DIY: High Flow Stock Airbox (Swiss Cheese Mod)

[thehoe92]

I'm going to have to take some better pictures..
I didn't take any rubber out
I want to cut another hole in the bottom or on the fender side

it definitely does what its supposed to and it passes visual on SMOG if that matters at all lol

 

[DenaliAK]

Seems like this is the way to go if you spend much time idling. The CAI just gets hot which actually decreases performance.

 

[dropmech]

no i was asking the hoe92 cause the pics show his holes on the side of the air box facing the front, i was originally going to do mine there as well and remove the rubber behind the headlight, and ya i am the one that cut the hole in my tray and put my hole on the bottom, how did you do yours? pics

i didn't take any pics because it's basically the same as the pics already posted. But my tray already had a factory cut out in it. I didn't need to cut the try. I took off the box and saw the hole. It was about a 6x4 hole. Not sure why mine was like that versus yours. Maybe they changed it up for my year. I have an 06.

 

[highrollin113]

added a air tube

so i have added to mine by removing the baffled plastic from the maf to the tb and replaced it with flex tin hose for furnace vents it came in like a 3ft chunk 4" in diameter i then used hose clamps to hold it on, works well and i think it looks not to shabby

 

[thehoe92]

how thick is that stuff highrollin?
looks pretty good I'd shoot it with some rubberized undercoating or something to make it a little more rigid and make it black

 

[ypsetihw]

wow nice job! what does that thing sound like? more importantly, how does it feel?

I hope the hose has enough rigidity, x2 I would try and stiffen it/paint it.

 

[TunasTwins]

I might try this tomorrow. Hopefully that furnace tubing doesnt heatsoak vs PCV/plastic. But I guess all the CAI's will do the same. I've been leaning towards a drop in K&N based on dynographs from Blackbear.

 

[ypsetihw]

I've been leaning towards a drop in K&N based on dynographs from Blackbear.

assuming that the heater/furnace pipe holds, it will only add to it. I would do the swiss cheese AND the k&n drop in. after that, the furnace pipe will only help more.

I'm very interested to see if that furnace pipe holds up or if it gets crushed/deformed, or something else. in theory though it sounds like it looks like it works great.

 

[highrollin113]

hey ya its super rigid, you have to bend it and it holds its form and i have been checking it all day today to make sure still good and its perfect not to mention it feels cooler to the touch to me thn the plastic seemed to get, i like the coating it idea i think i might do that for the colour change plus couldnt hurt to safety seal it

oh and it sounds better and has a little more get up and go, a lot deeper it was the perfect accent to the swiss cheese and magnaflow

 

[ypsetihw]

the furnace pipe will really help at high RPMs, it should stabilize the flow and really let it breathe on the highway

good job

 

[killer20072001]

Just did mine. Did 2 square cuts on both sides. Dont really notice much gain, but if I get a drop in im sure the gain will be way more noticable.

 

[blackbeast03]

highrollin what did you use to go from the flex tin hose to the tb? as in an elbow or something?

 

[highrollin113]

highrollin what did you use to go from the flex tin hose to the tb? as in an elbow or something?

i just used the tube i curved it, it is flexible, and at the tb side it fit perfect but at the maf side it is a little bigger so i duct taped it where i put the hose clamp incase it tore the vent, i had to get two 5" hose clamps aswell, i plan on coating it with a rhino liner next days off

 

[PUGLIA]

This is a great thread. I did something similar to my 2001 Camaro a couple years ago. So this thread convinced me to go for the 02 Tahoe. I have to say thanks to the guy who figured out that the plate under the filter housing had open space under it. I took some photos of what I did and figured I would share them with ya'll. Let me know what you think.

Since you all know the basics I will spare the play by play of taking the housing and the plate off.

After I got the lower filter housing and the plate that it sits on off, I got a piece of card board and measured the size of hole I wanted to cut by sitting the housing on the plate for a reference. I scratched the outline of the cardboard onto the plate, then used a grinder and cut it out. It was really pretty easy to do. Only took about 15 min to cut the hole out.

I then placed the plate onto the lower filter housing and scratched the bottom of the housing as a guide for that cut. Just made it easier to ensure that the hole would be lined up.Then I used the grinder to cut the housing. The housing was cut in a couple min.

I am in the middle of a frame off restoration of a 1979 CJ7 so I had the old hood vent. I figured it would be good to weld into the hole in the plate to reduce any leaves or other debris that might try and get in there. You could use anything. I used the cardboard template as a guide to cut the hood vent. took about 5 min.

Well it's been round 15 years since I have welded and I have been needing to practice but never got around to it. So I didn't take any pics of my shotty weld job. Really though it only took about 15 min to weld up and I could have cleaned it up better but I was getting impatient. I grabbed a can of flat black paint and put a couple coats on to keep the rust out.

After the paint dried it was time to reinstall. A little more time cleaning the shotty weld job would have made it look better. I can always go back and fix it later after I practice a bit more. Here are the rest of the pics. I think it looks really good with the housing on.

It only took about 1hr and 20min to do, not too bad! Probably going to add some holes on the back side of the lower housing for a bit more air. I can tell difference in response and it should get much better when I get the K&N drop in in there.

 

[highrollin113]

looks good nice work! how do you find it worked, i think its the best mod i did by far i cant wait for my bb tune to really feel the effect

 

[PUGLIA]

Thanks, it worked great! The K&N drop in will help more too. But I can still feel the difference.

 

[My01yuk]

One of the many reasons why I love this place. This is a mod that even my "non-mechanical, can make a mess of the easiest job" ass can do. Thanks for the pics and step by step instructions. SWEET!

 

[highrollin113]

so i took the advice and coated the air tube with box liner spray i really like the look a lot better and it gives it a nice seal

 

[BuRNiN_BoNeS]

Intake Tubing

here's an idea, its black flexible pvc tubing, 3" in diameter, fittings can be glued to it and it can be coated with a heat shield to protect it, super smooth on the inside and super flexible...

http://www.flexiblepvc.net/Flexible_PVC_Pipe_Black_p/pvcpipeblack.htm

 

[rich5368]

Just finished the "highrollin" swiss cheese flexible dryer vent intake and I have to say so far I'm pretty impressed. Throttle response is better. Don't have a very noticeable growl. Doesn't seem to heat soak any worse than the stock one did. I'll see how it goes for a couple days.