So I recently purchased a cold air box, it was made from attomica's design which seemed really good in the pictures... well the metal rests on the radiator hose...so now its an oven for my intake cone.... would it be bad for the car if I wraped my upper hose with header wrap? Or if there something I could tape inside the box, or should I just cut the box so it doesn't go over the radiator hose. (this is where the stock airbox really sucks, because it gets so damn hot.

 

If you don't care about the warranty (assuming that there is one) I'd say cut the damn thing. In the end, having the box warmed by the hose makes it a Hot Air Box, and that isn't what you want, is it?

 

I find it hard to believe that the box simply touching the radiator hose is making that much difference. Do you have a cold air feed into this box? If not, that's why it's getting hot. It's still sucking engine bay air.

 

bingo.

 

the left side of the box is warm, the right side, right at the point where the radiator hose is touching, could fry an egg.

 

Technically, it shouldn't be an issue, as once you get going, cold air will fill the airbox and that's what you'll be taking into the engine. But in practice - that's not the case.

While the rad hose against the box wont help anything - it isn't that bad. The real problem is that the box isn't really getting too much cold air to begin with, so it won't cool the box like it should. It's more of a heat shield than a cold air intake.

From what I recall, Attomica's design used the stock inlet tubing to feed cold air to the box. Well, no air can really be forced into that opening. The stock airbox was sealed, and all that tube did was allow the engine to suck cooler air from in front of the rad. The Attomica design is by no means sealed, so it cannot suck cold air from that tube.

So, because the box acts as more of a heat shield than a cold air intake, you should do something about the rad hose. If you can, insulate the box - not the hose. There are heat reflective tapes you can buy that might help.

 

Walken, you didn't answer my question about a cold air feed, but Nick's comments about the box's design confirm what I thought. Without a way for outside air to be sucked into the box, it'll just just suck hot air from inside the engine bay instead. And because it's hard to get a homemade box like that seal as well as the stock airbox, you need a really big hose to provide the outside air an easy path in.