making hole in bumper for CAI 2005 elantra

[locchamp]

Hey when putting CAI my 2005 has no opening in the front of the bumper to get cold air only through the back wheel guard is that ok? I mean shouldn't you get more cold air if you made a hole in the bumper u know right underneath the fog night in the black square peice of plastic? HAs anyone done this if so how and what does it look like thanks

[felixr]

it has been discovered that the wheel well is not the best place for the cai as previously though. unfortunately there is really no other place for one other than having a short ram intake which some people think is the same, others think is not better etc etc. best thing is to either a functional scoop or some sort of fencing/shroud thing from the front grill to the short ram intake like is done with truck hood scoops(tunneling under the hood into the filter.

[Steve]

Who discovered the wheel weel isn't the best place?
I know some racecars use the basic layout of the factory box and piping, but it's made of all carbon fibre and the airbox contains a cone filter.
The SRI style without a doubt loses power.

To answer your question locchamp, if you look underneath and at the back of the front bumper you'll see that the black piece you are talking about is attached with a couple of bolts, in other words easily removed. I don't have foglights in mine, so I removed the little plastic caps that the XD2's have. However, it won't really help make any more power to get more air flow into the front bumper pocket. A CAI isn't aided by any "ram-air" effect, think of it more like a straw in liquid. As long as it's in air, it will suck it up.

[felixr]

actually it was no one on here, it was an online research project from a CAI company. i started bringing the theory on this site but it hasnt really taken off since there pretty much no other place it can go(the cai) it will work the way its being put in now but it is less effective than if it were placed over a certain level above the center of the wheel for instance

[mtlelantra]

Does anyone know if we can make enough room behind the driver's headlamp to put the thing there, and if so, what sort of intake would work (accord still??) I guess that would be an LRI :) It's got to be less hot than an SRI...

[Money]

Does anyone know if we can make enough room behind the driver's headlamp to put the thing there, and if so, what sort of intake would work (accord still??) I guess that would be an LRI :) It's got to be less hot than an SRI...

I personally think there is a way to do it, but you would have to move your battery somewhere else. The Mazda Miata's have their battery in the trunk and just run wires the whole length of the car. but even if you moved you battery over 6 inches, where would you put your intercooler and piping if you wanted turbo later on?

I've got a 3" 97' Accord CAI going into my bumper in front of the wheel well and I have never had any problems with it, besides I live in Washington....where it rains all the time....no problems.

[locchamp]

so now your saying the wheel well is not the best place anymore I mean come o nI jsut bought the thing its on its way along with a bypass valve toal money 70 beans whats the deal?? please

[Mr. Dan]

I was curious about this myself, so a few weeks back I took a look at where I was going to put my filter and muc to my surprise, on my car, I can see the resonator box from the front. It's already open there. The black plastic behind the fog lights isn't as big as it is on the sedan in Korea I guess. Is the American 04+ GT the same or do you get a different front bumper?

[locchamp]

SO again is the wheel well not a good place to put it now and why isnt it where can you put it then???

[mrhoaf]

there is absolutely nothing wrong with putting the CAI in the wheel well.... it's not a bad place to put it... especially since you've bought the intake already...

[felixr]

the only reason the wheel well is not the best place to put it is because the pressure is different down there below the center line of the wheel. once you drop the filter so low and since it is sucking in air that is more stagnant than the air say coming from the grill, you lower your chances of the preffered constant gush of air into your intake or the straw in a full glass of soda effect. it is prefferable to have faster moving air and a fuller charge if you will. you can move your battery to your trunk and make a sort of fencing or shroud from the grill to the box like with a box where you put the cone and a hose picking up air directly from the grill going straight into the box. that is the best way bar none its just that not everyone knows about it or does it this way. it will still work with the wheel well though

you'll just always hear a sort of vaccuum sound or feel a sort of lag effect when you first accelerate. you'll see when you first put it on. try flooring it quickly, listen and feel for the car doing a sort of "take a second to breathe it all in" motion and THEN go off. something like "shick wooshvrooom"

[ABQelantra]

well i cant say i have ever experienced this lag you speak of with c.a.i.'s
As for the vacum sound, thats because you are sucking air through a filter. and you are sucking air because n.a. motors generate vacum pressure. you will have that with a s.r.i. as well you just cant hear it as well because it has all the engine noise to compete with too. im not exactly the most educated person in the world. that is my humble opinion on this subject. provide me with some concrete evidence to your statements and i will consider my self corrected.

