Cold Air Intake for SOS kit
07-03-2011, 05:04 PM
#11
I've only had it out for a brief run so far, and I've got mixed opinions. At idle and at cruise, it does make the setup quieter so I don't have to hear the gear noise from the blower. No rattles or other unexpected issues. 4" looks like it might fit if you were willing to remove that headlight bracket, and/or cut into it farther. The piping is in there really tight the way I installed it, and I'm actually most worried that it could push too hard against the back of the headlight. It's 1/16" aluminum, much thicker and stronger than the thin sheetmetal I cut through, so I am not worried about the edges cutting into the pipe.
The question in my mind is whether it restricts performance any. The car doesn't feel uber strong at the moment, though that could be from heatsoak sitting at a light on a 94 degree day before running it. I'm going to see if I can get my laptop hooked up to the E-manage so I can log boost levels and AFR's to see if the CAI affects performance. With luck I'll get that sorted out for a run tomorrow morning when it's a bit cooler.
The question in my mind is whether it restricts performance any. The car doesn't feel uber strong at the moment, though that could be from heatsoak sitting at a light on a 94 degree day before running it. I'm going to see if I can get my laptop hooked up to the E-manage so I can log boost levels and AFR's to see if the CAI affects performance. With luck I'll get that sorted out for a run tomorrow morning when it's a bit cooler.
07-04-2011, 06:26 PM
#13
Well, I thought about it and realized that without a baseline, I really didn't have any way to be sure that the CAI didn't restrict the flow. And with a road trip and my next tune both coming up fast, I decided I'd better take it out and mess with it later. So, I removed it and put the filter back where SOS located it. I'll fiddle around with this in a couple weeks after my tune, and I'll get a good baseline first. Thinking about maybe going 4" too.
Some pics for your amusement, since I have it off the car now:
Some pics for your amusement, since I have it off the car now:
07-15-2011, 12:53 PM
#14
All right, before I say anything, let's make sure you are properly prepared.
Activate and arm your Internet BS detector. Reload your flamethrower. Put new batteries in your keyboard, and hit caps lock so you're ready to reply. Because....
...Wait for it...
...Wait for it...
My CAI made 44whp on the dyno!!!
No, I'm not making this up. And yes, there are a ton of possible explanations. Let's get into the details.
I was at Forged Performance in Marietta, GA today for a re-tune because I had just swapped my SOS kit to the 3.2" pulley. I brought the CAI along with me in case we might have enough time to try it out on the dyno. We did not have much time at all because the car before me took a long time to tune and Sharif had a plane to catch tonight. So, he tuned the car and it made 377whp @ 15.5psi on the 3.2" pulley.
Then I asked Sharif if I could quickly install the CAI just to see if it restricted airflow into the SC. We did not have time to pull the front bumper off, and the full install takes almost an hour because it's so tight in there. So I just pulled the filter off the SOS intake and installed the CAI with it sticking out of the top of the engine bay. So, the (same) filter was now basically sticking up right in front of the fan for the dyno instead of hanging below the passenger headlight. Sharif turned the car off while I was doing this.
I finished tightening the clamps and then Sharif started the car and did a quick pull. 421whp. A 44whp gain. You shoulda seen his face! He didn't believe it was possible, so he did a second pull that matched the first. You can see the prior 377whp power curve and the two 421whp curves in this dyno chart. It also shows the effect the CAI had on my AFR's.
Now, the obvious question is WTF happened? Here are some possible explanations.
1. I had a box built around the back side of the filter to block the hot engine bay air from entering the filter (in the normal SOS location). This might have been working too well, essentially blocking air from entering a big portion of the filter.
2. Somehow, having the filter that much closer to the fan got it much more cold air.
3. The SC really likes to have a column of air moving through a pipe, which gives it time to build momentum after making the turn in through the filter.
4. Sharif turning the car on and off somehow pissed off the E-manage Ultimate and it started making more power.
5. The slightly higher AFR's made more power.
6. Something weird happened with the dyno.
The other question is, does that gain still materialize when the CAI is actually in its proper location under the headlight? We had to take the car off the dyno after those pulls, so we don't know. I'll drive around and do some data logging later this weekend to see if I still hit the same boost level and AFR's.
Anyway, have fun scratching your head over this one!!
I couldn't be happier. We now know that a CAI with 3.5" piping doesn't restrict a Novi 1200 even at 15.5psi, and I can claim 421whp on a super low reading dyno. The whole shop came over to check it out because this was so unexpected.
Activate and arm your Internet BS detector. Reload your flamethrower. Put new batteries in your keyboard, and hit caps lock so you're ready to reply. Because....
...Wait for it...
...Wait for it...
My CAI made 44whp on the dyno!!!
No, I'm not making this up. And yes, there are a ton of possible explanations. Let's get into the details.
I was at Forged Performance in Marietta, GA today for a re-tune because I had just swapped my SOS kit to the 3.2" pulley. I brought the CAI along with me in case we might have enough time to try it out on the dyno. We did not have much time at all because the car before me took a long time to tune and Sharif had a plane to catch tonight. So, he tuned the car and it made 377whp @ 15.5psi on the 3.2" pulley.
Then I asked Sharif if I could quickly install the CAI just to see if it restricted airflow into the SC. We did not have time to pull the front bumper off, and the full install takes almost an hour because it's so tight in there. So I just pulled the filter off the SOS intake and installed the CAI with it sticking out of the top of the engine bay. So, the (same) filter was now basically sticking up right in front of the fan for the dyno instead of hanging below the passenger headlight. Sharif turned the car off while I was doing this.
I finished tightening the clamps and then Sharif started the car and did a quick pull. 421whp. A 44whp gain. You shoulda seen his face! He didn't believe it was possible, so he did a second pull that matched the first. You can see the prior 377whp power curve and the two 421whp curves in this dyno chart. It also shows the effect the CAI had on my AFR's.
Now, the obvious question is WTF happened? Here are some possible explanations.
1. I had a box built around the back side of the filter to block the hot engine bay air from entering the filter (in the normal SOS location). This might have been working too well, essentially blocking air from entering a big portion of the filter.
2. Somehow, having the filter that much closer to the fan got it much more cold air.
3. The SC really likes to have a column of air moving through a pipe, which gives it time to build momentum after making the turn in through the filter.
4. Sharif turning the car on and off somehow pissed off the E-manage Ultimate and it started making more power.
5. The slightly higher AFR's made more power.
6. Something weird happened with the dyno.
The other question is, does that gain still materialize when the CAI is actually in its proper location under the headlight? We had to take the car off the dyno after those pulls, so we don't know. I'll drive around and do some data logging later this weekend to see if I still hit the same boost level and AFR's.
Anyway, have fun scratching your head over this one!!
I couldn't be happier. We now know that a CAI with 3.5" piping doesn't restrict a Novi 1200 even at 15.5psi, and I can claim 421whp on a super low reading dyno. The whole shop came over to check it out because this was so unexpected.
07-15-2011, 12:58 PM
#15
More info...
Here's the HP / TQ chart from the final pull with the CAI installed.
Here's the torque curve vs. boost plot. You can see that the boost doesn't fall off at high rpm. No restriction due to the CAI...
Here's a pic of the CAI sticking up. The fan is the big blue thing. Don't miss the front license place on the Vortech V3-trim supercharged M3 in the next bay...
Here's another shot from the opposite angle. Yeah, the filter is up in the air stream, but is the regular SOS filter location really that much farther away from the fan?
For reference, here's a shot of the air box that was supposed to block hot air from getting to the filter. Maybe it worked a bit too well?
Here's the HP / TQ chart from the final pull with the CAI installed.
Here's the torque curve vs. boost plot. You can see that the boost doesn't fall off at high rpm. No restriction due to the CAI...
Here's a pic of the CAI sticking up. The fan is the big blue thing. Don't miss the front license place on the Vortech V3-trim supercharged M3 in the next bay...
Here's another shot from the opposite angle. Yeah, the filter is up in the air stream, but is the regular SOS filter location really that much farther away from the fan?
For reference, here's a shot of the air box that was supposed to block hot air from getting to the filter. Maybe it worked a bit too well?
07-15-2011, 01:31 PM
#17
Well if you consider that yes its closer to the fan, and it’s completely isolated from under the hood temps and your afr affectively leaned out, its all very plausible. 44whp is definitely a larger increase then I would have thought however. Half of that would seem great. So now the big question, how much of this will you lose when you install it in its proper location. Hope to find out. Seems like what ever you lose, you should be able to retain some of that power I hope. Good going on the intake, looks nice 
07-15-2011, 01:33 PM
#18
Thanks! I took some vids too. They're 720p, but Flickr seems to downgrade the quality when I upload them. I might try youtube later.
I have yet to figure out how to post videos here, but here's a link to the 377whp pull. Sorry for the crap camera work at first, my phone battery was nearly dead so I was trying to conserve power and didn't have it ready.
http://www.flickr.co...N06/5940782987/
In this one you can see the intake sticking out. This was one of the last pulls @ 421whp. I was in such a hurry to swap in the CAI that I left the trunk open! Haha.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38982246@N06/5941320158/
I have yet to figure out how to post videos here, but here's a link to the 377whp pull. Sorry for the crap camera work at first, my phone battery was nearly dead so I was trying to conserve power and didn't have it ready.
http://www.flickr.co...N06/5940782987/
In this one you can see the intake sticking out. This was one of the last pulls @ 421whp. I was in such a hurry to swap in the CAI that I left the trunk open! Haha.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38982246@N06/5941320158/
07-15-2011, 01:57 PM
#20
I freaking knew it!! The stock location for the SoS filter is in a horrible position, its getting hot air thrown at it directly from the radiator and also soaking up ALOT of heat from the SC itself.
Looks like your mod increased the efficiency of the compressor and gave you some very nice numbers. I put the Comptech Ice box back on my kit and the butt dyno says it has definitely picked up some power. Your dyno plots are solid proof that the placement of the intake is very significant on power levels.
My power dropped significantly as well when I had just the filter hanging out in the SOS stock position, now only a re dyno will tell.
Looks like your mod increased the efficiency of the compressor and gave you some very nice numbers. I put the Comptech Ice box back on my kit and the butt dyno says it has definitely picked up some power. Your dyno plots are solid proof that the placement of the intake is very significant on power levels.
My power dropped significantly as well when I had just the filter hanging out in the SOS stock position, now only a re dyno will tell.