Cowl Drains?

Hey, I'm looking to install a COWL Induction system on my truck, I thought about purchasing the Hypermax one but figured I could make one that was just as good for much less than $100. I always like louder, and always more turbo, and also feel like having the stock Banks Turbo CAI pulling air from the tiny little slit between the hood and the grill then piping it almost 2 feet through the hot engine bay isn't the most efficient way to get the most cold air to my beast. I can't wait to do it but I've been reading about how people need to check the drains for the COWL before hand and while the intakes on to make sure it doesn't start to back up and put water into your engine.


Can anyone explain to me, or show me in pictures, where the hell are the COWL drains on these trucks?? and how do I know if they're clogged or not? I live in California so rainfall isn't that often, the system's more for dry.

Thanks!! Can't wait, more noise, more cold air, more mods!

the cowl drains are behind the plastic inside fender well. pull that stuff back and then look up in the inside of the fender and you will see a couple rubber "grommets". one on each side. those are the drains. one of mine had a mouse nest in it. i pulled it out and then figured out is was a mouse nest.

i will tell you that i did cowl air in my truck. here is my "build" thread for it.
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?52868-My-Cowl-Intake&highlight=

after about a year of use here are my thoughts on cowl induction.......

'94IDITurbo7.3 said:

........is not as good as one might think. yes it is an upgrade over the stock intake tube, but it is still not the best way to go. when i switched from the factory intake tube to cowl air i noticed a nice improvement in throttle response. i recently decided to try running the ruck without the cowl tube, just grabbing warm engine bay air, and i ran much better. EGT's stayed the SAME. even with my leaking up-pipe boost came on noticeably faster and easier, an the butt dyno said the truck was faster off the line. yes you are defiantly pulling warm air from the engine bay, but you are getting MUCH MORE air than with the factory tube or the cowl tube. if i ever get around to building and intake i will dump my cowl tube near my filter, cut the factory scoop so it dumps on the filter and then run a ram air set up using the bumper cut outs.

So i am now on the side that says more warm air is better than less cold air.

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'94IDITurbo7.3 said:

looking back on it now i wish i had not drilled a 4 inch hole in the cowl.

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'94IDITurbo7.3 said:

today before i went to work i hooked up my cowl tube so i was just running on cowl air. WOW!!!!

WITH the cowl tube hooked up, boost was overall lower, boost rose slower, egt's climbed faster, and the truck felt like a pig as far as oomph goes.

so before i left work i took the cowl tube off and what a difference. EGT's rose noticeably slower, boost rose faster and was higher overall, and the truck got up to speed MUCH easier that running on only cowl air.


In BOTH situations cruise EGT's were the same, it was just the egt's under acceleration that were effected. i actually hit 800 EGT with the cowl tube hooked up. with it un-hooked i have to WORK to get higher than 700 EGT.

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here is cowl air on the banks turbo...
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...-intake-setups&p=681710&viewfull=1#post681710

IMHO, cowl air is not worth the 4 inch hole int he firewall. you would be better off going with something like this. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/929161-6637-filter-on-banks-sidewinder-turbo.html

Is cowl air an improvement over stock? absolutely. is it the best intake option? No.

Very interesting. So would it even be worth changing anything in my system? My IDI is a 90 which has the aftermarket Banks 1st gen turbo kit, with the giant steel airbox on top of the engine that says "BANKS TURBO" and the K&N in there. there's the wannabie cold air intake which I have some thermal sealing tape on to try to keep the temp of inside the tube down. I just figured that if I got the spiraling air from the COWL it'd get a little better power? Would it be better to just ditch the BANKS box and go with a short ram with a filter under the hood like in one of the threads? What I was thinking was maybe keeping the box because I really like how it looks in the engine bay and how it takes up space in the middle, taking the filter out, then just running a short ram like in that same thread with a good filter at the end?


Just trying to get a little more oomph out of it.

yes i would go with an intake like the one i linked to. that big filter that was used in that thread was the Napa 6637 filter. it is a one-time use paper element, but it filters awesome and last a long time. PSD guys go 50K miles on those filters. i go threw filters in less than 15K miles. if i waited that long my filter actually starts falling apart.

If you decided to change your intake i would do the cowl intake last. see if you find something you like before you drill a 4 inch hole in the firewall.

Alright, well thanks! Could I leave the existing BANKS airbox and remove the filter to do the short ram like I'd said before? or is this still really restrictive..?

I think that theres a WHOLE lot to be said for all the R&D that went into the design of the Hypermax Cowl induction system over the average homegrown cut a round hole in the firewall setups that have been done that simply can't possibly flow as well not to mention hotw tightly the hose fits on their collector.. One look at the collector setup that bolts to the firewall will tell you that. I put the hypemax cowl induction on and got 350 deg reduction in EGTs across the board and the increase in power and acceleration is quite admirable ( and I was sucking underhood air before I popped that thing on )
Sometimes it just pays to bite the bullet and get the real thing.