[WytchDctr]

Who discovered the wheel weel isn't the best place?
I know some racecars use the basic layout of the factory box and piping, but it's made of all carbon fibre and the airbox contains a cone filter.
The SRI style without a doubt loses power.



I have seen to many dynos and my own *** dyno tells me you are wrong on that point. The beta will loose some LOW low end power with a SRI. As in below 2k rpms, but other than that gains are nice. Anyway, what he is talking about is more likely on a car by car basis. The way the bumper is shaped, is there a hole in it, etc can affect how much air is available for the CAI to pull in. In some cars, not all, the way it is shaped causes a low pressure area inside the fender near the ground. I don’t have a wind tunnel test with a barometer inside the fender to prove it but its simple physics. Anyone know how a paint gun works? Air moving past holes or other openings in the fender will pull the air out of the fender. Not all of it, but enough that it could infact take air away from the intake. That and allot of cars are now being designed to push air away from under the car with splitters etc. This low pressure area under the car helps with handling. Now take one of the cars with this design and you are TRYING to keep air away from the bottom of the car. This is a different effect since there is not as much air rushing by to steal the air from the fender but it is less air regardless. Now with the 01-03 XD Sedans at least without fog lamps there is a nice size hole in the bumper. I once again have no air tunnel tests to show you but I would have to assume that would allow enough air in to replace the air leaving out the back of it (from around that plastic shield thing). Maybe I am wrong but I understand what he is trying to tell you. It might not affect the elantra but who really knows without testing it? Also I am not saying CAIs don’t work in the fender, but like he said if you could find another place to have it where there was more air for it to pull in at the same temp you would get a better gain.

[Steve]

Sorry WytchDctr! I nmade it sound like a SRI loses power from stock, that's wrong like you mention, I just meant that it can't provide the same power as a CAI.

As far as the best location to install an intake, there are much better ways of doing it, but the front bumper cavity CAI is the simplest and usually a simple bolt-on, making it the most popular.

[xHolmeZxGT]

ok, we all drive Elantra's here! It not like we are constantly driving 100+ to really notice this low pressure area in the fender well. Unless you plan on racing the car with crazy *** mods, there is not going to be a hugh significant difference to harm power or cause problems. So the fender for most of us is a great place for the CAI. It may not be 100% true CAI, but its going to be the most cost effective and easiest alternative at the moment.

[WytchDctr]

Ah.. that is true. Ford has a dyno showing a 5lbs trq gain from a CAI over the WAI. As far as the packaging for a CAI, esp with mass produced unites I completely agree. Most people don’t want a bunch of insulation/boxs/vents under there hood. A simple pipe system that runs into the fender performs and looks good. I see why they do it.

[kylemorg]

Does anyone know if we can make enough room behind the driver's headlamp to put the thing there, and if so, what sort of intake would work (accord still??) I guess that would be an LRI :) It's got to be less hot than an SRI...

That's what I have -- the filter sits beside the battery, and I shifted the battery over about 3 inches. The factory hold-down brackets can be used for the battery, but the plastic shroud on the exhaust manifold-side of the battery has to be removed. I'll take some pictures later and upload them.

The intake was marketed as an Accord 4-cyl CAI, but it didn't have the final downward turn like a lot of other ones do. As a matter of fact, the first 3" accord CAI I picked up and subsequently sold to Nyck (I think) also placed the filter beside the battery.

Part of the reason the factory intake end was there, I believe is because that is a slightly higer air pressure area.

Also, that way the filter is less likely to get saturated with water and less likely to hydrolock the engine.

