# factory cold air box



## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

so today i got bored and started messing with the intake in my cruse. i have a 1.4 t

after some further inspection, i confirmed what i figured i would see. the set up from under the hood looks like a pretty good set up and anyone whose been in the game long enough knows that a true cold air box works better then any aftermarket aluminum CAI, the black plastic resists heat soak very well and allows the intake charge to remain nice and cool and not get heated from the aluminum. this is why manufactures use it. and the plastic tubing is smooth inside i looked.

the problem lies in where they draw the air from. its looks like its just goes into the fender well where it can suck cool air. since i been messing with fuel injected cars for like 10 years i knew there was more then meets the eye. so i took out the passengers side fender lining and sure enough there it was. just like both my civics and integras. 

the filter box goes down into the fender well and right into a big giant resonator that the chevy puts there to quite the turbo and intake. these resonators really kill the sound and throttle response of the engine. it was a night and day difference in my intgera and ep3 si. it looks like it reroutes back up and into the engine bay sucking in hot engine air, exactly like my integra.

what does this mean?? it means after it warms up and i can spend some time on it i will be taking the resonator out so that it is sucking cool ait from the fender well and not through all those extra twist and turns. just like that i will have a custom CAI box with a k&n filter for 50$. it will add a ton of throttle response and and much more aggressive sound to my cruze. 

i ran a aem CAI and short ram on my integra and none of them compared to performance as this mod and a high flow cat did, par none, and it wasn't a turbo. the turbo should benefit a lot more from this, a down pipe, exhaust and re tune.

after i get it done ill repost how its sounds and the performance of it.

just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a nice, cheap, easy to do, practical mod that the dealership wont even know about. hope no one beats me to the punch


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## ZincGT (Dec 1, 2010)

I did this last weekend. You can actually hear the turbo spool now and also the dump valve. I am still going to do a cone filter. Having a true cold air intake does not help if any. All the air that comes in hits the turbo and is instant hotter then the engine bay. Our best bet is to smooth out flow and possibly add a velocity stack. If you want cold air focus on the intercooler. Every degree you drop intake temp it drops exhaust temp 1.5 degrees


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

my ar has a tube that hooks to it right under the passanger headlight. this tube routes around and over in front of the raditator. with one bolt holding it to the radiator support, are you guys saying to remove that and just let it suck air with out that tube?


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## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

LARRY01Z28 said:


> my ar has a tube that hooks to it right under the passanger headlight. this tube routes around and over in front of the raditator. with one bolt holding it to the radiator support, are you guys saying to remove that and just let it suck air with out that tube?



inside the fender well. between the fender liner and where it goes through the fender is a big ass resonator. got to take off the wheel and remove the inner fender liner to get to it


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## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

ZincGT said:


> I did this last weekend. You can actually hear the turbo spool now and also the dump valve. I am still going to do a cone filter. Having a true cold air intake does not help if any. All the air that comes in hits the turbo and is instant hotter then the engine bay. Our best bet is to smooth out flow and possibly add a velocity stack. If you want cold air focus on the intercooler. Every degree you drop intake temp it drops exhaust temp 1.5 degrees




good to hear i was hoping this is what would happen. did it improve throttle response?? also i know with a turbo a CAI doesn't help much except for throttle response, but not trying to be smart. i was under the assumption that we had a front mount inter-cooler? i thought it had a small air to air inter-cooler. i could be wrong.


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

lol a CAI has huge gains for a turbo motor. The colder the incoming air is, the more dense it is, the more air it can fit inside, aka more fuel = more power


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## ZincGT (Dec 1, 2010)

2011lt1 said:


> good to hear i was hoping this is what would happen. did it improve throttle response?? also i know with a turbo a CAI doesn't help much except for throttle response, but not trying to be smart. i was under the assumption that we had a front mount inter-cooler? i thought it had a small air to air inter-cooler. i could be wrong.


Ya it def helped, im still running the stock filter to. We do have a FMIC which is air to air. The only way to get cooler air is a bigger or more efficient intercooler. 


A cold air intake has very marginal gains over a short ram system on a turbo vehicle, as the air is compressed it is heated, yes the air may come in colder with the CAI but the fact remains that is still gets compressed in the turbo. Put a car on a dyno with a CAI and a SRI see which one produces more hp/tq, the only difference between the two is price. If you want cooler air get a better intercooler or watermeth. The only benefit to either of these is making the induction system more efficient, thus getting your horse power gain.


Here is the best intake for a turbo car (my mustang)











obviously on a street vehicle you would want a filter right on the end of the turbo. With all the money i have into my mustang if it was beneficial to put a CAI on it I would have done it.


