[Litespeed08]

Nice work. Soon after buying my 2008 AT I modified my intake similarly with the following differences. I installed an Ice Box, smoothed out the interior of the lower box, ran a 4 inch pipe curving into the front bumper. I modified a horn adapter and sealed it to the port next to the fog light. It's a fake port but I cut it open and added a wide hole mesh to keep the bugs out. It's a more direct flow setup.

Unfortunately I had the car tuned right after with FlashPro as I also had installed headers, HFC, cat-back exhaust, aluminum pulleys and several other minor mods that I'm forgetting at the moment. So I wasn't able to data log and compare the gains against the OEM setup. I've always wondered what tweaks to this intake would have produced. How was my bottom end affected? Where do the higher end gains start? Would a 3 inch pipe helped my lower end? Should I have cut the intake hole bigger?

I also switched from a K&N filter back to a Wix filter later for more filtration as I noticed that my synthetic oil was getting dirtier much faster. I couldn't discern any noticeable performance difference in the reduced air intake. The difference may have been minute.

I was happy with the gains overall and I've never had any moisture/water issues but I do live in Southern California so rain isn't much of an issue even though I'm lowered. Someone may have made similar intake mods but I haven't researched it. It would be interesting to see what additional gains or effects they would produce compared to OEM and other intake mods.

Once again, good work with the mods and data logging.

 

[Litespeed08]

Very good suggestions by CalgaryTSX. You can also add other underdrive pulleys (power steering) but I would recommend staying away from alternator underdrive pulleys. They can cause serious charging and power drop issues for both OEM electrical systems and those with aftermarket stereos and other high load electrical components. It caused all kinds of havoc for me and that's probably why they are not common anymore.

 

[Litespeed08]

You don't have to use a smaller crank pulley. You can just go with a lighter crank pulley (same diameter). Remember that a smaller crank pulley is usually slightly smaller so the overall effect is minimal if any on your accessories. If you greatly increased the weight on your accessories then that would have a bigger affect on how hard your car would have to work to drive them but you are not changing the weight of your accessories.

As far as overdriving/underdriving your accessories that is a bit more involving because it depends on various factors and is definitely worth researching as CalgaryTSX has mentioned. The size of the pulley used on your actual accessories definitely has an effect and can cause serious issues to things like your alternator and power steering performance. Definitely research.

 

[Litespeed08]

That video hints to possible gains that I also suspected when I ported my intake into a cutout on the front bumper, allowing air to be rammed in for more input. This is opposed to just directing the air intake down into the restricted space behind the front bumper. I'm curious as to how wide the improved area under the curve is. And how low in the power band do your gains start. It would be an interesting experiment.

 

[Litespeed08]

It's understood that running the intake into the restricted area behind the bumper has not shown to be beneficial, especially on the low end. I don't think there's any more left of that dead horse to beat. What I've mentioned and found to be beneficial is porting a smooth airflow through the front bumper to get a rammed effect. Along with that go other considerations like modifying your air/fuel mixture. It has to be done with other complimenting mods. I just didn't do any data logging to see how to optimize a smooth, rammed air setup.

And of course widening the intake diameter through the piping and intake to the air box has an effect. The width needs to be studied to see where it's beneficial in the power band and where it's a detriment (low rpms?).

I did find it slightly beneficial to use a less restrictive air cleaner (foam and K&N) but it was minute and it contaminated my oil much faster. I chose to go back to an oem type (Wix) for better maintenance.