Cold Air Intake

[arny81991]

So I am thinking of installing a cold air intake system. You know, it looks like the filter is sitting outside of the box, not inside something. I have two questions:

1. Will is improve anything on my car? How well?

2. Where can I find it for cheap? I have a 93 MGM.

Thanks!

[Lincolnmania]

total bling, car came from the factory with a cold air intake already........remove the butt trumpet on the air cleaner box for better flow

[sly]

they made direct fit high flow filters too. If you really want the stickers, get one of those. I replaced the one on my 93 vic because I wanted to HEAR the engine out both ends... and it looks cool. They are quite spendy though and the direct filter replacements are way less of a wallet spanker.

[IPreferDIY]

total bling, car came from the factory with a cold air intake already........remove the butt trumpet on the air cleaner box for better flow

I've been looking at air intake mods, but I would only be interested in getting better flow by doing something about the trumpet if it has the same problem on a 2000 Grand Marquis. For the sake of a visual reference, I got a photo from the internet apparently showing an air filter box from a 1999 Grand Marquis. As I understand it, the "trumpet" is the part sticking out on the left where the air gets sucked in.



Assuming this has the same problem as the older ones, would it be worth trying to fabricate a "tuba" instead of just removing the "trumpet"?

[mcninetyone]

You need an air box from an 04+ CVPI, thats what you're looking for.

[sly]

on my box I made sort of a ram-air setup... http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post617921

on the 93... I used an AEM with the original engine and it works great with the PI engine too... http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post697749

[IPreferDIY]

Thanks for the lightning-fast input! While looking up a 2004 CVPI box, I came across the following crownvic.net thread dealing with just the trumpet:

http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/u...99197&page=all

This is the level I had in mind. Cheap and simple. It looks like I could get more HP from a better airbox with a bigger MAF and a tune, but the tune process is beyond my level at this point. I'm open to the idea of a ram-air setup, but will these cheap tweaks that I'm thinking about have any appreciable performance gain? What I've read so far suggests it might not do much more than alter the sound.

[sly]

performance gains will be at WOT and higher RPM only.

[IPreferDIY]

performance gains will be at WOT and higher RPM only.

I don't use WOT very often, but when I do ...

[IPreferDIY]

on my box I made sort of a ram-air setup... http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post617921

on the 93... I used an AEM with the original engine and it works great with the PI engine too... http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post697749

It looks like a ram-air setup is out of the question for my car. There is a nice big hole in the part of the "rad frame" (?) behind the headlight (i.e. the hole that the stock trumpet sticks into), but the space between the rad frame and the headlight is so narrow that someone would have to do some pretty fancy duct customization to make it worthwhile, and it ain't gonna be me. Did yours have all that room to begin with or did you cut stuff away?

Something I thought about was putting on a bigger trumpet and then putting foam between the trumpet and the rad frame hole; but then I realized that warm engine air could still get sucked in from under the hood, so there wouldn't seem to be much point in putting in the foam. Would there?

Incidentally, that black wall between the air filter and the rad hose on your 93, was that part of the kit or a very nice custom job?

[sly]

part of the kit.
and a correction... it's AFE not AEM...
http://www.amazon.com/aFe-54-10751-S...dp/B001ABMZ88/
price has gone up since I bought mine.

[IPreferDIY]

I came up with a cheaper and simpler solution than I had ever imagined. After removing the trumpet, I was thinking of putting something like a bottomless cottage cheese container between the airbox hole and the rad frame hole just for the sake of doing something; but then I noticed some decorative plastic tubes covering the cylinder of a gas lift chair that I had disassembled long ago. The largest one fit right into the hole in the airbox and went into the rad frame hole far enough to make me happier. For what it does, and compared to what it was, it was a great improvement -- and no cutting or gluing!

I could tell right away that the engine was breathing better. (I have narrow nasal passages, so I can really relate to this.) Overall, the difference was subtle rather than dramatic, but it was clearly the right thing to do. Indeed, I would consider the restrictive trumpet to be a manufacturing defect. The difference for me is kind of like using 12 gauge speaker wire instead of 16 gauge. I doesn’t seem to do anything in terms of adding power when I tell the engine to “giddy up”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the improvement in smoothness actually has a beneficial effect on engine wear over the really long term.

[SVT98t]

I could tell right away that the engine was breathing better.
I doesn’t seem to do anything in terms of adding power when I tell the engine to “giddy up”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the improvement in smoothness actually has a beneficial effect on engine wear over the really long term.

It may help flow. Maybe marginally.
I removed the trumpet on my Town Car and didn't hear or feel any difference.
How would help with engine wear? Just curious.

[sly]

I would think marginally only due to reduced resistance at WOT... but other than that... meh.

and I did get a dink of top end rpm bump just removing the trumpet on the 93... basically it would pull through the shift point instead of starting to die off just before the shift point. That was before the PI swap though. Now it's a freight train... just pulls all the way.

[SVT98t]

Here's a few pics of the intake I made for my 93.






And in green:



-ryan s.