YnotDIY Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 (edited) Hey ya'll just wanted to share a recent upgrade to my 88 GL. Swapped the old air intake for a short RAM. I welded the MAF adaptor plate myself and right now it's held in place (temporarily) by a modified hack saw blade (it was what I had laying around the house). So far I've been really pleased with the results! Getting way more throttle response in 1,2, and 3 (increased acceleration) in 4 it seems a little slower to get up to speed, but not much and 5 seems the same. I haven't noticed any increase or decrease in gas mileage, but I also haven't charted it out and I'm not really concerned. Best part is the acceleration for sure, it used to be so slow to get up to speed, not anymore. It's winter here in MI so I haven't had to deal with venting hot engine air yet....waiting on that for the Summer. I have noticed though that the acceleration is slower once the engine warms up a bit, but still better than it was before. I'll be looking to get a water shield for it soon as well, but we have had some rain recently and I've been driving it around. The engine bay stays dry so I'm not to concerned about hydro lock. If anyone wants me to weld up an adaptor plate for them lemme know! Edited February 17, 2017 by YnotDIY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naked Buell Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Thats a cool mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 A hot-air intake, eh? I'd be willing to wager that not only has that cost you power, but that your perceived increase in acceleration is just a placebo effect based on the louder intake honk. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 (edited) A hot-air intake, eh? I'd be willing to wager that not only has that cost you power, but that your perceived increase in acceleration is just a placebo effect based on the louder intake honk. I had thought of this. I'm going to swap out to the old intake soon and see if it's just my imagination. I do like the look of the new intake though and cleaning or swapping out the filter is a much quicker process now which I also like as well as the engine space and overall de-cluttered feeling of the new filter. If there is power loss I'm sure it's negligible, but yes I agree it could be my imagination. I'll update with results when I swap back to the old intake...not sure if I actually want to cut up my hood to vent hot air when summer comes, which will be absolutely necessary with this new set up. Edited February 21, 2017 by YnotDIY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) As an automotive design engineer I can tell you that it will make a difference in output, but with such a low-output motor, you may not even notice the difference unless you have a well-calibrated butt dyno. For every 10*F you lowere or lower your intake temperature, you gain 1% of total engine output. I would estimate (based on winter in MI) that your hot air intake has increased your intake air temperature by AT LEAST 40*F, so running through the math: (Your engine started life with 90 hp, but it's probably closer to 80 now) 80hp x 0.96 = 76.8 hp. And that's at the crankshaft. Let's assume a 20% loss from the drivetrain 76.8 x 0.80 + 61.44 hp. With 61.44 anemic horses dragging your Subaru around, you really need each and every horse working at its peak performance. If you're stuck on your new intake, at the very least you need to build a shield of some kind that seals off the filter from the rest of the engine compartment, no need to make a hood vent or scoop. Your original intake drew cool, dry air from the passenger's side inner fender. Edited February 22, 2017 by carfreak85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 The filter isent the point of the restriction its the air water separator under the fender it only has a 1" or so opening to let air in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 From reading many older threads that went into great detail regarding intake airflow and power, mods,etc. It is the valves and port geometry that limits ea82 engines power level. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Ferp420, we're talking about a 90 hp engine with garbage flow rates. One inch diameter isn't great, but just removing that pipe introduces much warmer air to the engine and will probably result in a net loss in output. Replace that duct if you wish, but don't just remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 As an automotive design engineer I can tell you that it will make a difference in output, but with such a low-output motor, you may not even notice the difference unless you have a well-calibrated butt dyno. For every 10*F you lowere or lower your intake temperature, you gain 1% of total engine output. I would estimate (based on winter in MI) that your hot air intake has increased your intake air temperature by AT LEAST 40*F, so running through the math: (Your engine started life with 90 hp, but it's probably closer to 80 now) 80hp x 0.96 = 76.8 hp. And that's at the crankshaft. Let's assume a 20% loss from the drivetrain 76.8 x 0.80 + 61.44 hp. With 61.44 anemic horses dragging your Subaru around, you really need each and every horse working at its peak performance. If you're stuck on your new intake, at the very least you need to build a shield of some kind that seals off the filter from the rest of the engine compartment, no need to make a hood vent or scoop. Your original intake drew cool, dry air from the passenger's side inner fender. I've looked into this also and I absolutely get what you are saying. I wonder why they located the intake inside the fender though. it's a tight fit and doesn't get much air flow. seems like in the summer it would be worst since it's such a tight space, but do we think it's actually that much cooler right there than inside the engine compartment? I mean it probably is but I wonder how much cooler it really is since it's pretty cramped in there and tight spaces + how sun + little new air is gonna = hot air. maybe the same temp as if I were to vent the hood? who knows just speculation, but I'm gonna pop back on the old air intake and let ya'll know if the acceleration rates change at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 (edited) I'm also curious about doing a mod on the piece under the fender the widen the intake there. I'll let you know if and when that happens. thinking about cutting the top section and adding an oval piece of PVC???? or is PVC a bad idea? If so anyone have thoughts on good plastic to use? Edited February 23, 2017 by YnotDIY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 First off,you really need to secure the air flow meter a bit better. They do not like heavy vibrations from the road. Second, yes the intake should pick up in the fender. The box inside the fender is actually a muffler to help with intake honk. Do not use PVC as I believe the fumes it let's off when it warms up, is not real good at mixing with the aluminum. Years ago, I