I've been looking at some pictures of gp with CAI and most of them don't have the box. I read somewehre that the box is to keep snow or water out? so whats the best thing to do, is it necessary to have one or can the intake handle a little water in the event of an accident?

Sugestions Please

Box...?
Are you talking about the stock air box?
A CAI or FWI is used to get rid of the restrictive stock air box.

In my opinion, I'd go with a CAI box. You can easily make one yourself for less than $30.

imho fwi are better
i had a slp cai and the ait
was 40 degrees hotter then
outside air

Hello,

Here is a thread that went by not too long ago.
http://www.grandprix.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002436
It has many opinions.

Later now,
Clint

As far as getting alot of water in your engine compartment while the car is running, dont. Take every precaution nessessary to make sure no water gets near that air filter while its sucking air in. If its raining no water is gonna get under the hood unless its not sealed somewhere.

In the event of an accident, it wont blow up your engine or anything right away, but it has the potential to cause massive damage to your car over time and immediately. So best to avoid that type of accident.

I am currently using an open cone speedbuilt system, with no box. It works great and I dont worry about water, so as far as I am concerned,you dont need the box, but it is a good safety measure and it looks good.

FYI if water gets in your motor it doesnt blow up it just stops. And it doesnt take much.

If water gets into your intake it will cause a hydro-lock.

here is some good testing on CAI's and the reasons for a CAI over FWI http://easyperformance.com

My experience over the past year with winter and summer driving with an open cone are as follows. MPG up by 2, engine noise a little more pronounced. I have not taken my car to a track so overall performance I cannot comment on. I have been happy with the open cone that's why I've put off putting a box in my car. I'm now contemplating putting in a reflectix box to quiet the intake down a hair.

FYI all this talk about FWI vs CAI and designs ,well here is what a well know GP racer thinks Zoomer of ZZP was runnig a 4" mandrel bent FWI and desided to give a Wizair CAI a try well he dropped a 1/4 second off his PB in the 1/4 to 11.24 ,they then did bench flow tests on the FWI and the Wizair ,the FWI flowed signifigantly less all because of one 90 deg. bend ,this said getting cold air to the throttle body is important but don't sacrifice flow dynamics in the process.So what i believe works best is a competly sealed CAI that draws in cold air from both the fenderwell and behind the headlight ,you should also use as large of filter as possible.By the way Herc is that a K&N filter and what is the size ? It looks awfully small to me or is it just the picture.

It is a K&N I'm not sure what size it is I think it's an 8 inch. It's not the one people typically use for our cars I had to rig up a way to mount it to my Home Depot plumbing. I has a metal ring with a double rubber seal that I screwed some L brackets onto then attached the other leg of the brackets to my rubber coupler sealing the whole thing with silicone. Yes I ghetto rigged it. I'm cheap

so is it safe to say go without a box, money doesnt grow on trees and i don't want to put some ghetto a$$ homemade thing over it

Yes you'll be fine with out the box.

A matter of opinion since you have a 00 you would do as well putting a drop in K&N as a warm air cone ,the 99and up have a better air box design,the only gain you will get from a WAI is noise ,and not all home built CAI boxes look getto it depends on your level of craftmanship.

I ran a fenderwell in my Grand Am for about 7 months (through the fall and part of the summer). Our fenderwell intakes are on the driver's side of the car. The passanger's side is where all the water collects on the side of the road. A little water won't hurt it will just steam clean your engine. You really won't have a problem unless you drive through a lake or a very deep puddle. Couple guys opted to use the AEM bypass, but it's really useless. The only problems I found with the fenderwell setup is that it tends to get dirty rather quickly & I don't recommend using it during winter months. From my discoveries I was careful during the winter, but by March the outside of the filter was compleatly covered in salt. It was a pita to clean it, but after I did and reinstalled it there was a noticable difference. On the GP I opted to go with the Wizair cai box. Nothing but positive with it. It looks good under the hood, it gets air from behind the headlight and the fenderwell, insulated from engine heat, the filter isn't out in the elements and has a place for the pcm and keeps that out of the damaging engine heat.