Please To School Me on HAIs
 

I'm considering pulling the factory tubing and airbox out of my 04 3800 S/C Monte and just slapping on a short piece of tubing and a foam cone, probably AEM. I've seen this referred to as a hot air or short ram intake. Are there any drawbacks to this? This car is a daily driver right now, and I'm not looking to start on a long path of modding (yet), but improving the air flow just seems like a good idea period, and according to my butt dyno, the car does respond better when it's getting a little more air (evidenced by playing with different filter brands, and fresh paper filter vs. dirty paper filter). The HAI setup seems to be endorsed by some of the GP guys, plus it looks easier to set up and maintain and less likely to cause a problem in water. Oh, yeah, cheap, too. So what I'm looking for is, what are the gotchas here? Are there any other mods that need to daisy chain on this one, or would it be pretty much plug and play after the PCM relearns, except for filter cleaning?

Thanks~

RE: Please To School Me on HAIs
 

I knowthere has been a resurgence on the gp forums about this- but the bulk majority of guys who do run open cone (HAI) setups, are really spinning that M90 way faster than stock, and have an intercooler along with other mods. Once you start going crazy with M90 pulley sizes, you really need to make it as easy as possible for the blower to pull air in- otherwise you could end up with higher outlet temps and lower blower efficiency numbers.

From my experience with my gtp, I had some knock (KR) stock, and it did go UP slightly with a HAI- which means the car is running slower. If you had no KR before, and no KR after- I don't think it would be a big deal, but there isn't much room to play with before you start getting into it.

Personally, I'd build a cold air box around it myself, especially on a nearly stock setup- but thats just me.

RE: Please To School Me on HAIs
 

I agree, I'd put a heat shield of some kind around the filter to shield it from the heat, especially in the summer. It gets hot under that hood, and that translates into hp loss.

RE: Please To School Me on HAIs
 

Thanks, guys. Darn it, I wish there was more of a general consensus on this stuff, like the ubend delete. I don't think I've ever heard or read anyone say, "Oh, no, man, don't have that removed!" :) Yeah, the winter vs. summer thing occurred to me, but for some reason my frantic little mind was thinking, well, I'd just need to put a smaller cone in in the summer.

Does something like this look all right? I know it's the wrong motor, but the basic concept, which pretty much looks like just an open cone moved a little further away:

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=57

And is it more prone to water intake closer to the headlight like that? I wouldn't think so, since the factory airbox is about in the same place.


OOH, I just had an epiphany, which seems to be nicotine induced, so that's always suspect, but...if one was going to go with just gutting the factory airbox, would there be any benefit at all to also replacing the factory tubing with a straight smooth tube, to cut turbulence?

RE: Please To School Me on HAIs
 

At these HP levels it doesn't matter much yet. Since it sounds like you have a stock 04 SC Monte I would skip the HAI and go for CAI.

The best thing to do is get a scanner to see if you have Knock already. If you do the HAI will make it worse and slow you down. The CAI will help your car remove the Knock.

RE: Please To School Me on HAIs
 

Honestly- have you ever heard anyone say that enclosing the filter to block heat is a bad thing? If you're planning on mounting the filter at the corner of the engine bay anyways (like in that link)- there is absolutely zero downside to building a wall around it so it must suck air from the fender well and from behind the headlight- other than the tiny cost of course.

I must've missed it, but why would you want a smaller cone in the summer vs the winter?

The only time you have to be more careful is when you're washing under the hood- make sure you stick a plastic bag around it or something. Otherwise- when going through puddles- the wheel wells are very isolated from the engine bay, so it won't get splashed- and you'd have to go through some extremely deep water to submerge the filter.