I was sitting around bored earlier today and I started thinking of an idea to make a custom CAI box for my '00 SS instead of dropping $200 on one. I plan to make it some time before spring and get a K&N cone filter to go with it. Here's the K&N filter I plan on getting:

http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...x?Prod=RC-5149

I want to build a fully sealed box out of sheet metal with aLexan window in the top so you can see the filter, sort of like a Wizaird CAI system like this:

http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_p...ts1.php?id=247

So here's the plan, and bear with me because this is just a very rough design idea I've been kicking around. I want to start with one piece of sheet metal and bend it to have three sides, and this will make up the three sides of the box. The middle side will have a 4" diameter hole cut out for my intake pipe. Each side will have about 3/4" excess which will be bent in at 90 degrees. Then I'll take a piece of sheet metal and epoxy it to the bottom using the 3/4" lip around the bottom edge as a point of attatchment. I'll have a peice of 4" tubing cut to the right length and bent to the right angle to use as the intake pipe and have a piece put on the side for the sensor, and I'll stick the pipe through the 4" hole in the side of the box, leaving about aninch forthe attatchment of thefilter,and epoxy the pipe in place. Then I'll etch prime the whole box/pipe and coat 'er down with some good high heat black paint. Then I'll insulate the inside of the box with that same type of silver insulation stuff that they used in the Wizaired box and use a piece of Lexan for the top window and epoxy it on the same way I did the bottom part of the box.

Right now this is justa veryrough idea I came up with after just taking a quick look under my hood; I haven't had the chance to get my car over to my shop to take everything apart and really see if the idea will work. I still haven't worked out the bugs yet; I need a way to mount the PCM (maybe I can just make the box deeper and put it inside the box? And I need a way to fasten the open side of the box to the frame and hold it in place. Anyone know how well this whole idea will work, see anything wrong with my rough design, or have a way to make the design simpler/better?

 

I can shoot you some pics of my K&N air box, but not until tomarrow, and you can use that for a guide. Figure out a way to fasten the Lexan top to the box without epoxy, for ease of filter cleaning. Either bend the sides over, add mounting tabs, or even L brackets, but something. Think about adding graphics to the lexan cover.
As for the PCM mount, there are several on the market for not alot, but if you can fab sheet metal, you can make one, too. Not much to them.

 

Thanks for the input. Graphics on the lexan cover are a great idea, but I like to keep things simple so I'll probably just end up putting a small K&N decal on the lexan. As for the PCM mount, what about just making the box deeper and bolting it in there? To support the box and keep it in place, I thought about putting weather stripping along the sides of the open end, and putting brackets on the two sides so I can bolt it to the frame. But maybe I should put another support bracket somewhere on the bottom too? Once I get my car over to my shop and get everything torn apart I can probably get a better perspective of where everything can fit.