Last Updated: 06/03/98

Materials and Tools

• Air conditioning insulation box
• Thin gloves - to work with the fiberglass backed insulation box
• Scissors or utility knife - to cut the box into various shapes to form a box
• Duct Tape - to hold the pieces of the box together
• Flexible air hose - to route fresh cold air to your filter

Reason

Installing an open element air filter can increase the airflow to your engine, thereby improving performance. However, many kits have the air filter in the engine bay exposed to the extremely hot engine. The heat is made worse by other modifications such as a header. The header is extremely hot, especially if there is no heat shield or header wrap in place. Therefore, while you are taking in more air, much of it is extremely heated. This will nullify any gains you may have realized with the open element filter.

The race engineers at RealTime Racing have indicated that the best thing for their Type-R engines is to draw in cold air. They use the stock air box and hose, but with an intake duct coming in from one of the headlight openings. Since we have to use our headlights, I have designed a similar device that fits in the limited space. RealTime Racing is able to use the stock box mounted on its side because they don't have the ABS pump in the way in their race cars. My design is a simple box that is large enough to fit my filter and to attach an intake hose. This approach will shield the air filter away from the heat emanating from the header and also provide a fresh cold air intake.

First remove your stock filter box and all it's plumbing. Use this opening to make a template for your box. The size of your box will depend on what intake piping you are using since they differ in length. Notice the two tubes at the bottom of this opening. My box is deformable and pushes over these two tubes.

The box is starting to take shape here. I've started to tape the outside of the box to hold it together and to keep the fiberglass material from coming off.

I chose to put the reflective layer on the inside because I did not want the possibility of the fiberglass insulation being sucked in by the filter. However, if you duct tape the fiberglass material very well, then it should be okay and the reflective side can be on the outside to better block out radiant heat from the headers.

Cut out a hole at the bottom of the box. You'll have place the box in place and crawl underneath to see where the hole should be cut. Once done, place the dryer hose or preferably, neoprene or silicone hose into the hole.

Wedge in the hose and secure it down with duct tape.

This is the box in position. The hood just barely misses the deformable box.

You may elect to leave the backside open if you wish. For optimum performance, you should make another piece which will cover up the back.

Finally, route the hose to the front of your grill.

Conclusion

Overall, I am very happy with this very inexpensive and custom modification. The power gains were noticeable but I have yet to dyno it. The car pulls a little bit harder in 2nd gear. I really know the power of my car in 2nd gear because I drive it in this gear most of the time in autocrosses. I suspect I'm making the same as the Iceman system for a much cheaper price and without having to throw away my existing intake system.