I have one that I'm not going to use pm me if you want it

Thanks for the info all!

I paid around $80.00 for my hypermax cowl induction. That was about a year ago. Still have not installed it..... I know I'm terrible at getting around to things these days......

RLDSL said:

I think that theres a WHOLE lot to be said for all the R&D that went into the design of the Hypermax Cowl induction system over the average homegrown cut a round hole in the firewall setups that have been done that simply can't possibly flow as well not to mention hotw tightly the hose fits on their collector.. One look at the collector setup that bolts to the firewall will tell you that. I put the hypemax cowl induction on and got 350 deg reduction in EGTs across the board and the increase in power and acceleration is quite admirable ( and I was sucking underhood air before I popped that thing on )
Sometimes it just pays to bite the bullet and get the real thing.

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im seeing the same advantages you see with my homemade system.
flow i don't believe is all that important when its a high pressure area like this,but could be wrong.
i think of cowl induction like an air hose on a air compressor.the hose will get pressurized to the same psi be it you string the hose out straight,or leave it coiled up.

up around the hood like the factory system is probably just as good as cowl induction in all honestly.how much air does an idi really need lol?
the thing that a lot of people fail to understand with many ram air type of setups is the air flow is vital.for example ducting in a non pressurized area like the down lower under the hood,like in the grill.it's not high pressure,all you will have is increased air flow,that probably doesn't match what cowl induction does at 35mph until upwards of 100mph or higher.then around these speeds it could possibly (i dunno) outperform cowl.so having a very,very smooth duct with as few bends,and as clean as possible too is of utmost importance.
one things for sure imho,sucking in warm air from under the hood via the overly popular famous "6637 mod" is just all wrong i feel.claiming this is better (in any aspect) defies all logic to me.

Banks7.3IDI said:

....
Can anyone explain to me, or show me in pictures, where the hell are the COWL drains on these trucks?? and how do I know if they're clogged or not? I live in California so rainfall isn't that often, the system's more for dry.

Thanks!! Can't wait, more noise, more cold air, more mods!

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Your asking got me working on the Red Rhino to pull the AC and a few other parts, and thus I figured I'd take pics for all to see!

So HERE YA GO! BTW...all the shots I've taken lately are with my Sony Xperia X10 cell phone, as a matter of fact just about all are done with it!

I am on the Passengers side here showing the location under the cowel trim, you can see all the openings water gets into. Notice the rectangular openings on the lower left, this is where HVAC is normally attached...I just removed it for future use but keep that spot in mind


I popped out the black plastic cover and shoved my arm through to show it's all clear so far


This little weird looking flapper do hickey thingamabob I'm pointing at is the cowel drain...ya...that's it!


Schmeg and debris in the drain...this is a rust causer bar none!


See it does go on down through


Drivers side drain..


Can you say plugged? I can!


Ya this is just a little bit...I cannot begin to imagine what the white Rhino will be like...plugged figgen solid with sawdust...rofl



I hope this helps everyone out a bit....

Al

I SHOULD MAKE NOTE....

.....THESE DRAINS ARE BEHIND THE PLASTIC INNER FENDER NORMALLY AND NOT EASY TO ACCESS....

Awesome pics Al.

Yea thanks! Helps alot I wasn't quite understanding where they are and what they look like but now I do!

I'll probably get to that tomorrow.

One question, probably a stupid one..but why do the drains need the rubber valve thing in them? why can't it just be a hole and take the rubber drain out? Seems like it wouldn't get clogged as easily and would drain way better. Lemme know!

Banks7.3IDI said:

Yea thanks! Helps alot I wasn't quite understanding where they are and what they look like but now I do!

I'll probably get to that tomorrow.

One question, probably a stupid one..but why do the drains need the rubber valve thing in them? why can't it just be a hole and take the rubber drain out? Seems like it wouldn't get clogged as easily and would drain way better. Lemme know!

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Your very welcome, its easy when you have the carcass sitting there and can do things like take pictures not normally seen


As for why...I dunno...stop rats squirrels etc from climbing into yer truck I would guess....but eh...I really don't know....anyone else know?????

I ripped the passenger side apart, got to it, poured out almost a one foot amount worth of dirt and dust which I think was from the trucks only mudding session ever, last year, which wasn't a good one. I had to pull the whole rubber valve off, didn't bother putting it back on. I park nowhere near where animals are so I don't think any are going to find their way into there. Drivers side drains fine.

Let me know if not putting the valve back in is a horrible idea, I don't see why it would be, but maybe I'm overlooking something. Also, do our trucks have fiberglass insulation? My arm developed a bit of a rash afterwards and definitely hurt a bit.