[mtlelantra]

That's what I have -- the filter sits beside the battery, and I shifted the battery over about 3 inches. The factory hold-down brackets can be used for the battery, but the plastic shroud on the exhaust manifold-side of the battery has to be removed. I'll take some pictures later and upload them.

Awesome... that's what I want to see!! :multiples
Can't wait for the pix.

[kylemorg]

Here're two pics of the CAI intake filter mounted next to the battery and how the battery still clamps down with the standard mounting tab. If you have a CAI that sucks in air from within the fender and you're worried about hydrolocking your engine, try cutting the tube shorter and mounting the filter here.

[mtlelantra]

That's a beaut, Kylemorg! So look for Accord CAIs without the extra downward turn... gotcha!

[ABQelantra]

not to hijack the thread, but kylemorg where did you get that strut bar from. i need one like that for when i install my airram.

[sed]

what you need to do there is cover the top and left side of the filter with some sort of heat resistant material you'll see some good gains from that imo

shawn :)

[Atomic]

I almost did my setup like kylemorg's after my close call with hydrolock. But, I was worried about the intake inhaling the corrosive fumes from the battery and the heat from the headlight, not sure if it was a potential problem.

[locchamp]

do you absolutly have to take out the resonator air box? in the DIY it does not have that step in there?

[FordFasteRR]

I almost did my setup like kylemorg's after my close call with hydrolock. But, I was worried about the intake inhaling the corrosive fumes from the battery and the heat from the headlight, not sure if it was a potential problem.


your battery should not be leaking any " fumes " ... its a sealed battery... (OEM that is).

and the headlight will not generate anough heat to mess up the temps going to the filter because in that positoin, it is sitting right on top of the fender well hole... as long as you removed the stock resonator box, you will get a source of cold air into that filter :)


.

[kylemorg]

The strut bar is an EvoFusion one.

Yep, the stock battery is sealed -- no corrosive gasses vented. I believe 90%+ of the new batteries are sealed.

You'd probably want to take out the stock resonator in the fender -- you'll get better airflow past the air intake with it out of the wheelwell.

I've thought about building an enclosure to filter out the engine heat, and I've even got coated aluminum sheet to do it (free scrap from work) -- I just haven't done it yet.

[Atomic]

I read "DANGER: Sheild Eyes, Explosive Gases" on my OEM battery and made an assumption I guess. Oh well, I don't have any worries anyway, I have an Optima now.

[aLoNe I bReAk]

So look for Accord CAIs without the extra downward turn... gotcha!No, you're still going to need that turn piece. The best way is to pick up a 2-piece Accord CAI and then cut off the majority of the second piece of pipe. Since that piece will be right next to the coupler, all you hace to do is rotate it to your needing/liking.

Also, IMO the wheel well is a perfectly suitable place for the CAI filter, maybe because I am happy with the gains I have experienced.

once you drop the filter so low...you lower your chances of the preffered constant gush of air into your intake or the straw in a full glass of soda effect. It is prefferable to have faster moving air and a fuller charge if you will. Colder air is less dense than hot air, however not by much. Unless you live up in the mountains where it becomes really thin, I still say the wheel well is fine. What you are describing in a way is a ram-air effect.

[mtlelantra]

Colder air is less dense than hot air, however not by much.
Colder air is more dense than hot air at a given pressure and volume (PV=nRT... if PV is constant, n has to go down as T rises)... that's why hot air balloons rise, and why you want a "cold air" intake, which carries more oxygen by volume.

[Hot E GT1]

Hallo!

Here are pics of the cut out for my intake:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/663000-663999/663133_36_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/663000-663999/663133_60_full.jpg

[kylemorg]

Colder air is less dense than hot air, however not by much.
Cold air is MORE DENSE than hot air at the same pressure... see: http://users.wpi.edu/~ierardi/PDF/air_density_plot.PDF.

Nice job trimming the black part of the bumper, Hot E GT1!

[Steve]

I think I'm going to change from my wheel well setup to something similar to Kylemorg's. A little shield and it's getting cold air and it's still long enough to make good power.