Cold air intake question
 

Hi,

Not sure if I should post in this particular sub-forum...

Anyways. I have been talking about getting a cold air intake installed for a while. A co-worker/friend overheard me at work, and approached me a few days ago. He told me he had one installed on his previous car. When he sold the car he put back the stock intake, so he had all the parts needed laying at home. He offered me to come by his house and we could try to install it, free of charge.

It sounded like a good idea so I said yes. The guy is no expert but I figured a cold air intake was something simple and easy to install. We spent an hour or two cutting and drilling his parts to make it fit under my hood. We managed to do a good job, and now everything is snug and secure.

But now its been a few days and I'm wondering.. is there a risk I could be running "lean" with this setup? The MAF sensor was correctly installed (there's not check engine light) in the new intake. But I read that a change in diameter could "mess up" the sensor and give false readings. The diameter of the new intake is slightly larger ( ~0.5 - 1 cm).

I just wanted to save a few bucks but I dont want to do any damage to my engine. I'm no expert (obviously), thats why I'm asking for your opinions.

Thanks!

Hi @JuicyFruits and welcome to .... The Forum .......:clap:

I'm no expert on CIAs for this car, but, from what I understand the basic OEM system is pretty darn good. However, I did drop in a K&N filter figuring it would be free-er flowing. I reckon it is ..... cause it "sounds" faster ..... ;)

Now about that bastardized system you congured up ..... it may be just fine, then again it may be messing with the engine.

If I were you, I would yank it off, reinstall the OEM air box and slip in a free-er flowing filter ........ and call it a "mod" ...... :)


humfrz

Your stocks probably performed better than what you have on now. I would def put it back and like @humgrz said, put a drop-in and call it a day.


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Highly doubt the new intake is causing any harm, also doubt it's gaining you any power, more likely producing less than stock.

The stock intake is already pulling in cold air. An aftermarket intake is not necessary and usually counterproductive.

Yes, a change in tube diameter requires changing MAF scaling.

No, you probably aren't running lean, that will be corrected by fuel trims in closed loop. That's what the o2 sensor is for. If you log data, you will notice that the short-term and long-term fuel trims probably changed when you put the intake in.

You could see a slight dip in MPG too. The intake was designed for the air tube that is on it.

I look at it like this....Cosworth spent a lot of R&D $'s on engineering a complete package for the platform and decided that the best option for improving air intake to the system was a high flow drop in air filter. If they had included a full CAI in any one of the stages it would have been able to sell on it's own and they would have made money on it, instead they are making a strong and ethical statement that there is no power benefit with with a non-stock CAI.

Go back to stock. The larger diameter will make you go lean when in Open Loop.

If you needed to drill and cut, then we can assume this wasn't designed for your car. With that in mind, first question is: Is it a true CAI? If not then it will most likely be worse than your stock. Post a pic, it might help form better opinions from people.

:suicide:

It was designed by him for his car man. It's a rare one off CAI.

NO.

Long Term Fuel Trim is applied in open loop calculation. After the intake is installed, once the LTFT is stabilized, it will NOT run lean in open loop.

Thanks guys.

I havent noticed any change in performance so far. That wasnt my goal in the first place. I wanted a different sound mostly.

Still i'll probly go back to stock once the novelty wears off. Just wanted to be sure that a few weeks \ months wont damage anything.

Thanks!

UPDATE!

After roughly one month, I have enjoyed the following ;

-Better MPG
-Deep, satisfying sound reminiscent of a V8 engine
-Gains of 30 HP

Alas, the car also developed a tendency to stall at idle. This was mildly annoying so I put the stock intake back in.

Guess I need to work on my design :P