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for those that used the open oil cooler spot as a ram air vent

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Old 02-28-03, 02:02 AM
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DragonFly

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Question for those that used the open oil cooler spot as a ram air vent

I want to use this to get more fresh air to the intake but it seems that after the under panel goes on its cuts off any space to fit a tube between the opening on the mouth of the car and the space between the radiator and car frame (where the foam ususally is).

How did you guys plumb it so that you get air to the filters? Did you have t o modify the underpanel?
Old 02-28-03, 02:10 AM
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MY machanic has the M2 air box. He did cut the underpanel to let air in. He plans to do something more when he has the time.
Old 02-28-03, 09:59 AM
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thanks for the info duboisr
Old 02-28-03, 08:05 PM
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Re: for those that used the open oil cooler spot as a ram air vent

Originally posted by damian
I want to use this to get more fresh air to the intake but it seems that after the under panel goes on its cuts off any space to fit a tube between the opening on the mouth of the car and the space between the radiator and car frame (where the foam ususally is).

How did you guys plumb it so that you get air to the filters? Did you have t o modify the underpanel?
Damian,

I tried to take pics of what I have done, I know i promised you awhile back but I've been working and when I got a chance to take apic, the pic was too dark.

Is your box stock or the m2/Rx7-fashion? You have a few options. If you have the stock box you have potential for a cheep airflow mod, but your ultimate potential is less than the other boxes. I did tests on both in my other thread.

for the oil cooler vent I used some 2 inch heavy vinyle hose from homedepot, its like 5.50/ft. It feels very hard but its flexible. You have to fabricate some sort of retainer to hold the hose in the vent of the car, then you need to make a down angle, then the a sharp right angle and it goes under the plastic undercarriage and inbetween the radiator and the bottom of the intake or the opening for the rx7fasion/m2 box.

The other option is you can go to homedepot and get the large 4-5 inch dryer hose, it will fill the entire opening of the oil cooler duct and its easy for you to flatten and bend to shape it right, you make the SAME turns and bends, but the difference is you will need to dremmel a hole in the undercarriage (plastic radiator cover) big enough to route the entire hose through, and into the bottome of the box.

You may think its alot of work and it is, but I promise its the best bang for the buck. You can get a midpipe, exhaust, intake..what ever you want, but if you dont ram air into it you are not getting the full benifit.

Laters.
Old 02-28-03, 08:21 PM
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good info zerobanger, I already got some aluminum fexi dryer hose and I have a real good plan for the nose part. I will take the old stock part, that used to fill the hole, and dremel out the middle, leaving a nice tight outer rim to hold onto the nose with its stock location/fasteners, then form a funnel with metal plumbing tape to the aluminum hose, then i have to do what you mentioned above, make all the bends and take off (trim) some of the undercarage to fit the aluminum tube

as far as my intake goes, I took out the stock box and made my own using 2 K& N filters, polished intake pipes and will make a heat sheild as well. (similar to pettit or ntech type intakes) ...so i have potential to see a great benefit from the ram ducting

I'll post pics as I get it completed too....
Old 02-28-03, 08:24 PM
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Originally posted by damian
good info zerobanger, I already got some aluminum fexi dryer hose and I have a real good plan for the nose part. I will take the old stock part, that used to fill the hole, and dremel out the middle, leaving a nice tight outer rim to hold onto the nose with its stock location/fasteners, then form a funnel with metal plumbing tape to the aluminum hose, then i have to do what you mentioned above, make all the bends and take off some of the undercarage to fit the aluminum tube

as far as my intake goes, I took out the stock box and made my own using 2 K& N filters, polished intake pipes and will make a heat sheild as well. (similar to pettit or ntech type intakes) ...so i have potential to see a great benefit from the ram ducting

I'll post pics as I get it completed too....
Get the K & N style cone filters, YOU WILL SEE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

Do you have a power FC? You will need to set your seleniod duty cycles back a bit, it will be more boost happy .

Also, you will have to have easy access to your filters cause you will be forced to clean them alot. If you look at the calculators, a 2750 lbs car + 150 lbs driver (I weighed my car) gaining 6 MPH on the trap like mine did is a gain of 37 RWHP. Thats alot on an rx7.

Laters.
Old 02-28-03, 11:56 PM
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>>Get the K & N style cone filters, YOU WILL SEE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

i have the tube style already, not tapered....oh well


>>Do you have a power FC? You will need to set your seleniod duty cycles back a bit, it will be more boost happy .

No power FC yet (planned soon, along with ASP medium intercooler)

However, I have manual wastegate and pre-spool controllers, once I start it up I will have them both set to the lowest setting and then start tweeking it up to the best pattern, never exceeding 10lbs.
Old 03-03-03, 12:49 AM
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Talking oil cooler ram air

Here are pics of where I am going wiht the stock oil cooler cap as the foundation for my vent tubing. I came out fairly well.
Old 03-03-03, 06:59 AM
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you cant see it all the way, but this is someone local's car that a friend of mine welded up one using tha location. he does not use pop-ups though...
Old 03-03-03, 10:04 AM
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another pic of mine
Old 03-03-03, 12:03 PM
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I did this mod many years ago when I was running the HKS intake. I used a NACA duct and some type of silicone heat resistant hose (orange with wire support). I essentially squeezed the hose through the space between the radiator. Sold the set up to a friend of mine when I went to the M2 intake. For some reason I still have a NACA duct in my storage cabinet for this mod.
Old 03-03-03, 12:16 PM
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here are some pics of my ducting





Old 08-06-03, 02:58 PM
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looks nice...now is water a problem?
Old 08-06-03, 03:30 PM
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Unless your driving through a lake, i wouldnt worry about water. the little bit that might get through to the turbos will only help with heat (water injection style)
Ben
Old 08-06-03, 06:13 PM
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I am doing this for my FC and I will need to cut part of the engine bay metal to get a 6" tube through to my air box. Haven't seen the situation on the FD though; my guess is cutting would be involved there, too.
Old 09-17-03, 08:26 PM
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Yey I just bought the ducting and I am doing this mod too. I am going to spray paint the inside of the duct with flat black paint, with a few clear coats so it doesnt look too bad.
Old 09-17-03, 10:07 PM
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For those of you doing this, be VERY wary of what you put on the intake side of your turbo. I have found that even the very thick/tough aluminum ducting from home depot pulls apart after a "short" amount of time even at moderate boost levels (15#). I took mine off to inspect it and there were a few small chunks missing and it had started to collapse at one spot. I am currently just running the filter directly on the turbo until I find something more durable. Even though the missing chunks were comparatively small, it still kinda scared me.....just giving you guys a heads up as I see that some of you are using aluminum tape and stuff.
Old 09-17-03, 10:10 PM
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damian - the ducting (aluminum piping) i was using looks very similar to what you posted in your pics. I even tried to not stretch it out to make it a little tougher. I think I'm going to try out some sort of aircraft grade silicone that is reinforced with metal bands. If anyone can recommend a material - please do so.
Old 09-18-03, 12:01 AM
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agreed, mine has held up well but it is kinda scary knowing that the sand/debris of teh track can basically 'sand' metal from the ducting into the air filters.... I will be trying a different setup in teh winter when i get that car up on stands and can play with fabricating stuff
Old 09-18-03, 12:38 AM
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Damian, I used a 4" hole saw to open a passage under the engine bay wiring harness to the area below where my passenger side sleek light will be. You can see it on the right in the picture below of the cut-out for my RE Amemiya light kit I took back in '98.



I plan to build a "bulkhead" that will effectively seal it off from the engine bay with a short segment of 3" or 3.5" intake piping extending on each side, with a rolled (bead) lip to retain clamps. Then I'll connect a K&N filter on an elbow and mount it under the light, behind the bumper opening, and connect my throttle body to the engine bay side. Or at least that's the plan...
Old 09-18-03, 10:40 AM
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ahh yes jim, i see it, i may try that if i feel up to cutting the frame
Old 09-19-03, 12:28 AM
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On the pic above with the silver car, where did he run the primary air intake ?
I set mine up similar to that only the primary I snaked straight forward and the filter is sitting right inside that little area up front more or less sticking out but the secondary intake I didnt have room to do that so I just left the pipe & filter where it would be if using the stock air box and then made a cold air box around that one with some aluminum...
i wanted it to be the othr way around where the secondary intake was in that litte oil cooler dam but it wouls have looked goofy I think...
Ill post pics if I can get a camera, Damian if you ever in the Roseville area I can show you what I did its pretty cool, i used stainless steel tubing so it looks pretty good and I didnt have to do anymore polishing...
Old 09-19-03, 07:24 AM
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Originally posted by ZeroBanger
Get the K & N style cone filters, YOU WILL SEE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
Curious as to why you say he will "see a big difference" between the cone-shaped filters over the standard round K&Ns...
Old 09-19-03, 12:41 PM
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>>Damian if you ever in the Roseville area I can show you what I did its pretty cool, i used stainless steel tubing so it looks pretty good and I didnt have to do anymore polishing...

yeah, id be interested in seeing what you did.
Old 09-19-03, 12:56 PM
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Originally posted by damian
here are some pics of my ducting





Where did you get the black piece?


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