DarkLight
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2016
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- 606
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- Location
- LA
- Vehicle(s)
- Civic-2016 LX 6MT
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- #1
This has been a long time coming, as I’ve spent the better part of 2 years ironing out the best solution for a high performance intake system.
I was becoming frustrated with the poor performance of aftermarket short ram intakes; they suffer badly from heat soak, cause tuning issues, and are not long enough to be resonance/pulse tuned in a useable rev range.
What I’ve come up with is fairly fool-proof and simple, with none of the MAF/fueling/heat soak issues that come with aftermarket intakes.
Before I just stuck a cone filter in the fenderwell and coupled some pipes together, I measured the length of the intake in the OE airbox because I wanted to resonance tune the intake for the best performance possible. It was about 30” from inlet to MAF. While examining the box, it seemed like Honda tried to make the length of the intake as long as possible, which yields higher intake air velocity.
I then made some other simple calculations, measuring the length from the intake valves, to the throttle body, and finally to the airbox.
Basically, I wanted the intake to resonate at 3.5K rpm’s so I plugged the numbers into a formula and figured the length needed to be roughly between 32-36” from inlet to MAF in for this to happen. I wasn’t exactly sure about my math, but I used trial and error and settled on 32.5”. In addition, I wanted to use as few bends as possible to limit restriction.
I initially had some difficulty fitting this specific length of piping so I had to remove the aluminum airbox bracket to get it to fit. I also had some trouble with hanger mounting points, but I used the radiator airbox mount and removed the bracket, held by (2)10mm bolts.
I’ve been running this current configuration for about 5 months/ 8K miles and this intake is what I always hoped it would be. The power increase is felt basically in the entire rev range but beats everything out there for torque under 4K rpm’s. In addition, I’m getting 34 mpg’s without ever using econ mode.
At 3.5K rpm’s, the engine produces a nice torque spike and max acceleration occurs from there on to the limiter. It’s good enough that I can overtake and even merge on the interstate in 6th gear.
A short tutorial so you DIY’ers can get started:
First step is removing the MAF housing from a donor airbox lid:
Then, it will be necessary to get some 2.75” aluminum piping/bends:
(1) large radius 90* bend
(1) 12” straight section
(1) tight radius 80* bend
I used HPS and Vibrant piping.
Then you’ll need:
(3) 2.75” couplers
(1) 2.75” cone filter
(1) HPS 2.0 silicone elbow
+Hose clamps and 18 gauge sheet metal for hangers.
More to come...
I was becoming frustrated with the poor performance of aftermarket short ram intakes; they suffer badly from heat soak, cause tuning issues, and are not long enough to be resonance/pulse tuned in a useable rev range.
What I’ve come up with is fairly fool-proof and simple, with none of the MAF/fueling/heat soak issues that come with aftermarket intakes.
Before I just stuck a cone filter in the fenderwell and coupled some pipes together, I measured the length of the intake in the OE airbox because I wanted to resonance tune the intake for the best performance possible. It was about 30” from inlet to MAF. While examining the box, it seemed like Honda tried to make the length of the intake as long as possible, which yields higher intake air velocity.
I then made some other simple calculations, measuring the length from the intake valves, to the throttle body, and finally to the airbox.
Basically, I wanted the intake to resonate at 3.5K rpm’s so I plugged the numbers into a formula and figured the length needed to be roughly between 32-36” from inlet to MAF in for this to happen. I wasn’t exactly sure about my math, but I used trial and error and settled on 32.5”. In addition, I wanted to use as few bends as possible to limit restriction.
I initially had some difficulty fitting this specific length of piping so I had to remove the aluminum airbox bracket to get it to fit. I also had some trouble with hanger mounting points, but I used the radiator airbox mount and removed the bracket, held by (2)10mm bolts.
I’ve been running this current configuration for about 5 months/ 8K miles and this intake is what I always hoped it would be. The power increase is felt basically in the entire rev range but beats everything out there for torque under 4K rpm’s. In addition, I’m getting 34 mpg’s without ever using econ mode.
At 3.5K rpm’s, the engine produces a nice torque spike and max acceleration occurs from there on to the limiter. It’s good enough that I can overtake and even merge on the interstate in 6th gear.
A short tutorial so you DIY’ers can get started:
First step is removing the MAF housing from a donor airbox lid:
Then, it will be necessary to get some 2.75” aluminum piping/bends:
(1) large radius 90* bend
(1) 12” straight section
(1) tight radius 80* bend
I used HPS and Vibrant piping.
Then you’ll need:
(3) 2.75” couplers
(1) 2.75” cone filter
(1) HPS 2.0 silicone elbow
+Hose clamps and 18 gauge sheet metal for hangers.
More to come...
Last edited: