Making my own Cold Air Induction!!
 

Hello all, this is the first time to post on this forum, it's nice to meet everyone! I've havd my SS since early 2008 (auto) and have yet to see a cold air induction for our application, so I decided to start building my own. I'm going to attempt this feat using a homemade Mass air housing made of PVC, with a sheet metal (bung) housing for the Mass air element. This will go into the stock rubber tubing going into the turbo where the stock mass air originally was (and where the air box once sat) and on the other side of the meter i'm using modified parts and pieces along with the filter from a Cold air induction off of a 1996 GT mustang i picked up for free from a friend. I plan on running the tubing off of the homemade mass air housing over the top of the engine and have it curve to the left slightly and then between the inner fender and the coolant hose with the cap i'll install a downward facing 90 degree elbow and on the end of that will be the air filter. I will remove the air diverting plastic piece btween the rediator and the inner edge of the left fender (facing the car) and drill 20 or so 1/2in. holes into the radiator support to allow air flow to the filter. I got the idea for my filter placement from a guy on this site and I don't remember who he was at the moment, but he had a custom one made thats similar to what I'm trying to do but he used very nice looking mandrel bent polished tubing and he also cut one big hole into his radiator support for air access to the filter. Well, wish me luck. It might not look as nice as the other guys, but it cost me all of about 10bux for parts and the sweat and fabricating to do it. I'll post pics when I'm done and let u guys know how it performs as well!!

Welcome...

One thing you may want to consider, is any modifying of the rad surround that allows air thru can decrease the air going thru the rad. Which can have a negative effect on motor cooling..

Just my .02

I'll keep an eye on the temp and see if it rises any. Our grill openings are pretty large, I don't think it will be an issue. Thanks for the tip though!!

doing this may end up throwing codes and also increase problems with the maf. I know that there is not a single intake made even for the cobalt that works properly. it creates a vibration/air turbulence that skews the maf readings and makes the fuel trims wander. any intake made for the cobalt needs to be tuned to not end up causing problems. on the other hand I wish you the best of luck with this and I hope it goes well. make sure wherever you put the maf has a good few inches of straight pipe on each side to reduce turbulence.

Good luck . I get an over boost turbo cut out if i compleatly remove my air box cover, As i still don't have a tune. :red:

Thanks for the advice, i will take all this into consideration. If it even runs with this new setup I will be surprised! One question for you guys...Being a mass air setup won't the mass air meter adjust idle quality and timing for the new MAF housing. I'm asking because all the experience I have with Mass Air Systems are on the old 89-93 5.0 Mustangs. Everytime I ever installed a cold air kit my old 5.0's the ECM would adjust the timing and idle for the change in air flow and lower AIT's. Thanks for any input!!

A MAF sensor needs to have several inches of straight plumbing on the inlet side for accurate operation. Lacking that, some vehicles use a hexagonal screen to straighten airflow. Recalibrating a screwed up MAF is extremely difficult. Many tuners will not touch a car with aftermarket MAF for that reason.

Re the above post, A MAF sensor won't adjust anything. The ECM does, and it trusts the MAF to give an accurate accounting of airflow in order to calculate other parameters. Altering the airflow around the MAF sensor cause it to give wrong readings to the ECM, which goes on to make wrong decisions. There is no closed loop control of airflow as there is with O2 sensors, which are responsible for controlling air/fuel ratio 90% of the time.

Uh, the OEM unit is a "cold air intake". :eek:

If your filter is behind the radiator, in all likelyhood the air temps will rise, resulting in a power loss. :confused: Running a thermocouple to actually measure intake air temps or data logging would indicate results, as would dyno runs (hood down unless you drive around with it up). :nuts:

If there is a change in the tubing I.D. at the MAF location your MAF transfer function will be off. Only tuning can recalibrate that.

Good luck and post some pics! :thumb:

Thanks misterkike! I will take that into consideration and make sure I have a couple inches of straight pipe on the inlet side. Frow what I'm hearing from everybody it seems like I'm gonna have major tuning issues. I'm a full time student and cant afford to get the SS tuned right now and I was just trying to do it on the cheap. I guess I'll kepp going and give it a try, it's not like im losing alot of money on the deal. I appreciate all the helpful advice!!

Its a little ruf to get cold air from a practically sealed fender well. :smile: