Hand made carbon Intake

ALRIGHT THIS IS MY FIRST THREAD, SO GO EASY.
So after having my truck for a couple years and doing little things here and there, I figured it was time to look into some performance upgrades. Right off the bat, I started with the intake as I thoughtit would be the cheapest place to start. Turns out, intakes are pretty damn pricy. Anywhere from two to three hundred and some, plus I was not to impressed with what u get for the money, A BUNCH OF PLASTIC. So after thinking about it I decided to dive right into a new project and make my own Intake.



STEP 1
I started off by removing the stock air box, making a large block of foam and sculpting the required bends to clear STUFF and THINGS under the hood resulting in a tube that transitions from the 3 inch carb to a 4 inch filter.


STEP 2
Once I had my plug done, I made a box to section half of the plug off at a time in order to make my negative molds. This was done for each side.


STEP 3
After the negative molds cure, it’s a matter of layering carbon fiber and fiberglass to creat the two halves of the tube.


STEP 4
The two halves were then “stitched” together with several layers of carbon on the inside and out.


STEP 5
After coating the tube with several layers of resin and countless hours of sanding inside and out, the final product was showing.


STEP 6

The filter box was somewhat easier to make as I found a plastic tub from good old wall mart that, with a few minor altercations,would do the job. So I used the tub as a negative mold, stuffing resin and layers of carbon. After an overnight sit I pulled it from the tub trimmed it up and BAM not bad.


STEP 7
As soon as I found a decent way for mounting the top,I stripped it and started the lengthy process of coating in resin and sanding.


STEP 8
Once it was all sanded, polished, and cut. It was time to assemble the thing.



STEP 9 Install



All the important crap was integrated behind the tube to help keep clutter to a minimum. I had this thing on for only a day now,and easily notice a gain in power, makes a wicked sound too. It has thrown a check engine but I believe that’s due to my breather hose crimping, but all getback on that. You may have notice but this was a real budget build as I am in college at the moment and could not afford to do everything right. This was a little side project for me. There areseveral reasons I went with carbon fiber, one because I had a fat roll of it in my closet so it was there to use, also it is a great material to use if you are trying to create difficult corners, bends and edges. Plus I did not see much in the carbon fiber intake market out there, and what was out there sure was pricy. The end result is that it does make a gain, how much is the question. Also, it’s not user friendly by far and there are a lot of things that I would like to do differently and correctly during the build process that will help to end up with an easier and cleaner setup, as I plan on making a second version and stronger molds. I’m also planning on making an air funnel or “ram”that goes from the front grill to that 4 inch hole on the side on the box. I would like to get my truck dynode with the setup and with the stock to find out the gains or losses and see how I can improve. please let me know if you have any ideas.

 

SICK!!

 

Unique and cool. Check engine light will probably stay on though...

 

Wow great project. I'm impressed.

 

Woah! Nice work man! I'm interested to see the ram scoop

 

yup I did make sure of that by positioning it between the transition of 3 to 4

 

Nice job!

The check engine light is result of the diameter of the intake and maf placement. Crimped breather hose will not throw a check engine light.

 

Make it connect to a hood scoop like this and I'm in!

 

Looks real good!

 

cool

 

Good work OP! I'm impressed. How many hours total? Do you know what code your throwing?

 

I'd buy that all day long.

 

Im not sure on the code but like 05redtaco said its prolly the placement of MAF sensor. I tried to put it within the same size diameter as the stock, but maybe its cus of how un restricted it is. Total houres im not sure????? I started back in May and took breaks here and there.

 

Pretty neat! Nice work

 

Tiss the plan to make more.

 

Nice work OP, looks clean, like a pro!

 

I have cheap ebay intake, have had it for a year and no CEL

 

Your check engine light is likely from induced sensor error. The size and shape of the tube looks different than stock and that likely has caused the calibration of the MAF sensor to be very off.

Use a scan tool and check the fuel trim deviation at idle and a steady 60 MPH and see how far out the trims are. If that is your problem you can recalibrate the MAF sensor to the new tube using the URD MAF Sensor Calibrator and fix that problem up pretty easily.

G

 

awesome yeah im most likely going to make another one with improvements. and will check that out. would there be a noticable difference by calibrating it? also if I just left it the way it is now throwing a check is it going to do any long term damage to the engine. It has been bugging me and have been thinking about throwing the stock one back on.

 

If it is running to lean or two rich it can damage the engine. No doubt about it.

G