Topic: Home made "CAI"

[snaponbob]

There is a thread on the Solstice for about a home brewed CAI for a 2.4. Seemed appealing. So today I looked under the hood of the Redline. I think it is doable with a good dose of shade tree engineering. I'll need a silicon flex coupler or 22 degree coupler, cone filter, some 3" PVC pipe, some misc. hardware, and a bit of time.

Should this actually work I'll post pictures. If it doesn't , I will deny ever making this post  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lil goat]

Lyndon Wester tested it long ago (just the box mods), said it works as well as any on the market, he has not tested the GMPP but tested the Fujita and Dejon. I run the GXP version of the home made one on my car, and ran pretty much that same one on my NA way back when. I like the way he replaced the stock accordion with a much nicer looking setup, I did not do that just stuck a paint cap in where I pulled the resonator off.

[snaponbob]

Lyndon Wester tested it long ago (just the box mods), said it works as well as any on the market, he has not tested the GMPP but tested the Fujita and Dejon. I run the GXP version of the home made one on my car, and ran pretty much that same one on my NA way back when. I like the way he replaced the stock accordion with a much nicer looking setup, I did not do that just stuck a paint cap in where I pulled the resonator off.

How about a picture or discription of what you 2.0 version looks like. My intent is to simply pull the entire box forward of the existing rubber boot going to the turbo. So far (for trial and error fitting) I have picked up some sheet metal drier duct and a swivel joint just to get started with. But I sure would like to see what you did. (I can't wait to hear all the wheezing and farting from the turbo!!)

[Cheers]

Standing by 

[lil goat]

See the front edge of the air box in the picture. Place saws-all there and cut, that's about it nothing fancy. I believe Joe did the same thing. The first one I did I just cut the whole resonator of the front, this one it whacked the sides off the tube and left them open, you can see the horn a little in the picture, Joe's is more open in the front, unless he has changed it, never know what he's up to.

[snaponbob]

Well, so far it will not run correctly. I did a little shade tree engineering and came up with this --


Since taking this shot I have installed a Spectre cone filter. I have either damaged the MAF sensor or the position is too far back. After disconnecting and reconnecting the negative terminal on the battery to reset the computer, it is acting way stupid.  The idle is way off, and the engine is not accepting throttle.    Looking at pictures of installed Fujita CAIs it certainly looks too far back, but it is exactly where it was relative to the rubber intake horn, and it may be too deep in the horn. So, I will reposition it tomorrow and hope for the best. It took all of an hour to fabricate and install, start to finish. (It's good to be a [former] tool man!!) Before I reposition the MAF I am going to reinstall the stock air cleaner and see what happens.  More when I have it.

[Critterman]

Make sure you have the MAF installed in the proper direction and not backwards.

[snaponbob]

Make sure you have the MAF installed in the proper direction and not backwards.

I'm sure I did, but I will flip it to be sure. The little square opening is facing the incoming air flow.

[snaponbob]

Well, the sensor was installed correctly. I put the MAF sensor in the lid of the stock air box and the car started right up, idled smoothly, and took "pedal" perfectly. SO, I created a 7mm spacer to mount the MAF sensor to so that the opening of the MAF was directly in the middle of the tube, put everything back together, installed the CAI, and started the car. Still rough but it started to settle down. Maybe the computer was trying to figure out the mod.  After the coolant was at about 150deg I took the car out. Initially ran like crap with a bunch of popping back (sort of backfiring), reluctant to pick up the throttle (god I hate fly by wire throttles), and slow to spool up accompanied by hesitations and misfires.  After about 5 minutes of hammering around the car started to settle down and drive properly. The idle is still VERY slow to settle to 900 rpm, but this may be another "learn" issue. So, for now, I'll say it is (mostly) working. Total investment - $28 and about 3 hours. I am getting all the huffing and puffing from the BOV but it is not nearly as loud as I thought it would be. The intake isn't much louder either. When I do an ECM tune that will be the time to discuss with a couple vendors whether a tube from the intake boot is better/worse than the Westers style (which is sort of what I built). Certainly a "proper" CAI intake tract will be smoother than what I have, and by all means more attractive. This was just a quick "cheap and dirty" project. Here is what the final project looks like.

[DeepBlueGXP]

we experienced the same popping etc.  when the intake on the left side came loose.  I suspected you had to move the IC pipes to get the stock airbox since it is wider.  Check the elbow going to the intake, make sure the hose is all the way up!

[snaponbob]

we experienced the same popping etc.  when the intake on the left side came loose.  I suspected you had to move the IC pipes to get the stock airbox since it is wider.  Check the elbow going to the intake, make sure the hose is all the way up!

Actually, I got the air box off without moving the tubes more than 1/2-3/4". Instructions on CAIs say one has to remove the Torx screws on the two grommets, but the box will just pop off of those grommets!!! The car seems to have "learned" the CAI and all the bad sounds and miss firing has subsided. The only drivability issue is that the idle hangs at 2000 rpm and slooooowly slides down to about 1000rpm. Maybe that will resolve as well.

[tazz]

Just out of curiosity could a person just cut off most of the front of the airbox but leave a bit of the round inlet to attach a flexable hose with a small scoop on the end and route the hose to pull air from the lower grill and install a K&N filter for less restiction.  If so the engine would  actually getting ambient air instead of heat soaked engine bay air? 
I had done this with my Truck with great success and works just as good as the $250 JLP ram air setup that I have now with a cone filter and hose that pulls air from the lower grill.
I guess Im asking if the flexable hose would have too many kinks in it to do this?

