[kir_kenix]

Well I finally decided to go ahead and complete the WAI mod that some have praised on this site. In my 1997 s10 I have been tracking my intake temp while driving on the highway, and in traffic for quite a while. It was very uncommon for the FIA setting on my scanguage II to ever raise beyond 3 degrees of the ambient temp outside. Frequently it would even read 1-2 degrees BELOW the outside temp.

Instead of fabbing up an entirely new box, I decided to take a Dremel to the factory box. I left the opening in the grill intact, but cut out about 50% of the surface area on the bottom and radiator side of the air box. The effects of the new openings was immediately shown on the scanguage, with FIA reading up to 30% higher then previously posted. Incidentally, I also achieved a 39.9 mpg trip where my previous record to this destination was 36.4! This was a 26.7 mile leg of the journey that I drive about 5 days a week.

It did seem to warm up faster (roughly 1/2 of a mile sooner than normal). Water temp stayed below 207*F throughout the entire 150+ miles driven today (averaged around 202). I did notice having to use more throttle to climb a few hills, but overall drivability remained unchanged. I may need to get a stock box from the salvage yard to do some A-B-A testing in the future.

Now for the questions: how hot is too hot? Is there an "ideal" temp that we should be shooting for here, or is every vehicle a rule to itself? Current FIA temps are getting up to roughly 130*F, with the norm being about 120*. It was 90-93*F outside during most of this testing, and I didn't do any extensive city driving. If there is some point of the temp getting high enough to negate any more gains, I'll experiment and close up some of the openings.

Right now I'm pretty happy with the mod. I wish I would have attempted this one sooner, as it only took me about 20 minutes and I posted several personal mileage records on the first attempt out.