This is the first Se that I have owned that has had the air intake ducting from the battery side. All the others were missing hte battery side piece.

How did Mazda expect to get enough fresh air into the air filter box? When you see the pictures you will understand.

The 1st picture shows the amount of space between the battery and the opening. Granted that the factory battery was not as tall and there was more space and open area. However I don't see any special design that would make air flow efficently into the opening with or without a shorter battery.

The 2nd one shows the total open area available for air.
The 3rd shows the lenght of tubing that the air has to travel.
The 4th shows the same opening at the exit area that goes into the stock rubber elbow to seal to the air box.

Granted that the air traveling across the tube would be cooled by the air entering the front of the vehicle and the stock box keeping the heat away from the air would show that the box is pretty efficent at keeping the temp down.

The fact remains that there really is not alot of space available for a volume of air to enter.
I am going to remove the tube that goes from the battery opening area to the joining point about 10 inches over.

What I'll probably do eventually is fabricate some sort of scoop that will collect air from around the mid point and attach it to the stock duct from midway over. That way there will be more forward air collected and still leave the rest of the air duct to allow the incoming air to cool the ducting.

 

all my se's don't have an opening on he battery side, it's sealed. nor did have that tube going to the driverside...

That is pretty funny though

 

That tube is no more narrow than the snorkels used for far larger engines on 4x4s or other vehicles that go in the wet. And many, many cars pull air from inside a fender or behind a bumper, with the air having to travel past even more nooks and crannies. The battery being near the opening does little to impede the airflow. This sort of routing is common as it keeps out puddle splashes and large airborne matter (bugs, pebbles, etc.) that might otherwise get rammed in or bounce up off the road.

 

If I were you, I'd just find an SE with the shortened tube that sucks from the middle of the radiator like mine.

 

The tube is 2 pieces - you could just take off the driver's side half.

 

Never noticed that till today. Thanks for the info.

 

I just took the driverside portion off. I'm sure now that it will be easier for air to enter and a better flow to the air box.

 

Did taking off that portion seem to help at all? I have got a K&N box filter with a RB header on the other end, so I'm interested in getting good clean air flow.

BUMP for more info!!

and Doc I'm glad you got an SE to mess around with so I can follow your threads. Long duck has not been around for a while..

 

i kinda noticed this on my old SE. I endup just doing the whole "cone filter / heat shield box" thing.