Tuning the exhaust with the intake

[skizo]

Sall was giving me the stink eye earlier on my WAI setup.

Link to exhaust thread

Thanx, Sall! <G>

Just finished up an exhaust project and as long as I'm playing around with the car, went digging and found the original airbox, and de-boned it, on the way to a CAI conversion. Yall let me know if I missed anything.



Already had a low mileage K&N flat filter left over from the bad old days. I re-oiled that and slapped it in.



Come to find out, the flat filter can pull as many CFMs as the big cone I'd been using on my WAI. Go figure.

I did leave the resonator and bagpipe thingy off, as well as the white dome that fits in the stock cover ...



An old wheel hub cover came in handy to plug the resonator hole ... I do plan to replace that with a new one ... maybe chrome!



And the perfect tool for removing the ribs from the air box, if ya gots one is an oscillating saw with a standard metal blade.



Couple definitions, just in case ... wai not? <G>

WAI - Warm Air Intake
CAI - Cold Air Intake
HAI - Japanese for Hello!

[skizo]

Oh, yeah ... the point ...

Considering the fact that an engine is just basically an air pump that plays well with fire, stands to reason that you can tune the tone with the intake as well as the exhaust. The stock intake was always too tame for me as I LIKE a bit of motor noise. I always liked the sound of the WAI - got quite a bit of growl out of that.

Gutting the stock box really deepened the tone I'm hearing out of the ol' girl. MAJOR difference in bass, without making it any louder. Definitely an improvement as far as I'm concerned. Still no cabin drone - a very good thing!

I do plan to get a couple more sizing manifolds to replace the stock air pipe with the metal tube I've been using. Should be interesting to see if that changes the tone again. Should straighten the air flow some with the smooth wall tubing, and it's the same ID as the stock rubber pipe.

[Randy T.]

Nice! Your box looks about like mine now. I don't care for the K&Ns, had one for a while, threw it in the trash, mostly because they are so small compared to a paper air filter.

[sall]

It was just a caveat. Some will run a WAI with resonator delete just for sound.

Ha! Don't forget FWAI. Fender Well Air Intake. Yes, the panel filters have a large surface area. More so than most conical filters. What the CFM of the spectre panel, K&N panel and stock panel is vs say a Spectra P5 conical, I don't know.

[skizo]

Sept 26, 2015 8:05:56 GMT -6 Randy T. said:

Nice! Your box looks about like mine now. I don't care for the K&Ns, had one for a while, threw it in the trash, mostly because they are so small compared to a paper air filter.

Biggest issue with paper is it doesn't take much humidity to severely restrict the flow. Also, the higher the air demand, the more the restriction. They also tend to open up quite a bit at the end of their service life, and can pass a whole bunch of nasty into your engine.

Biggest issue with the oil type replacements (K&N for one) is making sure the filter is properly oiled in the first place. A dry filter is next to useless when it comes to trapping the little stuff, and higher air flow demands can open up the pores too much. I soak mine, then let it drip out overnight, then brush off any excess before installing. Performance actually improves after you put some miles on a freshly oiled filter.

Tests also show the oil type cotton filter creates less turbulence because of the wider pleats. Makes sense, and any benefit from gutting the stock air box is all about reducing turbulence on a more or less stock machine.

PS ... somewhat related. I have a V4 motorcycle and ran four K&N pod filters on the carbs for a while. I did a smoke test and saw some really bad turbulence between the throats. Built me a custom airbox and added a flat panel filter, and that straightened out the air considerably, as well as allowing more air to the back carbs ... win win.



Anyway ... call me a K&N fan boy ... <G>