Have you seen the mariah cold air boxes?
 

I wonder how much it would cost to mass-produce a replica of that using lexan or some other aesthetically appealing material. I mean for christ's sake... its two peices of molded plastic for $120. That's insane.
I wanna see how hard it would be to make a couple dozen as a group buy

I know what you mean man, 120 is pretty steep for some plastic that could probably be made cheaper, if you get anything going let me know!

Well i would gladly take it to a shop here and have them make about 100 of them lol :) however, i'd need a model of one, or at least the exact dimensions. So it would be much easier for someone who already owns one to bring it to a plastics or aluminum shop...
Anyone got one of these kits?

what about making them out of aluminum or some other heat radiating metal?

Sounds reasonable enough

carbon fiber would "Look Good" don't know about its heat resistence.

the point of a cold air box is to shield the filter from engine bay heat, now wouldnt you think that plastics would be a better barrier than aluminum, the outside air will always be cooler than that in your engine bay so you can only have negative affects from metals.

lexan isnt as cheap as you think. granted, it isnt 120 dollars for enough to make an airbox, but how many companies sell aftermarket products for anything near the price of the materials. what you pay for is craftsmanship and a warranty. if you make stuff yourself (like me) you save an ass ton of money. i will see what i can do about making these for cheaper.....

Justin

Thats my goal justin :)

what about making a 2 layered cold air box? The 1st layer could be aluminum, the second outer layer would be plastic, and there could be like a 1 or 2 inch gap in between them. Then with that little gap you could put water inside mixed with ice to make the incoming air colder. --- just a thought, dont know if it would work

LOL nice thought... however, i don't think it will work. Cooling the inside of the box with propane, however, will :) just be careful not to light any cigarettes when your hood is open.

howcome it wont work

Because you will have to keep refilling it with cold water. Why else?

Plus, the water matirx would heat up quickly, melting the ice. Nice idea, but not really feasable.

heck why not just tap into the airconditioner vents and have cold air travel through a hose and into the damn cold air box? i think the airconditioner air is cold...hows that for an idea? :P

Fred

actually the hose would only have to lead from the airconditioner vent and travel to the box. from there, the box will suck the cold air from the hose like a straw!

How about making a mandrel bent aluminum inlet duct and then making a velcro'd wrap that fits around it that you can fit with dry ice for drag racing purposes? Aswell, a sock that goes with it for the intake manifold, again, where you can stuff dry ice into the pockets for drag racing, and on the outer surface of all of these socks, a heat reflective aluminum surface?
Chalk another idea up for an idea for Sean to make.
Sean Cathcart

check out http://fc3s.org/ they have a writeup on how to make a cabox...

i was thinking about doing this and the radiator ducting, and tilting my radiator to lay as flat as possible, when i get my electic fan...

How about using an intercooler core and running the a/c system through this as your intercooler. Ice cold intake temps all the time?
Reason is thus: You would gain more hp by simply dropping the a/c compressor than you would be routing the air from it to your intake.
Sean Cathcart

fuk thats a good idea.. but how would the air from your A/C burn in the engine... like is tehre plenty of oxygen...???

Mariah's quaity is EXCELLENT and it bolts right in.

You can paint it to match the car.

Their OEM stamped headlight cover airscoop is also very good quality & carbon reinforced.

I bought it specifically because everyone's else home made job looks like a POS.

im afraid you are confused, i had this idea too but i also realized that the minimal gains you would make with this are negated by the loss through running the ac compressor.

fingers i just realized that i restated your purpose for doing this.

everyone seems to think that the metal on the inside is a good idea, well it is if you are drag racing and you can cool it down before you race. but if you get it to where it is cold to the touch when you get done driving then that is "cold" that didnt get to your engine because the metal took it away.

think of it this way, the only thing that is cooling the metal down is the outside air, thus why not leave that "coolness" in the air so that it reaches your engine by using a insulator rather than a conductor.... sure you dont get to go "dude, check out how cold my cold-air box is" but your engine will like you better.

if you are dragging and you mean to throw some dry ice on there before every race then metal has great advantages, but if you want that extra bit more horsepower for everyday driving or auto-x then you should go with a non-conductive material

Justin

why does it cost so much?

although the lexan material itself is not too expensive (~$4-$6/lb), the company has to first spend $$ on:

developing the product
tooling the plastic mold
make the part
pay for packaging
pay for shipping to US
pay duty/tax

then add profit, and considering they probably do not sell that many of these...

i am a plastic engineer - i can design, tool, and mold anything for the car. i don't because cost outweigh potential revenue...

economics, oh well...

That's all understandable, but so should the markup be. I can assure you that all the things you have mentioned do not even cost half of what the product is running for. The profit for Mazdatrix, Mariah, and RacingBeat products is quite possibly over 50% of initial production costs. They do make quality products, but that's not the point. I'd just like to see these cold air boxes mass produced at a lower cost, and i think i speak for everyone when i say it.

I have to agree with vaughnc here. I have been to their shop numerous times, and I am amazed at the time and effort along with the R&D that goes into the smallest detail with Mariah. IMHO there isn't a better product like it anywhere on the market. If you haven't seen and touched this or any of their other products, you cannot speak on a pieces quality because of a price tag. I will continue to buy parts and products from them regardless of price because you are only buying it once from them :D

Hey I got a box of 12"x12" peices of lexan with about 20 peices, someone thinks they could fab something with those dimensions/