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## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

shawn672 said:


> lol a CAI has huge gains for a turbo motor. The colder the incoming air is, the more dense it is, the more air it can fit inside, aka more fuel = more power




shawn you are right on a NA motor CAI or box is much better, but zinc is right on a turbo motor, the turbo creates mass amounts of heat, its why we must have a FMIC, if you slap a turbo on say a ls integra without a FMIC maybe 50 hp pick up. add a FMIC and you got another 50 the compressed air generates tons of heat that just offsets the CAI. the FMIC is basically a turbos CAI

however on a NA car its not the case. plus i remember reading something that the longer piping of a CAI is not beneficial to turbo cars, and if you look at most turbo cars the filter is never far from the turbo. 

although that is a pretty wicked set up you got there on that mustang.

as i just reread what i wrote i realized i just said everything you said zinc. my fault lol


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

Yeah you guys are right, I did some quick research and the difference in temperature on a turbo motor is extremely minimal from a short ram to a full CAI. From what I've learned, it's much better to improve the FMIC and intercooling piping to cool the air down


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

ok thanks for the info everybody


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

so should i also remove the little tube that goes in front of the radiator, that bolts to the radiator support?


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

TTT any updates on this? do i remove the front tube or not


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## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

LARRY01Z28 said:


> TTT any updates on this? do i remove the front tube or not



what tube? explain more. the one in the fender? then yes. the box and the tube going to the turbo stay


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## Targus (Jan 2, 2011)

Cruze brother,

I recommend you try change intake air temprature sensor location.
It gives you false data to ecu after 10min of engine start.
when you read whether temp 30F on radio screen,
after you drive the car 10min, intake temp sensor gives 80F data to ecu.
this effects your engine perfonmance less.
(because engine area gives heat effect and the sensor data is corrupted)
if you correct the data 30F , engine gives you better perf.
You can move out the sensor out of engine area.(like air sensor is front left bottom of the car.


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

Targus said:


> Cruze brother,
> 
> I recommend you try change intake air temprature sensor location.
> It gives you false data to ecu after 10min of engine start.
> ...


 
unless you're modifying the intake temperature by some LARGE amount you will not see an improvement in power. The turbo heats the air up to a couple hundred degrees... lowering temp by 10 degrees wont make any difference.

the above post is null and void


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## Targus (Jan 2, 2011)

Targus said:


> Cruze brother,
> 
> I recommend you try change intake air temprature sensor location.
> It gives you false data to ecu after 10min of engine start.
> ...


try it, see it.

Now in winter here, outside shows on radio screen 9 degree, but intake sensor shows 58 degree (centigrad) even engine already stopped.
intake data read by OBD. Cruze driver was complaining about perf. of the car. I mislead the sensor data , engine start to reading it 5 degree. 
And we tested the engine perf. at low rpm almost better....
Due to low intake temp. gives advance to spark ignition and %2-3 more fuel, and engine torque and power higher than std. (corrupt) sensor reading...(sensor is ok, but location is wrong)

Before you do mod. to engine , pls. check the intake temp. first and correct it.


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

I removed all the stuff in the fneder and the plastic pipe that goes into where the finder meets, and comes around in froon of the radiator.


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

Targus said:


> try it, see it.
> 
> Now in winter here, outside shows on radio screen 9 degree, but intake sensor shows 58 degree (centigrad) even engine already stopped.
> intake data read by OBD. Cruze driver was complaining about perf. of the car. I mislead the sensor data , engine start to reading it 5 degree.
> ...


 
I'm not a master of engines or cars but from what I do understand and have experience in... what you're referring to is pointless in my opinion.


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

I agree Shawn. i dont se how it will help


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## TSURacing (Jan 1, 2011)

Hey Larry, You got some Pics of your mod? Or at least the bits that are now extra.


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

no i dont have any pics of it yet. but ill take some ok.


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## TSURacing (Jan 1, 2011)

I'm pretty fired up about trying this one out. I am entirely new to turbos and IC and all that. I am going to give the powertrain guys the benefit of the doubt that the baffle system can flow the air required by the engine, but I think it will be fun to hear a bit more of the intake action. I assume the baffle is added to make the whole thing quieter, but I make an exception for cool noises . If I do this soon, maybe I will bust out the cell phone again and do an excessively detailed write-up


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

you have to remove the front bumber cover, and the psg side inner fender well. the baffle is extremley small. i know it will breath better now. plus i put a K&N air filter in so maybe that will help a little to.


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

i removed this tube. the one that bold to the radiator support and comes around to the fenderwell. and then i removed all the pieces in the fenderwell that go to the factory airbox.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...looks like a biblical "horn of Jericho" (?)


