as the K&N, since the K&N shown will be drawing in cooler air from outside the engine bay... :P

neither yours, nor the K&N, will suck up water... if either were low enough to cause concern, a warm air bypass valve could be installed within the engine compartment, to prevent either intake from drawing up water during severe wet weather...

Edit: oh, one other thing... i know there is a temperature limit on PVC, and i think it is something around 140 deg F. i know you can soften/collapse it with hot water, but i don't know the temperature where that starts to happen. you may want to keep an eye on this, especially if you do any long duration drives... it would suck to collapse the air intake.

~mike

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Postby NVSteve » Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:49 am

MonkeyMike wrote:i know there is a temperature limit on PVC, and i think it is something around 140 deg F.
That was my first thought. Very nice setup with quite a bit of effort & polish, but I just don't know about the PVC. I wonder if wrapping it in foil tape would help deflect some of the heat.

SHAWNATGERBROCK
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Postby SHAWNATGERBROCK » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:06 am

Only true CAI would be a sealed box with a tube to the fender well ( like the stock air box ) , or having the filter inside the fender well ...

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Postby GOTGOO » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:29 am

Temp rating never thought of that so thanks i took it all out and went a differnt route. I think this should flow better than stock filter and still cheaper than a k&n drop in.
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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:39 am

wow... if your going to let that little comment get to you... i should probably gear up for a fight...
No need for that I'm just a little on edge because i've been raising a kid for nine months and just found out he's not mine got to love DNA testing... To make it worst the bit*h is still trying to get me for child support..

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:39 pm

GOTGOO wrote:
wow... if your going to let that little comment get to you... i should probably gear up for a fight...
No need for that I'm just a little on edge because i've been raising a kid for nine months and just found out he's not mine got to love DNA testing... To make it worst the bit*h is still trying to get me for child support..
ouch!

~mike


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