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Old 03-28-2012, 07:49 PM   #376 (permalink)
steffen707
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJ View Post
So, after reading Hondaworkshops thread, I decided today was a pretty good day try out the warm air intake (hereafter referred to as WAI) that I've been scheming about for a few weeks.

Knowing that there is at least part of the intake coming from inside the engine compartment (about 1 foot from the header) I convinced myself that Honda wouldn't have possibly made it that easy to do a WAI.

"Surely," I thought, "there must be another intake point in the resonator somewhere crammed into the front bumper under the passenger headlight."

So, intakes were dissassembled, bumpers were partially pried off, but no other source of intake air was found.

"Surely," I thought, "Honda couldn't have made it that easy. That second intake point must be SOMEWHERE back there where I can't reach it!"

The heavy artillery was called in.

I hooked up the shop-vac to the intake, stuffed all the known holes with rags, then I flipped the switch.

Technically, I was right.

Honda did leave another point for intake air to enter the resonator. And when I say "point" I really mean it. It's a drain-hole in the bottom of the resonator in the bumper, about 1/8" in diameter. Not even worth bothering with.

30 minutes of dirty work all to find out that Honda actually did make it that easy to make a WAI. /


So, what is neccessary for the worlds easiest WAI, you ask?

One 18" length of 3" aluminum vent hose.
One zip tie.
And one ~12" piece of wire.

Slip the vent hose over the intake "port" (or whatever you want to call it), zip tie the vent hose in place.








Stretch the end of the vent hose up in-between your header and catalytic converter, use your piece of wire to hold it in place.






I illicitly "borrowed" my wifes digital probe thermometer from the kitchen and hooked it up to the intake of my car, just above the air filter and ran a little before and after test.

Before the WAI, intake temps varied from 65º to 85º, getting steadily cooler at higher speeds.

After the WAI, intake temps were around 140º in town and varied from 120º to 180º on the highway.
I copied your idea and i'm shocked at the in town results. I've gone from around 50-55mpg for accross town 4 mile trips under 35mph speeds with 4-5 traffic light, or stop sign stops, to now a record high of 69mpg for the same trip. Just to make sure I drove all the way back to Autozone and drove the same path home and got 67.93mpg so I know its not a fluke. I need to isolate the modification for testing because i also did a front grill duct tape block at the same time. I know 12-14mpg is a TON, so I want to be scientific about it and do an A-B-A kind of test to know how "true" these mods are. Also just driving a few tanks with and without the mods would help to compare, but when you get 500miles on a tank, one needs to drive a lot to test results.

What I have noticed though is that at 65mph I am still getting the same MPG that I was before these mods, between 45-52mpg highway. I think that not having a belly pan of any kind is filling the engine bay with cold air and causing the intake to suck more volume of air due to more throttle input. I was going to use a wind block on the right side of the exhaust/CAT to block wind from blowing right behind the CAT and into the pipe without flowing past the manifold to warm it up more.

I need to find something to test the incoming air temp with and without the WAI, and with and without the front grill block. It amazed me how fast the car heats up now too. That will pay off huge in winter (WHY DIDN'T I READ THIS LAST NOVEMBER!)

Last edited by steffen707; 03-28-2012 at 08:17 PM..
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