Can you guys guess which setup loses you 10-20 hp.

 

Hey Batman: I promise no more jokes about you "Hanging upside down, and crapping all over the floor" if you'll post a real good picture of your setup, with the hood raised. Thanks "Moon"

 

I noticed a rougher idle and not as much throttle response with the SSA intake I had with the filter in the engine compartment.

I also noticed after going for a drive with the intake/air filter in the engine compartment, the intake was as hot as the uicp to the touch.

After I hacked off half the intake and ran a tube through the firewall (stock location), down into the fender well with the air filter, my idle and throttle response improved dramatically.

After running it to the fenderwell, you can go for a drive, open the hood and the intake is cool to the touch (while the UICP is still hot)

I've read all the arguements that it does not matter one bit if the air is hot or cold going into a turbo engine, since the turbo heats the air up and the intercooler cools it back down.

But when my idle smooths out, I have more throttle response and the intake is cool to the touch, I'll take that any day.

FYI, I have a MAF relocate.

 

After seeing pics of a SSA intake, I can see your point. Too close to hot engine parts. Possible to suck hotter air.[Boy, I'll leave that one alone].
Point I was making was, I can assure you ,my deal, the air does'nt have time to heat up, before it is used. I've had no idle problems and I have no response issues. Runs a lot harder now, before I made the mods. I have made lots of hard road tests, to make sure when I mod something , that it works, or I put it back, like before. Lots of time and effort goes into making sure, I'm doing the right thing. I don't just jump on something, just because it seems popular, and everyone else thinks it the hot thing.
Been doing the car thing, fifty four years, many of it building motors, racing, ect., so I have a fair knowledge of what I am attempting to do[I Think].
I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. "Moon"

 

The CGS is a joke , I put it on drove hard for a day and a half, and could'nt wait to put my set up back on . It felt like the engine was sucking air threw a small straw . It's a rare piece . But i'm gonna cut the main tube, and run a filter right under the the scoop opening , and then work on a heat shield that closes off the intake , but flows air threw the rest of the engine. I'm changing stuff weekly, Cause i like my garage .

Hopefully i'll have it right before i get tuned.

 

One more.

Scoop coming off for a repaint soon (pre prep )

 

Some day when I get the balls to cut my hood up, I'm going to use the stock air box and install a nacca duct on the hood, mold it into the hood and make a true ram air set up.

I've been getting after vendors and hinting to them on cobaltss.net they need to make a functional hood for our HHR SS air box setup.

I have a flat ram air snorkel sitting in the garage also, just have't had the heart to cut my stock air box up.

 

I have been thinking along those lines for awhile now[hince the hood scoop now bolted to my hood].
May just jump in, cut my airbox, and make the hood scoop fuctional after all. I've measured and drawn up a setup, cutting the airbox, and having a sealing lip made to the air scoop. Setup I have now, works good, but could be better. "Moon"

 

Thinking outside the "box'....whats the chance the intake doesn't work because there is a lack of airflow in that particular area? Think about it,,air thru the rad goes down and under the car,,this tends to put a vacuum on the back side of the eng compartment ( hmm..makes me wonder if ducted air to the outside of the turbo might help cool things down back there...)so, if the airflow is strangled and you lose linear flow youd wind up with some funky air pattern going across the maf sensor and who knows what thAT will cause( IE:K&N). Food for thought....and, thats why Batmans setup works so well....the vacuum in the rear helps pull air in the front right in line with the filter...no? Not really 'pressurizing' anything...just allowing an ample supply to be fed upon.

 

For my setup I don't have a MAF sensor in my intake, its relocated to the cold side intercooler pipe.

So my only conclusion from having the 3" air intake (SSA) inside the engine compartment, behind the head light vs. the other version I created using the SSA 3" intake is that hot air is the culprit for having a worse idle and lack of throttle response.