Birdhouse intake *Finished. Link and pics first post*

Figured wood is going to work for the ic setup, so I'll make a box for my intake.
Ever since I sold my FWI few months back, my IAT are out the roof.
And reading about Chico's temps, I decided to tackle one tonight.
I am going to fiberglass it, make it pretty.
I used tile board on the bottom for clearance reasons. Filter is so darn large.
Can't decide on a plexi lid or not.

Question: do you think the heat from the bulb, since filter is slammed up near it, will cause the intake temps to be higher? Or is the heat from the bulb minimal?
I wasn't able to get my DLRs turned off.
Decided build this tonight, because I went out and bought some resin and bondo for another project!!

I spray painted it black so it shows through the fiberglass. Going to paint it again once fiberglass is on.

Half way fiberglassed it. Needs more and needs to be painted again. Starting to look good. Did a rush job on some fiberglassing. Will clean it up though.

Edit: Added link for all pics, and added and changed pics in this post
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m252/escapest01/New%20Intake%20design/

Cool, yeah that will totally work. Looks a little strange but im sure after you fiberglass or paint or whatever it will look pretty cool.

Keep us posted.

wow, nice but how will you mount that down ? pics if possible would be nice, also your engine bay is very good looking i have to say (as far as i can see)

G-HETTO! Now make it out of aluminum.

i was gonna say that street shaker lol hahaha its straight thuggin'

Aluminum, why?
Aluminum will heat up quick.
It's going to be cleaned up.It doesn't need to be secured, isn't going in where.
The hole for the elbow is so snug, it won't move.
And I've done it before, I drilled a small hole in the cross bar, and ran a screw down into the intake box, that'll keep it secure if need be.

I've done tons work myself on the car, I am not paying $220 for an intake setup.
After all the ones I built, I could of had one in the beginning, but things change.
That tb is from a 96' Aurora with ZZP 85 MM Maf, guess that's ghetto too.

how about just clear plexi glass ? a whole clear box ? how would that be ?

A PITA.
Old setups:

Bare aluminum will deflect more heat then it will transfer. Polish the engine side and you will drop temps even more. Wood it soak up the heat and in the whole process transfer a majority of it. Aluminum flashing wouldve been a good candidate. I've made alot of stuff with that and it deflects heat VERY well.

dang choose one, jk but those are good ideas, but then again, the tin foil ones look like garbage

OH and BTW the TB and MAF are not ghetto. Thats being a true car guy and mechanic by finding stuff off other cars that does exactly what you want it do for a fraction of the cost.

And how are you suppose to keep the flashing, that is less than 1/16" thick to make a sturdy box?
This will serve it's purpose.

i really like the flame job tho

Over lapped edges. Make the box from one piece. Flange it, rivet it. And fold over all the edges and it will be more ridgid than you think. I've made Hundreds of things with it and they do there job till this very day.

You don't think that'll look ghetto?
If it isn't done perfect, it'll look like crap.
I wanted to make something similar to the FIPK intake without spending the $$$ on one, and I work with wood alot (and have tons in the garage), so I use wood!
Once I cover it, it'll look good.
Even spray painted black, would make it look totally different.

It dont have to bo 100% perfect. You could get by with, roguhly, 85% perfect, LOL. I dunno, thinner wood would probably be better looking... ha....

you guys wanna see ghetto lol i post this week end, and see a thuggin sheild made from a dremel and nails

this is an airbox i made for a dodge avenger, worked fine.

the wood will eventually get hot, but heat transfer is very slow. the best is wood with metal flashing on the outside to reflect the heat. personally i would have made the tubing with less bends. but deff better then the Hot air intake you had

that thing looks good man, very inventive. id like to see the finnished product man, good luck

MAC

Hope the wood doesn't warp from the heat, this was brought up when someone (Corey?) was going to make a wood TB spacer.

Stupid question lol, but what kind of tubing is that ? It definitely looks better some white PVC garbage lol.

Steve, how are you with working fiberglass?

I know you're happy with the wood but what if you used the wood box as a mold for a fiberglass box? Just layer some glass around the inside of the box so you have the same shape and used that?

Might like it more than the look of painted wood? Just my 2 cents.

I think it will look just fine and should do the job as well,I also think paying just about $300 for an intake is foolish if you can build an acceptable looking intake yourself .Your asking then why did you spend the money on a K&N well I do'nt pay for most car parts I just charge them to vehicle mtnce. so my position is a little different .Chico(pops)

Yeah, it was me. It was for an i/c spacer. I have to find a wood that I trust.

do you want to make my car a company car ??

Maybe thin up the wood a bit and then fiberglass it or get metal in there somewhere. Not sure if all those were broughten up but maybe thats an idea for you. I like the idea and honestly was waiting for someone to do something like this that actually looked good. Like others have said I think a metal of some sort would have been for better use here but def like that you are using your head and trying to think of a way to do it good.

Not much wood to warp.
It'll be just fine. I was going to post when I was all finished, to skip all the what it's, but I figured I give a glimpse. I got two other projects I will post up when they're totally complete

Some putty and paint no one would know it's wood. Nice work.

yea painted would look good....could make the same exact box with fiberglass of the same thickness but that doesnt come cheap

I'm going to sand the edges to a rounder look.
Paint it black, then fiberglass it and paint that black too.
It'll look sharp.
Is a plexi lid going to do anything for it?

