K&N Air Intake Kit

[viperchick12]

Is anyone using this type of K&N Air Intake Kit? I had smooth tubes w/ K&N filters at one time and they were sucking in so much hot air that I was losing power (but I did not have a heat shield like this set-up)... I was just wondering if it was worth the money... They are going on eBay for $250 or I would be interested in a used one if someone wants to sell...

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

I believe you have a 93. Go to K&N website and you'll see that they do NOT make this part for that year car. I bought one of these for my 01 when I was a newbie, and it did not fit. Of course, the vendor claimed it would fit, but the only way it would fit would be to force it, and then smash the hood to get it closed. I returned it, and stayed stock.

[Knight Viper]

PBJ makes his air-box to extend past the radiator and pick up cold air from there also. Ilove this setup but can't remember the cost.

[viperchick12]

I do have a 93, but this kit is for a 95-98 and if it will work on a 95 I cannot understand why it wouldn't fit on a 93.

To my benefit, my husband works at a Diesel Performance/Racing shop part-time and we have modified many parts to "fit" so that does not bother me as much as the performance gains.

Right now I have the stock set-up and it just seems as though its restricting the air flow... We are either going to have to fabricate a heat shield ourself or try to make this K&N system work... I just don't want to lose any power.

[GTSnake]

Don't get this one. The tubes have too much of a bend to them and I've heard nothing but bad reviews from people who have had these. If you notice that the PBJ has straighter tubes compared to the K&N so it flows better.

I also have the one from PBJ and it's perfect. Not sure if he makes one for Gen I but you could ask him.

[viperchick12]

Do you have the contact information for PBJ?

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

PBJ=Performance by Joe
http://www.performancebyjoe.com/

[-FROG-]

Originally Posted by viperchick12

....... had smooth tubes w/ K&N filters at one time and they were sucking in so much hot air that I was losing power (but I did not have a heat shield like this set-up).........

Just curious..... How much power were you losing? At What RPM? Did you dyno it or did you just "feel" the loss of power...?

[IEATVETS]

My understanding of the Gen1 airbox is that it is actually a very well designed piece and has the "ram air" affect. It draws air from in front of the radiator and therefore does not get any of the hot air produced by the motor. I think that the "loss of power" you are referring to is in your head as you could not possibly feel any loss power created by the airbox, if there is indeed any loss.

[viperchick12]

It was on a dynojet dyno and I lost 18 rwhp

I couldn't "feel" a power loss, I was just going by the #'s the dyno put out. This was about 2 years ago (way before the supercharger install) and I can't remember the rpm's, etc... I went from 399 rwhp to 417 rwhp with the changing from smooth tubes to factory air box (sort of the opposite effect I was expecting)

The car "looked" much meaner with the smooth tubes, but I was also having a problem with overheating during that time and thought it could be related to the hot air being sucked in

I am going to check with PBJ and see if anything is available...

[Knight Viper]

PBJ= Performance By Joe 314-781-3135 (Joe)

[viperchick12]

Thanks guys... I talked to Joe earlier today and we discussed my issues in depth...

If I decide to go this route, I will definitely use his set-up

[Knight Viper]

You wont be disappointed, you mentioned that you car was SC, I'm not sure what you're running but his crankcase catch can is a wonderful addition also.

[TexasPettey]

As I recall, you have a ROE kit. If so, you can use a pressure gage to monitor the pressure in the ROE intake tubes feeding the SC with the airbox/tubes/filters/etc on and off the car. If you don't see any noticable drop in pressure on your intake tubes, the SC is getting all the air it can. Opening up the air intake side won't generate any noticable power increase.

As an example, on my Gen1 6.5lb ROE, I made 600RWHP. At max HP, there was a substantial drop in the intake tube pressure. I only have stock TB's and smooth tubes. I'll be upgrading in the future, and will post before/after dyno and tube pressure results. The 'guestimate' on HP loss was ~30RWHP.

Hot air vs cold air is a completely different scenario from restriction. I haven't talked to those 'in the know' about it, but I would suspect that the heat generated by the ROE SC in compressing the charge will far outweigh any increase in temp on the air into the tubes. A very cold intake air temp might make a small difference, but I would think anything else would be un-noticable. The SC is going to compress the air to a given pressure/heat capability based on the pulley.

I believe that on a NA car, colder air matters more, because that is the governing item related to total volume of air taken into the cylinder (heads, cam, intake port, etc. all being equal).

[Silver_Snake]

Viperchick,
If you don't mind me asking, what was the ball park price range of Joe's setup?