Cold air intake question

[dyaballikl]

I'm new to the Contour thing, and I'm an ok mechanic. I pulled the intake off my Mercury Tracer, which it was designed for, and put it on my Contour. My question is this: most people I see putting intakes in their Contours basically lined it up just like the stock one, with the filter where the stock filter was. Is this just for looks, so you can see the filter? I put mine down in front of the transmission. It doesn't look the best, because you can barely see the chrome can the filter, but I figured there's more air flow down there and it should be colder. Is my logic bad? Here's a pic of my setup:
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6946/cimg0797vr8.jpg

[qbcsvt]

Itll really suck if you go thru a high puddle!!!

CAI is gonna get more air flow or cooler air cause its directed to grab fresh colder air and NOT the hot air that your engine is giving off!

But also with putting it in a lower place you have to watch out cause if you get water going into it, it will destroy your engine!!!!

Look into purchasing a bypass valve, im sure AEM and a couple other companies make them, But its engineered to protect your engine from the intake sucking in water!

- Amyn

[devanmc]

um... not on topic at all. but how did it feel when you put that on and how much did it cost you to do?

[dyaballikl]

um... not on topic at all. but how did it feel when you put that on and how much did it cost you to do?

i honestly can't tell if you're making fun of me or not....
i don't think there's any real risk of pulling in water, since the intake is such a steep climb up the piping, and i don't drive through many puddles, i suppose.

if you were being serious, the intake system was about $135 for my Tracer, and it really did feel ok :crazy:

[jamesmason1]

i honestly can't tell if you're making fun of me or not....
i don't think there's any real risk of pulling in water, since the intake is such a steep climb up the piping, and i don't drive through many puddles, i suppose.

if you were being serious, the intake system was about $135 for my Tracer, and it really did feel ok :crazy:


I paid about 70-90 usd for mine, and here is the link to the pics. I routed mine through the drop between the battery and the transaxle to where the filter sits in front of the transaxle.

http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=113090#post113090

jamesmason was my name and I think KerryKool did the same one or a variation of it.

Edit: to clarify I bought all the materials and built it from scratch.

[dyaballikl]

that's cool. i did wind up getting 2 sets of the intake system though, since 1 was short a single bracket :D. so i kinda got them both for $67.50/each. plus it's a good filter.

[devanmc]

i wasnt making fun of you. i was just trying to see if it is actually worth doing to my car soon

[dyaballikl]

oh, lol, ok. i'd definitely recommend doing an intake upgrade. the cold air upgrade is a bit more difficult, since it requires removing the battery and mount temporary (not really difficult, at all), and the standard intake, where the aftermarket filter goes where the stock filter was, is very easy. removing the plastics is a piece of cake, just make sure you keep the maf (that metal box inline with the intake) actually as part of your intake, as well as plug in the iat sensor (which is also plugged into your intake) somewhere. you can get the ones that are designed for your car, or you can just go to your local autoparts store and get generic parts, they work just as well, cost a lot less, but don't look quite as good. just remember, bigger filter = better, and inverse cone filters have more filter surface area, so that's better still.

[devanmc]

sounds good. i might do my own "custom" intake. a cheap cai-ish type thing. im thinking about doing just part the sleeper z. by, doing the piping that goes from inside the fender and into the airbox, instead of the small tube that is in there...does it sound like a cheap way to get started on the sleeperz intake?

am i just stupid for this idea or is there other way like any focus or other car cai i could buy that would take the piping through the fender. so that the filter is not sucking heated engine bay air?

[jamesmason1]

To clarify, Are you saying take out the stock intake completely(pre t/b piping to box, box, and all the piping in the fender?) It is fairly easy to do that (I've already did it with mine) but if you want to send piping through the stock hole you'll have to cut it bigger to get the piping to fit. Spectre has a piece together 3" diameter kit that works pretty good, all you'll have to do is make measurements and get the right style pieces for the different bends and whatnot. If you go to the below site, they have all the part numbers and you can give that list to auto zone and they can either order it or will have it in stock. look at the modular intake systems. the kits they provide for the focus don't go as far as what you're talking about but you can get all the pieces individually and make it any way you want.

http://www.spectreperformance.com/#CATALOG (http://www.spectreperformance.com/http://www.spectreperformance.com/#CATALOG)

[devanmc]

another thing for my stupid curiosity.which is better as in power to cost, the sleeperz intake or the focus/eBay ones ive seen around?

[SleeperZ]

another thing for my stupid curiosity.which is better as in power to cost, the sleeperz intake or the focus/eBay ones ive seen around?

Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.

[devanmc]

Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.

thanks for the info. ill probably get working on that in a few weeks

[devanmc]

Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.

