Hi All,

 

I have been toying with the idea of creating a ram-air intake for my 92 Subaru Loyale Wagon.

 

However, I did not want to eliminate the origional air-intake or breather box which has a K&N air filter, so I though of adding a second air intake.

 

My ram-air idea is this:

Cut a hole in the breather box and run a metal flex tube down the inner fender around that side of the engine and mount the scoop under the front bumper.

 

That way there would be air forced into the air filter while driving.

 

What do you think?!

Ideas? Suggestions?

 

T.J.

You'll never get that car up to a speed at which Ram-Air would become effective.

 

Of course, if you're just trying to do a cold air induction, that's a different story.

Go for it!

 

That is essentially the same setup that I am running, except for one thing. Mine is not a true ram-air because the intake from under the bumper merely directs cold air onto my filter. The reason I did this, and something you should consider, is that placing the actual intake under the bumper could result in taking in mass amounts of water if you ever go through a deep water crossing.

I messed around with this on my 86 gl 4x4 wagon. It certainly was not ram air, but cold air induction. I found a way to snake a hose around the radiator and to the grill so that air was blowing straight in. I never noticed a difference, but it wasnt that straight a shot for the air. As a matter of fact, I never noticed any difference with hotter plugs, or the k&n air filter I added either.

Oh well. It never hurts to keep that engine cool.

Why not just drive around without a hood:D ?

 

I never felt like I had done a good job at installing cold air induction, but it think it is a worthwhile pursuit. go for it.

yeah, while we are on the subject,

does it matter how big your air intake is? All of the tuner catalogs sell specific size for specific cars, but does it matter? Cant you have as big and as many intakes as you want?

 

As far as cool air induction, here in my whopper of a dumb idea for the weekend (i get them from time to time).

Why not direct the cold air from an AC unit into the air intake?

I know that the ac robs a lot of power (especially in a subaru) but I was just wondering if it would be worth it.

-Jack

Not such a dumb idea.

Your cold air vent wont produce enough cfm to keep up, but it if you built an intake system with an evaporator INSIDE it, you could get some good results.

 

I don't know that it would be worth it unless you were using it as an intercooler, but I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't work.

 

 

As far as the intake...

In an absolute sense you could probably size an intake to create a tuned ram effect at certain RPMs, but as a practical matter I can't see it being worthwhile to bother. Just make sure it's big ENOUGH, Aand leave it at that.

Originally posted by Jack

Why not direct the cold air from an AC unit into the air intake?

I know that the ac robs a lot of power (especially in a subaru) but I was just wondering if it would be worth it.

Summary: no, it would not be worth it.

 

Details: Perpetual motion doesn't work.

Conservation of energy: you don't get something for nuthin' (TANSTAAFL, R.A. Heinlein, use Google). Although you could size and built an AC system large enough to reduce your intake charge temperature, the amount of power you pick up from this will not exceed the amount of power you expend to compress and move the working fluid (refrigerant).

 

Put another way: you will consume more HP to create the cold air than the cold air will increase your total available HP.

 

Plus, you have to put the heat you removed from the intake air somewhere. Where does it go now? Oh, yeah, it's dumped in front of the engine.

 

Add a blower or turbo and intercooler instead, they increase volumetric efficiency.