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## LARRY01Z28 (Dec 4, 2010)

trust me it narrows down and then cuts in half. it def doesnt suck air. lol


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## cpetty (Mar 1, 2011)

I just recently purchased a 1.4l turbo cruze. I just took your advice and removed the "condom" and that didn't make any improvements. Next I took out the resonator....still no turbo noise.. The only thing I hear is the intake sucking harder. Given I traded in a dodge cummins turbo diesel for this car I don't understand why I that classic turbo whine. Do you guys have any other advice?


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

uhhh are we talking about changing the IAT signal voltage to the ECU so it reads colder air.... If so I got some swamp land I wanna sell you guys. 

edit: Is the IAT pre or post turbo?


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## Orange (Mar 6, 2011)

I have read this thread, and would like someone explain to me why there is apparently an intake in the fender area, and also piped up front of the car in front of the rad? Why would it be designed with both, shouldn't the intake near the fender be good enough? Also, if we remove the resonator, and leave the pipe (open?), does this require any other changes to the car or will it work fine with the deletion of the resonator? Thanks - Learning as I go!


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

@orange
it all connects. the box you see inside the engine compartment houses the filter, on the bottom of the box is a U shaped tube that goes down and back up, near the front fascia (the horn shaped tube).

you can remove just the resonator if you want, which would help a tad


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## RS LTZ (Jan 5, 2011)

Orange said:


> I have read this thread, and would like someone explain to me why there is apparently an intake in the fender area, and also piped up front of the car in front of the rad? Why would it be designed with both, shouldn't the intake near the fender be good enough? Also, if we remove the resonator, and leave the pipe (open?), does this require any other changes to the car or will it work fine with the deletion of the resonator? Thanks - Learning as I go!


Like previously mentioned it's all one system. The reason they did it that way (in my opinion) is because of all the other crap and structure that is in the way. Instead of designing around the intake, it's cheaper and easier to design around the structure. Cost of Plastic <<< Cost of Steel. The way they have it set up also helps avoid taking in a whole lot of water, that U-Channel will act like a trap similar to home plumbing.


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## Orange (Mar 6, 2011)

@RS LTZ - Good point. Thanks also to shawn672.*http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/81-shawn672.html*


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## HSR (Jul 5, 2011)

*Please help, FCAB mod, ticking noise now.*

I'm new to Cruzetalk, and also new to modding cars. I own a 1.4L Turbo Cruze 2LT. So I just finished the "Factory Cold Air Box" mod, put everything back together ( taking it all apart and putting it back together was a day long mod for me haha ) and I started it up and it now has a fast repetitive ticking noise coming from the engine. Didn't do this before I done the mod and I'm not sure how to fix it? doesn't seem normal? :S Is the engine getting too much air now? I very much don't want to put the pieces back in as it took me all day to take em out and was a major pain getting the bumper cover off the clips. I'm going to try disconnecting the battery in the morning...I have no idea if it'll reset anything but its all I can think of right now. Someone please help.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

^ First of all. Welcome!


Secondly, I think what you are hearing is just the injectors coming through much clearer due to your modification. Hopefully its not FOD though!!


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## 2011lt1 (Dec 13, 2010)

HSR said:


> I'm new to Cruzetalk, and also new to modding cars. I own a 1.4L Turbo Cruze 2LT. So I just finished the "Factory Cold Air Box" mod, put everything back together ( taking it all apart and putting it back together was a day long mod for me haha ) and I started it up and it now has a fast repetitive ticking noise coming from the engine. Didn't do this before I done the mod and I'm not sure how to fix it? doesn't seem normal? :S Is the engine getting too much air now? I very much don't want to put the pieces back in as it took me all day to take em out and was a major pain getting the bumper cover off the clips. I'm going to try disconnecting the battery in the morning...I have no idea if it'll reset anything but its all I can think of right now. Someone please help.




because the thing you are removing is a muffler per say for the intake. its restrictive as far as air flow and noise. so when removing it, its going to add noise and air flow. thats why gm put it there to quite things down, because most cruze owners do not want to hear any noise. 

you dont need to remove the piece that goes to the front of the car. the box in the fender can be removed from the snorkle that goes to the front of the car just by accessing it from the fender well. made a big difference on my 1.4t with the stock tune. the trifecta tune it helped some but not as noticable


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## HSR (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks for the replies. What does FOD stand for? Mentioned above. I'm about to go out and try some trouble shooting. See if I can pin point the noise. I'll try upload a vid so you can hear it. You guys know a **** of alot more about cars and what could possibly be normal from the mod or if something is wrong. ^^


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

*F*oreign *O*bject *D*ebris. Im still going with normal injector noise that is much more prevelant now that you have completed the modification.


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