CAI on a turbo

Little Beavis

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2001 MP3-T (#911)
(attn)

Well, I installed a CAI on my turbo before driving back from the Spool Open House . . . all I can say is WOW! It made a huge difference. :D

And no, I'm not joking. I expected it to do very little for me, but while cruising through VA, MD, PA, OH, ID, and IL (long drive), I noticed that the car ran much better. My EGT readings moved up a good 10 C (it was WAY rich before), pulls better and I can't complain at all. :eek:

I'll get to posting pics and such later, but I wanted to know how many turbos have a cold air intake and if they noticed a big difference as well. I mean, I expected this would look cool and helped a little, but in my case it made a big difference (my brother drove the car before and after and he said the same thing. . .actually before I did, because I thought I was smoking something). (hippy)

So, we have two (count 'em 2) calibrated butt dynos that say this thing made more power! (shocked)

I'm guessing a few of you have done this. What were your results?
 
i was thinking about doing this b4 but i wasnt sure if if would make that much of a difference. i still have all the pipes from my injen cai. how did u do it, where did u run the pipe?
 
I ran it right down the hole on the driver's side.

I really need to get pictures, but my battery is dead and I'm tired (just got home from the open house an hour ago). Long ass drive!

Anyway, I got new tubes made at Spool, since I didn't have an Injen.

I know Igdrasil did the same sort of thing with his Injen. Hopefully he comments on it. . .I know he posted a picture of it before, but I don't remember where and search give a million hits.
 
Oh come now. . .more of you must have tried this?

Am I on crack?

Anyway, I thought the car ran noticeably less rich, that being because I had my air temp sensor kind of hanging and then the cold air was sucking in cooler temp air. . thus I was getting closer to where I needed to be rather than just being super rich. Make sense?

Someone has to have tried this as well. . .did it make a difference? I'm still in shock that it helped out as much as it did.
 
No beavis your not on crack, or are you? Ive been using my cai from the begining, if you look at my pics you can see it. It sounds great when the turbo is spooling
 
No, I'm not on crack. . . :)

I'm just confused. . .I remember all the talk when the MP3 came out about how the Protege motor did not produce more horsepower with a CAI, so one wasn't used (even though Racing Beat had designed one, or I should say cobbled one up). Then the turbos came out and some of the same talk surfaced again.

Anyway, word was that there were no gains to be had, but I definitely felt a gain by adding it.
 
Beavis man, before and after dyno! Do it up!

Where did you hang your IAT? in the engine bay or in the "cold" fender well?

I wanna do mine soon too...I can't argue w/ four buttcheeks.
 
Can't do the dyno thing, they want like $125 each time. . .not right. Not worth it maybe. . .

The IAT was sitting right by the opening for the cold air intake, so kind of in, kind of out.

I like the slight change in sound as well (a little less of a sucking sound as boost is applied), the noise is still there, just doesn't come into the car as much (if that makes sense).

Now, I need to get some pictures up. . .need to fix a few things first. . .to clean up that area. . .

It wasn't cheap though in terms of all the stainless and silicone fittings it used. . .those things add up fast.
 
As soon as I get my car back from Spool I will let you know about my CAI......not that I will be able to independantly tell with all the other mods.....but hey....I still brag about it!!!!!
(lol)
 
Picture of Spool CAI

Here is a picture of my new cold air intake. . .sitting on my kitchen floor (took it out while messing with some other things).

Stainless baby!
 

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INSTALLED!

Time to drool (or something). . .

Okay, who wants one?

:D

Sorry the pic is pretty big and not really that good, I guess, but it certainly lets you see it.
 

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Thanks. . .I did it myself. . .or something. Kind of a pain to get the hole in there, but I figured that was the spot to put it.

I also cut up and clamped my old hose couplers around the piping as it went through the hole (partly to block air and partly to keep it from moving). Turned out nice. . .I like it.

Spent some serious time making the bracket for it. That turned out well too. . .

Introducing the Beavis Bracket! J/K! :D

Designed by yours truly. . .stainless steel laser cut to my drawing. . .booyah!

Pierburg right behind it. . .made a new bracket for that too!
 
Sorry tested pic and it didn't work, so I deleted it.

Here's the bracket.
 

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Little Beavis: I'd put some sort of vibration isolation on that bracket before it screws into the MAF sensor. You don't want to crack that sensor when the engine moves around under acceleration.

I put my Injen in a few weeks ago on my MSP, and yes, the butt dyno confirms it's faster. But, you can also look at the dynos from Injen's site. On the MSP, it helps alot with the dead spot from 3500 to 4500 rpm.

What's also going on with your turbo is that you've reduced the pressure loss from the stock air box to the compressor inlet. This reduces the compression ratio needed to achieve max boost. In short, your compressor doesn't have to work as hard so you're getting cooler intake charges a little earlier in the rpm band, ergo more power.
 

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