Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Factory air box

Brex: I'll answer your questions the best that I can...one at a time.

"What exactly is heat soak?"

Heat soak is the effect that engine heat has on the incoming air that comes through the air filter. [Hot air doesn't work as well as cool air for making power.] It occurs predominantly while driving during warm weather in stop and go traffic (something that's very common where I live). It can be more pronounced when the humidity is high. Having the A/C running can also make it worse (the radiator cooling fans are running all the time that the A/C is turned on).

"Someone said that the cone style is pointless???"

That's a matter of opinion. There is a dyno test on the Capitol CEG website that details their test of the stock airbox vs. the SVT airbox vs. the KKM filter on the same car. Each airbox change 'up the ladder' provided a measurable increase in torque and horsepower at the driving wheels.

" Do you need a new aftermarket flow meter if you go with the cone filter?"

No. Any modification to your engine (including intake and exhaust) requires a reset to your engine computer (pull fuses #4, #11 as stated in my last post).

I hope this is a little easier to understand.

My car is my daily driver. I look at modifications carefully, so that I can maintain good driveability and reliability. I have done similar modifications to the airboxes on my last three cars with the only "consequence" being more noise. [just a few more of my "two cents" pieces ]

Mike

still not gettn' it....if I take off the connector from the box to the cold air plastic that goes down to the fender...water get's into the box...I can't find the "silencer either"

I don't understand how water is getting inside of your airbox. [My open air filter doesn't even get damp when it rains here. Not even a drop of water on its chrome plated end cap (during our worst downpours).]

The 'silencer' (actually, I think it's called an "air intake resonator" is buried inside of the fender. I had to remove a few screws from the left fender liner to get mine out (it helps if the wheels are turned fully left; or the left front tire/wheel is removed entirely). After you bend the fender liner down, and look inside the fender (toward the front of the car) you should see the 'silencer'. It's made from black plastic (same plastic as the airbox).

HTH

Mike

Ok...so I said screw it to the "silencer" "resonator", and just removed the link from the cold air pipe and box, now I have the box with a nice size hole in it. I don't have a problem with that but has anyone else run it that way? any point? I think one of you guys have but you said you didn't know if you were gaining or losing...so I'll pose that question to someone who has had experience with both sides of the coin...should I go with the cone style? If I go with the cone...what do I do with the harness on the air box? I understand the harness that meters the air on the actual intake closest to the engine..but what's the harness in the side of the box closest to windshield doing and what do I do with it when I remove the box???

To be honest, if you're going to use the stock airbox, leave it hooked up to the fender inlet. You'll pull in cool air that way, which gives better performance.

My preference is to use the cone style air filter. The cone filter is at its best when it's used with a heat shield around the filter, but even without a heat shield, I think it works better than the stock airbox (my butt dyno and my gas mileage tell me so! ).

Brex, if I remember you signature correctly, you have some exhaust mods. The cone style air filter will work even better with your exhaust mods than it works with my stock exhaust.

Well, everybody has opinions. Now you know mine on air filters.

Good luck with you car. If you have any other questions, the FAQ on the main site is great, there's lots of good info in the forum archives (you may have to read a lot of unrelated posts when you search for answers, but there is lots of good info there), and if I can clear anything up that I've mentioned, just ask (damn, that's a long sentence ).

Mike

thanks dude! I really apreciate your opinion! I took off the connection hose between the box and the hose from the front....Noticed a bit more even acceleration (I think) and some 'cooler sound' I'll pick up the cone style (with the heat sheild this week. Question for you specificly: What did you do about the 'sensor' <-- temp I think, attached to the box? Where did you put it? What is it? And finally, was it an issue?

Glad I could help a little

The sensor that you are referring to is "intake air temperature" or IAT for short. When I first installed the cone style air filter, I just zip-tied it to the wiring harness that runs right in front of the drivers' side strut tower. Later, I made a hole (shaped like the one in the original airbox) in the base of the SVT airbox that I use to mount my cone style filter.

[The K&N p/n for my filter is: A066A6][I bought this filter used, so I don't know if K&N makes this one anymore. If you can get a look at a K&N catalog at a parts store, the catalog lists all kinds of data on all of their filters. There is probably another filter close to this one if my particular p/n is obsolete (this is for anyone who may like to duplicate my set-up .)]

If you buy an aftermarket adapter to mount a cone filter (like the KKM set-up; URL on the main site), quite often those adapters have a place to install the IAT. FWIW, when I had the IAT sensor zip-tied near the airfilter, I had no problems with the way the car ran (I made the hole, and installed the IAT into the airbox as an experiment, not much difference at all).

HTH

Mike