adapted a AEM cold air intake from a 2002 WRX onto my first RX. The filter was inside the fender, I had to drill a hole to mount it to the car and widen the hole where the tube comes out. I used a Nissan MAF adapter and the AEM silicone coupler to attach the cold air intake to the MAF. Then a silicone adapter to drop in pipe size, some aluminum pipe and a couple 90 degree elbows to attach it all to the turbo. Granted, your car isn't turbocharged but it's the same principle. I think with the exception of the cold air intake (picked it up used) and the adapter (another board member had an extra one), I bought the hoses and pipe on eBay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Just opening up the hole to anything bigger than 1" will help I would keep the stock air box and plumbing the more available air the better the throttle responce will be after that everything is more than adiquate for this little motors next restriction is after the throttle body the sharp 90 the air has to make before it can mix with the fuel all long before the valves or flow through the heads becomes a issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Dawg Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 At least your trying... the most I did was drilled some 1/4in holes on the intake box before the filter of course lol! Thanks for sharing.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 First off,you really need to secure the air flow meter a bit better. They do not like heavy vibrations from the road. Second, yes the intake should pick up in the fender. The box inside the fender is actually a muffler to help with intake honk. Do not use PVC as I believe the fumes it let's off when it warms up, is not real good at mixing with the aluminum. Years ago, I adapted a AEM cold air intake from a 2002 WRX onto my first RX. The filter was inside the fender, I had to drill a hole to mount it to the car and widen the hole where the tube comes out. I used a Nissan MAF adapter and the AEM silicone coupler to attach the cold air intake to the MAF. Then a silicone adapter to drop in pipe size, some aluminum pipe and a couple 90 degree elbows to attach it all to the turbo. Granted, your car isn't turbocharged but it's the same principle. I think with the exception of the cold air intake (picked it up used) and the adapter (another board member had an extra one), I bought the hoses and pipe on eBay. I realized the same thing about the air flow meter. It is definitely bouncing around when I drive and that's no good. I'm welding up a support for it tomorrow and I'll post a picture or video of the results. I still have the stock air box and I'm finally on break starting next week so I'll be running some very un-scientific tests and seeing which intake seems to be working better. looking for acceleration and throttle response. I'll post results when I have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 At least your trying... the most I did was drilled some 1/4in holes on the intake box before the filter of course lol! Thanks for sharing.. We must always try haha. I drove through a torrential down pour last night....worst rain I have driven in in years....could barely see 100ft in front of me....believe me I was terrified I was going to hydro lock or something with the intake. BUT everything was totally fine. car ran great. rain subsided and Senior Dog lived to see another day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Yeah, those storms were intense to say the least. They sounded the warning sirens around 10 PM here. Not sure if was due to the storms, or if there actually was a tornado in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 Alright so here we are a couple weeks later....I swapped back to the original intake system snorkel and all. A hot-air intake, eh? I'd be willing to wager that not only has that cost you power, but that your perceived increase in acceleration is just a placebo effect based on the louder intake honk. Carfreak was correct. acceleration increase was due to the louder induction noise. car is accelerating exactly the same as it was with the RAM on as far as I can tell It's also actually idling between 1,000 and 500 RPMs quicker than it was with the RAM on which could be due to the engine heating up quicker and getting off the cold idle, but I'm not totally sure..just happy it's idling as it should. Also I never really secured the RAM as i should have and it was kinda shakey under the hood which was stressing me out. All and all the RAM was a fun experiment and I'm glad I did it, but I'll be sticking with the factory set-up from here on out. that is until I add a safari snorkel on it ..... so if anyone wants a MAF adaptor for their set up let me know! haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 You could just mod your stock air cleaner to accept a cone filter or go the snorkel route like i did. https://sc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 You could just mod your stock air cleaner to accept a cone filter or go the snorkel route like i did. Dang that's an EJ ya? wtf if up with that blk box? did you weld that? definitely eventually wanna go the snorkel route. Did you pick up the mitsubishi one that has been posted on here? love that 6 lug swap. would be into modding the intake to accept the cone filter actually. I can probably use the MAF adaptor I made and stick it inside the air box somehow. Actually I'm gonna try that tomorrow. might as well try to use it since I bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Yep has a 2.2 for now. That's the air cleaner housing I made for a cone filter which is fed by the snorkel. Snorkel is for 80 series land cruiser or Mitsubishi pajero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 very nice. I wanna go the same route with the snork. gonna see if I can mod the intake to accept the cone today hopefully. I'll post if and when I get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 ++ for a snorkel if its a wheeler other wise just open up the stock intake under the fender if your plastic is still all there you could just remove everything under the fender and protect the opening from water flung up from the tires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damiano2 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 hey, i was just wondering if you have any input on a problem im having with my 88 gl. fuse blew on the windows and the turn signals and continue to blow through new fuses. what is going on? thanks for any input you could spare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YnotDIY Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 Ferp I actually just put everything back on for the time being. Gonna go the snork route eventually, but the ram was giving me a really high idle....not sure why. Worried if I take off the snork from the stock setup it will do the same thing....are you running one on your wagon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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