[jvance60]

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=57-0348

Well i picked up this K&N 57i cold air intake kit for my '95 miata today and installed it. well tried to. They just give you a filter and have you attach the Mass Airflow Sensor to it and give you a little brace to bolt it onto the side of the engine bay where the old filter box used to be. And then its a flexi cold air tube that you have to feed down through the engine bay somehow and pop it out underneath the under tray and attach the end of it to a rubber scoop that zip ties under the bumper.

The flexi cold air tube is too big to fit through my engine bay down through the under tray and it ripped after contorting it a bit and trying to squeeze it through for an hour. So i paid $120 for an air filter.

Soo i was wondering if i couldnt just find another, smaller hose that i might be able to jerry-rig to that rubber scoop? Inside that hose is a silver lining that probably has something to do with insulating/cooling the air. But i havent found just that hose online let alone a smaller one. Any thoughts on what i could do?

 

[cayangco]

hows it going. sorry to tell you this but i basically got the same thing when I first got my NA long ago, the 57i is basically yeh an expensive filter because the piping etc that comes with it is pretty much useless. For what it is the filter works great and is easy to install but you should have gotten a Racing Beat cold air intake or something, jerry-rigging piping isnt gonna do too much to improve performance, but a quality cai will.

best of luck. btw. before i sold my NA i ran just fine attaching the filter to the MAF sensor and never had any problems. just start saving up for a full on cai setup

 

[jvance60]

Do you mean something like this?
http://www.racingbeat.com/Miata-1990-2005/Intake-Kits-Air-Filters/56501.html

idk i might be useless but isnt that just a u-pipe and an air filter? what on it actually cools the air? or maybe it doesnt cool the air, just routes it from sucking in warm air from the motor?

 

[cayangco]

Do you mean something like this?
http://www.racingbeat.com/Miata-1990-2005/Intake-Kits-Air-Filters/56501.html

idk i might be useless but isnt that just a u-pipe and an air filter? what on it actually cools the air? or maybe it doesnt cool the air, just routes it from sucking in warm air from the motor?

its all based off of high pressure air zones in your engine bay with cooler air that provides more usable power. (ie behind the front driver headlight which ducts in air from outside) no it doesnt provide an excess of power but it does keep it at a constant in that its not sucking in warm air while at lower engine speeds being so close to your exhaust manifold. The cast u-pipe also does a very very good job at keeping the heat out.

Racing Beat is a renown tuning company specializing in mazda and yeh they definitely know what they are doing and have dyno results to prove it.

Im running their RB CAI and Cold air Duct on my 2000SE and its a great product and definitely has a nice growl and performance.

check out youtube vids for yourself, this CAI works and works very very well. =D

 

[stormin'norman]

The cast u-pipe also does a very very good job at keeping the heat out.

It probably "flows" ok but I dare you to rest your hand on one after a hard track session. They get very toasty especially if the car has an aftermarket header.

I'll let you do the honors of branding yourself if you actually think the RB horseshoe pipe keeps heat out.


I would wrap it in gold reflective foil and box it out if possible.

 

[jvance60]

Well I took it out today and was actually a little surprised. It did have a little more response when I got on it. along with a little deeper sound on the throttle, the sucking sound as it takes in air but it just sits there and whistles at idle and I'm not sure how I feel about that haha it might get annoying.

Anyways, since the filter is sitting there offset above the heat shield/exhaust manifold and no pipe routing cooler air to it, will I ever have any problems with the engine overheating by sucking in warmer air?

And I wont be tracking my miata lol. Ill run it pretty hard having fun in the summer, but nothing as hard as taking it out on the track.I was thinking though that maybe I could cut a hole out somewhere in my engine bay and run the rest of that flexible pipe under the under tray behind the bumper or something?

 

[cayangco]

It probably "flows" ok but I dare you to rest your hand on one after a hard track session. They get very toasty especially if the car has an aftermarket header.

I'll let you do the honors of branding yourself if you actually think the RB horseshoe pipe keeps heat out.


I would wrap it in gold reflective foil and box it out if possible.

haha yup it does get hot after spirited driving, but the air inside is actually fairly cool based on RB results. I went to the actual RB headquarters in Anaheim a few weeks back when the wifey and I went to disneyland and yeh they gave us a tour and talked with us about their engineering. Its good stuff. numbers dont lie =)

 

[ScarfaceThe91]

Sucking in hotter air will reduce your performance/power but you will get better mpg. Hot air has less oxygen content and when the MAF sensor detects this it delivers less fuel for the combustion which results in less fuel consumption. Sucking in colder air (from outside the hot engine bay) it has higher oxygen content which is more beneficial for power (which is probably what you're after in this case). The increase in power comes from more fuel being delivered to match the oxygen content in the colder air which creates a more powerful combustion. Sorry for the 101 but I think it'll help you out.

 

[Kremit]

I like the look of the u-pipe's and the concept of moving the cone further away from the headers... however, it is metal which will only pick-up and conduct heat from the headers... and the bend the air makes itself draws small concern over turbulence and friction heating the air as well..

Kinda thinkin that boxing the cone in by putting a thermal divider plate between the exhaust headers and the intake cone would probably be a better idea..