[DeepBlueGXP]

It has been done before, just like you described.  It's not pretty though.

[car guy]

you guys are insane.
btw, disconnecting the neg cable does NOT clear the ecm on obd2 or canbus cars.
you need a scantool to reset the codes and clear the ecm.
autozone will usualy do it for free.
all though i used to call our local autozone and chew some arse when theyd clear the ecm and send a customer to me with a bag of parts they determined would fix their problem. they loved me

[DeepBlueGXP]

removing fuses 42 and 43 resets the codes.

[car guy]

codes can only be cleared with a scan tool.

some minor problems wont leave the light on after the problem clears up. so rather than messing with battery cables and fuses, try driving the car first to clear the code. in fact, drive it over to your local autozone and have them plug it in and clear it properly.

[HAMMER DOWN]

Good luck, but if you get to frustrated. Just drop a hi-flow filter in the OEM air box. My post from solstice gxp owner site.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LatinVenom 
The OEM IC pipes do not have any performance degradation, period.
The OEM IC pipes have been tested to well over 330BHP with NO performance degradation.
Invest your money on the IC and the tune.
However if you want the nicer look of the aftermarket IC pipes, then....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+1 and that's what the people at Hahn said. The OEM airbox & IC pipes are keepers. That why we don't offer CAI & IC pipe for the Solstice GXP.

Mike

[HAMMER DOWN]

codes can only be cleared with a scan tool.

some minor problems wont leave the light on after the problem clears up. so rather than messing with battery cables and fuses, try driving the car first to clear the code. in fact, drive it over to your local autozone and have them plug it in and clear it properly.

Sorry, that's not true. A hard reset " disconnecting the battery cables" does clear engine codes. And delete any learned memory. If you use a scan tool. That will delete the engine code. Only difference.

Mike

[car guy]

thats funny.
ive gotten used ECMs from the boneyard with codes still stored in them...

like i said, it depends on the code as to wether or not a "hard reset" will reset them or not.
disconnecting the battery might reset the emissions monitors but it wont delete the learned values.
only a scan tool will delete history codes. pending codes may or may not be erased on a battery discon.


"Sorry, that's not true. A hard reset " disconnecting the battery cables" does clear engine codes. And delete any learned memory. If you use a scan tool. That will delete the engine code. Only difference."

exactly what is the difference there?

[HAMMER DOWN]

thats funny.
ive gotten used ECMs from the boneyard with codes still stored in them...

like i said, it depends on the code as to wether or not a "hard reset" will reset them or not.
disconnecting the battery might reset the emissions monitors but it wont delete the learned values.
only a scan tool will delete history codes. pending codes may or may not be erased on a battery discon.


"Sorry, that's not true. A hard reset " disconnecting the battery cables" does clear engine codes. And delete any learned memory. If you use a scan tool. That will delete the engine code. Only difference."

exactly what is the difference there?

That not been my experience with GMs & Subaru's, So I'm guessing I never came across those codes. The difference is, scan tool deletes just the engine code . When disconnecting the battery the engine codes & the learned memory (is the ECU learning how the driver drives & fine tunes OEM map) is deleted.

Mike

[DeepBlueGXP]

The learned values that are removed when removing fuses 42/43 are the fuel trims as well as the codes.    I had done this when I first got my car and I was screwing around with something (can't rem what it was since it was almost 2 years ago) and I got a engine light.  I never went to the dealer.  Later I purchased a dash hawk and when I check to see if there were any historical or current codes, there wasn't any...

[snaponbob]

Hammer Down, and Car Guy; there is a difference between "clearing codes" (turning off the light), and clearing the code history (removing all history of the code). Disconnecting the battery will reset the light and the ECM will have to "re-learn". That said, there are two histories in an OBD2 ECM; Generic and VIN specific. Believe it or not, if BOTH are cleared (often techs only clear VIN specific codes) there may be a residual history on the Generic side that can, after a few drive cycles, re-emerge and "jump" over to the VIN side which can lead to a false code and a false CEL. It DOES happen, I have seen it while dealing with customers that said their scan tools was "defective", and both Snap-On and OTC recommend clearing codes on both channels.

[Mr.Marky]

Not a bad job. But plz clean it up. Here's the one in my car. My grill is cut so air does flow in making it ture CAI.



This only cost $16 for the blue hose. The elbow was extra from another project.

[car guy]

thats incorrect
a good scan tool such as the snapon modis can do everything including flash the ecm, reset history codes and live codes, reset learned memory, etc...

disconnecting the battery doesnt do anything except maybe reset the one trip codes.
you know the difference between a onetrip code and multi trip code?
how bout history codes, live codes, or pending codes?
how bout OBD generic and factory specific. sometimes youll get codes in factory specific while having nothing in generic.
im guessing most fo you dont have a clue what your talking about outside of what little info youve read and even less youve understood in performance magazines.

codes can not be truely cleared on OBD2 or canbus cars without a scan tool
old cars, 95 and older or OBD1, could be cleared with a battery disconnect. new electronics are far superior, just like the memory stick in your phone or digital camera doesnt lose its info when you remove it, neither does a modern ECM when you remove power.

[Dan]

I'm curious.  I saw the version of a CAI which DDMWorks made, porting hose from the stock airbox down through the baffle (link to gmpartsdirect diagram).  Would porting pipe/hose through the baffle make any positive impact to the Dejon CAI I have currently?  I'm still debating whether I want to keep it, or mod the stock airbox.  Ideally to utilize cooler air.

Is there any negative effect of having an opening in the baffle?