Diy Icebox *updated*

[dubcac]

Well after hydrolocking last week during a monsoonal downpour and almost kissing my motor goodbye, and the mounting bracket arm ripping off of my CAI and creating a hole years ago (which I sealed with a rubber sleeve and hose clamps), I decided it was time to kiss my CAI goodbye. I thought of cutting it into a short ram, and then I got an idea of a DIY icebox. Would the cone K&N filter fit inside the OEM airbox? Hrmm...let's find out.

Remove your CAI filter and tube if you have one, or your short ram air filter..you can leave the short ram tube in for now.

If you have your stock airbox, find it, and remove the top cover. There are three phillips head screws holding it down. You can also use an 8mm wrench/socket to get them off. There's the crappy OEM filter...blah.



Yank out the old filter. Looks like there's some decent space in there.



Looks like it will fit so far. I had to press it in just a tad to get it to fit.



Put the top cover back on for a test fit. Yep, it fits!



Take the cover back off, and remove the filter. Bolt the OEM airbox into your engine bay, and put the filter back in.



All you CAI guys, this is when you start cutting. I cut mine just before the bend where it starts to go down, for a test fit of the tube. It was close, but I ended up cutting another inch and a half or 2 inches off in order for it to fit correctly. Short ram guys, I don't know if you'll need to cut. Test it to see if it will fit, if it doesn't, eyeball it and make a cut. Take the cutting slowly, better to need to cut off a little more than to cut too much.

Connect the filter to the tube, and put the filter back into the airbox. Then maneuver the intake tube back to the throttle body sleeve and tighten the clamps. Now you have a DIY icebox, and didn't have to spend an arm and a leg on one from Comptech.


The finished product.






Once I drive it a little bit, I'll let you know how it works out. I may cut the bottom of the airbox out so it can get more air.

[Calesta]

Very nice! I haven't gotten around to it, but I'm planning on making my own ice box setup. You can't run a CAI safely in Houston, bypass valve or not.

[dubcac]

Originally posted by Calesta@Oct 31 2004, 10:35 AM
Very nice!* I haven't gotten around to it, but I'm planning on making my own ice box setup.* You can't run a CAI safely in Houston, bypass valve or not.

I was hoping this would work...if not, I was just going to cut and bend some sheet metal to make a heat shield for it. The only thing I'm worried about with this is the tight fit of the filter in the airbox...I think it might starve the filter of air. I'll drive it and see, maybe cut out the bottom of the airbox. I'm also going to run a hose into the fender or bumper to get cold air.

[Calesta]

Yeah it looks a bit tight- but the Comptech Ice Box has a similar clearance in their box. Then again, they also use a foam filter, not a cone- there's probably more pass through volume in the foam filter compared to the wide perimeter of a cone on a metal frame- but then again, who knows. I was going to make my box out of aluminum sheet metal with ceramic high temp paint on it.

[dubcac]

Did some more work yesterday and today on it and finished it up.

The first thing I did was seal the back of the airbox where the intake tube comes in. The OEM air filter has an angled pipe, and a collar with rubber seal that seals with the airbox. I used a hacksaw to cut the pipe off of the filter, and then cut off the angled part as well, leaving the large circular piece with rubber seal, and about a quarter inch of pipe on either side. Due to the piece being angled, the hole looks oblong as you look through it, and it will not fit over the K&N rubber sleeve. I used a dremel to open it up, and allow it to fit over the K&N. A little force, and it fits and seals perfectly. The intake is pretty quiet now that I sealed that hole up.



My next order of business was an extension pipe going into the fender, like the Comptech icebox. The problem with the OEM box is that the hole in the bottom is oval shaped, so regular PVC pipe won't fit.



I still had my OEM resonator box from the fender, so I decided to use the hacksaw again. I cut the pipe going from the resonator to the airbox and used it for my icebox setup. It fits perfectly into the bottom of the airbox, and was already designed to go into the fender.



The comptech unit has the opening to the pipe facing forward, so that it can draw air in easily. The OEM pipe is facing the fender...what to do? I got a 2" diameter long elbow from Home Depot. It is close to fitting into the end of the OEM pipe, but not quite. The opening is large enough to fit, but it tapers about a half inch or so into the pipe. I used an air grinder to grind down the outside of the elbow.



With a little manipulation and force it fits in very nicely. Then I connected the OEM pipe into the airbox to see what the angle of the elbow needed to be in relation to the pipe, in order to face forward.



I mixed up a bunch of JB weld and applied it liberally to where the pipe and elbow meet, in order to seal it. I installed the tube/elbow setup into the airbox, and I noticed a problem. The OEM resonator is what held the tube into place in the airbox...without the resonator, the tube isn't held in very tightly. It seals, but the connection isn't strong enough to keep the tube from falling out when the car bounces around while driving, etc. I used some backstrapping and bent it to fit onto the airbox, and down to the intake tube. I used one screw on the airbox, and one on the tube to attach it. It's not going anywhere now

[dubcac]

Updated with new image tags for a new pic host.