Cold air intake question

"TheJWT" (thejwt)
08/08/2014 at 12:00 • Filed to: None

When I got my car, the previous owner had installed a cold air intake, much like the one in the picture. Normally, I have no problem with this, but the air filter is wedged between the battery and the strut tower. There isn't really enough room there either, so the filter is a bit bent and mangled up.

So I was thinking I could cut a few inches out of the intake to give the filter more room, but I'm not sure if that would cause any problems. Is there any potential danger of having the intake too short, or the air filter too close to the engine?

Update- Here's a pic of what it looks like now:

DISCUSSION (15)

HammerheadFistpunch > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 12:03

it wont matter, not really.

RazoE > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 12:12

Get a different filter? I usually buy a generic-ass $5 ebay HKS knock-off cage, and a real genuine HKS filter (which you can get for $10 on ebay).

By the way, that's not a cold-air intake. More like a short-ram.

TJDMAX > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 12:14

You won't notice any difference in power. Closer to the engine typically means warmer less dense air which is not ideal for performance, but seeing as that intake doesn't have any heat shield or anything around it as it is then I would say its already not doing much of anything for you in the performance department. Is there a hole in the fender where the filter is sitting currently? I would bet that there is and the stock airbox would have pulled air from inside the fender as it is cooler than air from the engine compartment. So if there is you may be better off leaving the filter where it is so that it at least pulls some air from outside the engine compartment..

Technically speaking you don't have a cold air intake. A true cold air intake would run pipe down just behind the bumper so the filter would pick up only fresh cold air from the front of the car.

TheJWT > RazoE
08/08/2014 at 12:22

I got a K&N yesterday, I should probably buy a cage though

Jedidiah > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 12:26

These over-glorified air filters won't do anything unless they are placed in such a way where they draw cold air from outside of the car.

The engine is only going to draw as much air as it needs; and the temperature is pretty uniform under the hood, so it doesn't really matter. Air will also heat up in the piping before it enters the intake manifold.

Cut it as much as you want, you won't lose anything in the power department. Just make sure it is in a place where it isn't in the way of anything.

Textured Soy Protein > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 12:33

To be slightly nitpicky:

If the filter's still in the engine bay, it's not really a "cold air intake." It's just an intake.

Cold air intake means the filter is somewhere outside the engine bay and bringing in cooler air.

StevenG > TJDMAX
08/08/2014 at 12:41

Yeah even my econobox factory setup is a better cold air intake than this. It has the standard filter up high and a long tube going down almost to the bottom of the car.

TJDMAX > StevenG
08/08/2014 at 12:46

I'm guessing just by looking at the engine its a car that typically you see riced out....and not that the current owner is doing that but it looks like the previous owner was going for that. And this intake is not the power adder that i bet it was claimed as.

StevenG > TJDMAX
08/08/2014 at 12:52

Sure, but the Type R sticker actually provides more power than advertised. The NOS one is almost as good as actually having NOS. You add that in with the muffler that we all know produces power in direct relation to its tip diameter and we are really dealing with a beast.

1337HPMustang > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 13:10

surely it's not too much trouble to pull the battery out when you need to replace the filter. How did it get banged up?

NaturallyAspirated > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 13:30

That looks like a B13 Sentra to me. If it were my car, I'd be tempted to hit up a junkyard or eBay and for a stock factory intake and airbox to put back onto the car. Maybe grab an exhaust heat shield while you're at it. If you want to run a non-factory filter, I'd stick a K&N or equivalent into the factory airbox.

But to answer your question, there should be no problems cutting the intake shorter. The only situation I know of where that's a problem is when the sensors are downstream of the pipe, where modifying the pipe shape can change the airflow around the sensor and cause it to read incorrectly. But it looks to me like the sensors are in the ring right next to the cone filter in this case.

EDIT: Also, is that a zip-tie holding your distributor cap on?

TheJWT > 1337HPMustang
08/08/2014 at 16:34

There's actually a big indent on one side of the air filter from the corner of the battery being smashed up against it

TheJWT > NaturallyAspirated
08/08/2014 at 16:38

There's a 94 sentra at my local junkyard that I've been cannibalizing so I might look into that. And yes, that is a zip tie. That's an older picture, and the car is very much a work in progress.

TheJWT > StevenG
08/08/2014 at 16:42

The car was pretty riced out when I bought it, and I've been trying to get it back to stock. I don't really care about adding power, I just didn't want my air filter crushed up against the battery. I might try and get the stock setup though if it's gonna work better.

StevenG > TheJWT
08/08/2014 at 16:46

Without knowing what car it is, I bet it would be better to go back to stock. Head to the junkyard!