Do you think you might be able to find the data from it somewhere? The car i want to do this to is still my dads and he wants to see this info, before he lets me dive head first into doing your intake.(i get the car when im 18 though,so next year)

[loggerbomb]

Do you think you might be able to find the data from it somewhere? The car i want to do this to is still my dads and he wants to see this info, before he lets me dive head first into doing your intake.(i get the car when im 18 though,so next year)

Its not a big deal. Show him the How To. I'm sure he will come around.

[dyaballikl]

it's all hard plastic anyway, meaning it's not too critical, and it's tough to break. it's all reversible, save for cutting the hole. personally, i don't cut anything on the parts i may someday sell the car with. although i'll probably never sell the car, i always get extras.

[striker2]

it's all hard plastic anyway, meaning it's not too critical, and it's tough to break. it's all reversible, save for cutting the hole. personally, i don't cut anything on the parts i may someday sell the car with. although i'll probably never sell the car, i always get extras.


yeah i still have my factory intake system:crazy:

i think i can probably through it away now:laugh:

[devanmc]

Well his intake does call for cutting holes in the stock air box. Which means i would need to find another one, if i want to put the car back to stock later to sell.

[loggerbomb]

Well his intake does call for cutting holes in the stock air box. Which means i would need to find another one, if i want to put the car back to stock later to sell.

stock air boxes are easy to be found. Just go to any local junkyard.

[devanmc]

alright, will an air box from any year work? also,will need to find a junkyard around here, could be hard im not sure.

[loggerbomb]

alright, will an air box from any year work? also,will need to find a junkyard around here, could be hard im not sure.

JUST DO IT!~

worry about finding a stocker when you sell the thing. Hell, by that time the only people that will likely buy the car will be some CEG'r or some kid and they likely wont care anyway.

[devanmc]

haha thanks, forgot about that.

[dyaballikl]

i use yellowpages.com to find local junkyards. and you shouldn't have to worry about getting ones from different years, as odds are good you'll find one of your body style in your local yard.

[devanmc]

where can i find a maf adaptor?

[Rich2279]

BAT and the autozones in this area have some. Plenty of online stores have them.

[devanmc]

the problem is, those have 4 screw holes for the v6, the zetec only has 2 or atleast thats how it looked.

[mcgarvey]

Zetec MAFs don't need an adapter. Go take a second look, you'll see....

They have a round sleeve that connects to the airbox. Just stick your cone filter or tubing right on that.

[devanmc]

sweet thats so convenient.

[dyaballikl]

i have a couple extra maf adaptors. if anyone wants one, just gimme the money for shipping. they need to be drilled, but that's cheap and easy. my maf on my zetec is round at both ends, so it didn't need an adaptor like my last car did.

[Augi]

Off of personal experience, I have had the intake setup that dyaballikl had, the sleeper z intake setup, and the makeshift intake from the autoparts store. The one dyaballikl had pullled in too much air for me and the car had some serios lag under full throttle. When I got the Sleeper z intake, it worked really well, but still had a bit of low end lag (seems to be ideal for MTX75 trannies instead of the CD4E) I'm about to buy one off of ebay becaues the heat that builds up in the back of the engine bay melted one of the brackets. the car ran like crap and I think it actually sucked a couple of peices of plastic into the engine. It doesnt seem like it did anything, but I'm still on my guard because it only happened last week.

I'd say do what you want, but the best CAI for the buck is the focus CAI off ebay. and if you do get the autoparts intake , beware of the breaking brackets.

[devanmc]

Off of personal experience, I have had the intake setup that dyaballikl had, the sleeper z intake setup, and the makeshift intake from the autoparts store. The one dyaballikl had pullled in too much air for me and the car had some serios lag under full throttle. When I got the Sleeper z intake, it worked really well, but still had a bit of low end lag (seems to be ideal for MTX75 trannies instead of the CD4E) I'm about to buy one off of ebay becaues the heat that builds up in the back of the engine bay melted one of the brackets. the car ran like crap and I think it actually sucked a couple of peices of plastic into the engine. It doesnt seem like it did anything, but I'm still on my guard because it only happened last week.

I'd say do what you want, but the best CAI for the buck is the focus CAI off ebay. and if you do get the autoparts intake , beware of the breaking brackets.

i got the ebay short ram and love it.

[dyaballikl]

pulled in too much air causing lag? how does that work?

[jamesmason1]

pulled in too much air causing lag? how does that work?
The only thing I can think of is if the stock MAF housing isn't used and the a/m one is larger it would change the airflow characteristics and cause the MAF to give false readings, this can be fixed with a tune. When I put the intake on the Fusion that's what happened and the tune corrected it.

[dyaballikl]

The only thing I can think of is if the stock MAF housing isn't used and the a/m one is larger it would change the airflow characteristics and cause the MAF to give false readings, this can be fixed with a tune. When I put the intake on the Fusion that's what happened and the tune corrected it.

i just did the pull the negative battery cable for 5 minutes, then run it for about 20 miles, and it works just fine for me, i don't notice any lag off the line.