I think with putty and paint you won't even need to fiberglass it. Use the putty so you can "lose" the wood grain and paint it.

I would put a lid on it since heat rises, should help draw cooler air from the outside.

No lid needed if you put a seal around the top so it contacts the hood.

Update: The temps are now decreasing while driving, while before with the HAI, the temps continuously increased.
I am seeing 10* or less above ambient.
With HAI, the temps were 30* + above.

well i might just have to build one of these lol

It's a 4" 90* rubber elbow, only found at specialty plumbing stores or online. Lowes\home depot have 3" only. I actually have it cut n half, works nicely. About $28 for it.

my 3" pvc pipe makes the cone more centered to the right of where it should probably be, but o well its ok for now.

You gotta see that I have a different tb on there (N*) as well as an aftermarket maf setup (zzp 85 mm).

wood FTW!! *thumbs up*

Added some pics, fiberglass started.

I hope you plan to smooth that out. I still think a liberal coat of putty and some primer and paint woulda been easier.

It was a rush job.
I am definitely going to work on it.
Didn't have the time when I did it.
I wanted to reinstall it so I can keep intake temps down while tuning.
It beats the heck out of the plain ghetto plywood look!

Finished.
It's not perfect, nor is anything else in the bay.
I was tired of sanding and over this thing.
It'll do the trick!!

Looks good Steve, personally I liked your FWI the best but this is a close second.

I did too, wish I never sold it. It just looks soo open in that area with a FWI.
Needs a turbo, lol!
It would be smoother, I may touch it up some, but I used bondo glass instead of bondo without glass, pita to sand.
I didn't bondo the inside where cone comes through. That area I can see, and it looks rough. I need to touch that up again.

X2

Doesn't seem like it would be THAT hard to twincharge a GTP. You would need a custom engine controller so it wouldn't be good for a DD any more, but other than that... *shrug* what do I know?

Dude, that looks freakin SWEET! Good job, great write-up.

x2 on what rick said VERY GOOD job i might be lookign into this

Now it just needs a lid.

I was thinking some lexan or plexi. Drill holes in the cover and put some inserts in the box to attach the lid to.

or use some type of spring type catch.

try to keep an eye on what the intake air temps/coolant temps look like. Would be interested what the insulation qualities are of 'glassed wood. THIS is what hot rodding is all about!

definately here as well, but my filter seems to be a little bit farther up and to the right than yours, but im sure i could modify a sheild

Looks good now Steve!

Intake temps have dropped tremendously compared to just being HAI!
I was seeing temps of over 100* at cruise with HAI. With the box, before I even started glassing, bondo, paint (just bare), I was seeing only 10 to maybe 15* above ambient!

I may have to do this. I got stuck in traffic, girdlocked traffic, for 4hrs. monday night and my car started to stumble from the amount of heat My engine was ingesting.

I wouldn't do the fiberglass, unnecessary I think.
Try a putty or some sort or wood filler.
Shoot, you may just put bondo right over the wood.

I thought about it, done it before, but you could if you want attach your flashing to the outside of it view some small screws, help keep heat away.

I was actually going to build it out of 1/4" plywood (Or whatever the special name for it is) then glass over it...

Using 1/4, you don't have much to secure to, therefore you would need maybe some braces.
Or glue and small nails to keep it together until you glass it.

I was gonna glue it together then glass it. 4 layers of fiberglass should make a nice strong sheild.

Look good. Nice job.

I can't imagine if people looking at your car. They will say wow that's nice looking intake shield. Where did you get that? You respond to them that I make it. It is really birdhouse. People react might be

or theyll be like "Wow thats really creative, nice"

Anyone else skeptic at first that it wouldn't work out? LOL
Most people I talk to about the car, don't know squat. Then there are those that think they know stuff, they know generic stuff, and think anything they say will help my car perform better. Even though what they say is what they think works for cars they tried it on or for a bunch of cars. Since I've read sooo much and delt with this car soo much, I always tell them their wrong.
And then you have those idiots that laugh at say the flames on the blower, and I am sure they don't even know what the blower is.
Occassionally you'll run into another fabricator.

do you have exact demensions and what not?
I really want to make this, i few questions for you.
pm me your aim,msn or somethign lol

the dimensions are in the FAQ Karl .. someone else made a topic of a custom CAI too !

lol all i can say is "man, u love your wood!" lmao

yea, for a aluminum, and folding junk, his is just wood sides and bottom, no folding/bending, so the dimension will be some what the same, but i would ask for his dimensions too, so can i have those as well ?

I can't provide exact dimensions because I don't have a stock tb anymore and you wont be using exact filter or tubing as I did. Therefore you don't need dimensions, you make your own up. With wood its easy to trial and error. Make it larger then needed and slowly cut it to size.

too bad all i have is a dremel lol this will be epic failure, well ill give it a try, i think it will look bad just straight up wood, but maybe if i lined it will aluminum ? so that would be even easier to get dimension ? a project, i think so !

Band saw for the win!
Do what Herc suggested, use wood, use like a piece of pine. Sand it smooth and use filler in any damaged areas. Then paint it black. It look just fine.

all i have in my garage is ply wood, well ill see what i can do

$10 for 1x12x8 piece pine, nicer piece be like $15

ill go check into it tomarrow, maybe do something too !