Cowl Air?

[82fordtruck]

I had also considered something like this....

only using sheetmetal also.

 

[rancherman84]

yeah, that is pretty cool. really nice, 94.
i'm interested, but i have to sat that i get a bunch of pine straw in there i wonder how much it'd help my N/A?

i have that same problem,also wonder how much help for a N/A

 

[Ironman03R]

Just did my cowl air mod. just cut a 4" hole in the firewall and used a 4" aluminum dryer ducting. Cheap and easy. On the test drive I noticed a 1 psi increase in boost at WOT no load. also EGT's were slightly higher ~300-500 deg. at WOT, but it seemed like they didnt clinb as fast as before. Can definately hear the turbo more. Sounds kinda like a low growl between shifts.

I assume the higher EGT's are due to the increase in boost. The fact I gained 1psi is proof that the factory air duct is too small and that this setup works.

 

[ramon f350]

I am still stuck on the fact that that area is known to accumalate water when it rains. I know it hasnt rained here in months but I am scared to death of sucking water into the intake. so I want to play the devils advocate here. all my life i have heard that it only takes a teaspoon of water to lock these motors up. now I dont know if that is really true or not but i have always went by that. what is going to happen if you suck some of this water that we know hangs out around this area. do you think you could drill a hole in the bottom of the intake hose so that it could drain out.

Ramon

 

[The Warden]

I think that, unless you actually go into a puddle big enough to get the top of the cowl underwater, any water that would go into the air intake from the cowl would be stopped by the air filter before going into the engine.

About a year ago now, I was off-roading my truck and went through a big puddle...and, on the other side of the puddle, my truck was smoking horribly and barely able to idle. I shut the engine down, took a look to see if something was obviously wrong, and then started it back up, and the engine ran just fine. After getting home, I opened up the air cleaner assembly and saw quite a bit of evidence that water had gotten into the air box (actually, without a drain drilled into the bottom, some of the water was still there; looked like the rest had gone back out the air intake after I shut the engine down). However, on the other side of the air filter, everything looked perfectly fine...no mud streaks or anything on those lines like there was on the "dirty side". I would imagine that FAR more than a teaspoonful of water got into the air intake.

I also did a compression test after this (I was in a state of near-panic, thinking I had bent a rod or 8), and the engine got a clean bill of health. Over 300 PSI in every cylinder (numbers ranged from 320 to 380), and that test was conducted with a cold engine and a weak starter (that I replaced shortly after doing this).

I'm not trying to say that getting a bunch of water into the air intake on a regular basis is a good idea by any stretch of the imagination, but as long as the air filter is sealing well and there aren't any holes in it or anything like that, a little bit of water getting into the air intake isn't the end of the world.

As to the cowl induction, I would love to see some reports of how happy people are with it after long-term use (power, EGT, boost, response, etc as compared to the same setup pre-cowl induction) before hacking into my firewall myself. But, for less than $70, it sounds like a good deal...and better than sucking in a large amount of splash water from the front if you're going through mud and standing water

 

[ramon f350]

I am thinking of doing something like the dodges do and go in through the inner fender. I havent figured it out yet but I am going to look tomorow and see what is going on there and if it would be possible to go in that way. it looks like that would be safer than somewhere the water could pool up

Ramon

 

[Ironman03R]

I know, I had the same thoughts about water. Then I also thought that a ram air through the grill or a cold air from under the truck can also suck water. Hypermax wouldnt sell a product that would cause certin engine damage. I made sure that my new air duct was as high off the floor of the cowl as possible, also I noticed that where the hose goes through is a high spot. So unless there is over 2 inches of water in the cowl, and your drains are plugged solid I dont think you can suck water through, other than vapor. Also there is a drain in the factory turbo box so I think in the event that it would suck water it would drain before gettin to the turbo.
Also I posted pic of my install in my garage.

 

[ramon f350]

I might see just what i can do on it this weekend my only other concern is weakening an already weak fire wall I would hate for my clutch master cylinder to crack out of the fire wall.

Ramon

 

[82fordtruck]

I think these were reinforced on the newer body styles?

 

[ramon f350]

im not sure if they were or not but I am not sure i want to take a chance i thik I will see how much room I have there before I make any decisions

Ramon

 

[94Turbo]

I like It

EGT,s droped a bit how much is hard to tell maybe 50 deg at highway speeds. The most noticable improvement is how much slower the temps rise and it levels off quicker once I get to crusing speed. I don't know if this is all from the cowl effect or if its just breathing better because the stock intake was a restrictive POS, maybe a little of both Didnt feel any power difference and boost stayed the same 10 PSI.

 

[rubberfish]

Your guy's homemade jobs look as good
and as effective as the store bought kits.

Good job guys. Nice to see others are thinking
along the same lines as I've been.
I'm going to one day get around to doing
a similar setup in my GM.
Thanks for the pics and ideas.

I'm just not sure if there's room for it.

 

[Kris K]

So how much would this help a N/A. Or would it help anything? Mileage? Power?

 

[dsblack]

Would the "van" version from hypermax work on a truck?

 

[Kris K]

Well this morning i went out, and got all the stuff to put cowl air on my truck. I desided to put duel cowl air on it. I got one side done and the holes cut for the other side before the lights went out in my shop (sun went down).

I have 4" flexable pipe with 4" square in lets.

I sure hope this helps some how?