What's everyone doing for a CAI? Doesnt seem to be much for options.
I got a start on my custom but wanted to wait til my crankcase breather mod was a done deal. I've got more than enough 3" carbon fiber pieces to replace all but the smallest section to keep the MAF and full load hose and the flat piece that hooks to the throttle body. The rest will all be 3" carbon fiber and run exactly as it does now. To the very corner. Easy to box it in/isolate from engine heat6 and it draws air from the front and the stock opening in the fender well.

 

There are many posts on this, most have gotten theirs from MINA or CARID.

 

I have an xjr, so not sure if NA cars will be the same. Installed a mina intake tube with bmc air filter. Truthfully, the car does pull a tad harder. I think that is mostly due to less restriction at the the throttle body.

 

The Mina is the only one I've seen. Dont care for where it runs/ends and it's aluminum I believe.
While I'm sure it's better than the stock setup, it's bound to be sucking hot air from the engine more than anything.
Got to to get up in that front corner
I even thought about wackin' the washer solvent fill tube off but made it work without doing that.
The filter I have sucks from the end as well as the circumference.
The Mina is more expensive than everything I needed to do carbon fiber.

 

My aspect has always been (but not limited to) why not cut the bottom out of the existing system then fab an adapter and find a way to plum from behind the bumper.

 

Take the washer reservoir and fog lights out and just have the cone filter in the air stream.

 

Removing the washer reservoir is something I've considered but I am a freak about keeping my field of vision clear and do use it. lol
Fog lights too. Especially useful for lighting up the ditches to spot deer sooner. They've proven their worth in my semi multiple times as well especially during the rut when deer are even more ignorant about stepping out in front of moving vehicles.
I understand the ram air effect you're getting at tho.

I AM going to enlarge the stock opening where the rubber sealed the air box to the inner fender tho to get the cone in there facing forward. Plenty of cool air gets in there as is and it will be easy to isolate it from the engine heat.
Even in it's present location it's a far cry better than the stock setup and gets plenty of air thru the grill and wheel well area. Just a question of keeping it from engine heat as much as possible.

This does make keeping the engine heat out much easier. The problem with the stock airbox is the extremely small air in side. Modifying the bottom and running some sort of tunnel to the grill area would sure solve that. Just no easy task without something being available to do it. Tho it might not be do difficult to come up with something, it would require some ingenuity.
The other issue is the **** poor pleated filter. A K&N replacement would probably solve this sufficiently tho.
Not a bad idea really. Just not as easily accomplished as removing it and opening up the amount of air taken in. Albeit somewhat warmer air perhaps without a little forethought into that issue.

Two good ideas/methods of improving air flow. I guess I've already committed/invested in the first one.
Either one is best done from a custom approach. The premade option(s)? lack themselves and cost more to boot. Namely the Mina. I'm not aware of any other. I searched for a K&N but came up empty tho it too would be aluminum I'm fairly certain and most likely end short as does the Mina.

 

Ok, after further thought and reading This write up on Intakes, addicted2boost has the right idea. I'm going to remove the washer reservoir and that's where the filter will reside. I'll make the hole for the fill spout of the washer reservoir 3" or so in diameter for the carbon fiber tube to fit thru just far enough to clamp the filter on. But first I need to replace the engine splash guard that's missing. It has to have a good splash guard too. The fog lights stay for the same reason tho. It may let air in removing it but it would also let water in. It will still get the air and it won't affected by engine heat in this location. Cool air is mandatory. It why the Mina and others like it just don't get it done breathing the hot air.
I pretty knew this as I had my Bonneville running in a similar location inside the wheel well. I had to pull the left front wheel and inner fender liner to install it.
I was planning to block off the my current location from engine heat but this would be simpler and more effective installing it where the washer reservoir is.
I can always mount a smaller washer reservoir up top.

 

Hole enlarged to drop a 45° carbon fiber elbow into just far enough to attach the filter to on the bottom side. They'll be a boot on top side.
A cold air intake is way better than a hot air intake.
Thanks for the push to do this right, addicted2boost.

 

The finished product. A true cold air intake. No engine heat being sucked in here.
I ran the parts store out of black couplers. Had to use a blue. But it turned out great. I used a section of the stock tube for the full load hose and even got it spaced to use it as is rather than having to cut the ends off and use a piece of 3/4" hose.

 

And here's the filter residing where the washer reservoir use to reside.

 

Looks good! I’d still pull the fog lights out though.



Off topic... I’d highly recommend replacing that front water pipe, thermostat housing to an aluminum one and replace the thermostat itself ASAP. When that plastic starts turning that color brown, it’s extremely brittle at that point. You might want to check the 3 way tee under the throttle linkage where that part load breather meets the intake manifold.

 

Yeah I was surprised to see it hadn't been replaced yet given the age and miles. Good advice tho. It's on my to do list along with replacing the coolant lines that have been done in rubber.
I'll probably run a slightly cooler thermostat. I usually run like a 185°.

 

You can do the lower temp thermostat as long as you’re ok with a check engine light on constantly and a “P0128 thermostat below regulating temperature” code stored.

 

Are you kidding? Why would they do such a thing? I've never seen a vehicle throw a code for running cooler.
So what's in it? A 192° or 195°?

 

Welcome to luxury vehicles that aren't made to be hot rodded. These are specced to run at certain temps to maintain ultimate fuel rate burn and drive ability. Its the same with a Ferrari, Ford GT, ect... The difference with the Jag is the X308's are hard to have their ECU retuned to run at different modifications, especially the SC models. Yes, the the NA can be retuned, but it is an expensive process.

 

The OEM thermostat is rated at 84*C (183*F) which isn’t bad. Just stick with the same temperature thermostat and there won’t be any issues.

 

why did you keep the cobra head

 

Did you run a dyno 'before & after'?

I would think there would be maybe a 1 or 2 HP gain from the mesh filter.
Maybe less because of the added tubing and bends?

 

Actually your speculation couldn't be more wrong when it comes to long tube vs. short. This has been shown repeatedly, btw. But here's one such test linked below.
It's all about how the air hits the MAF sensor. There's no correlation to the amounted of added air and a longer tube. In fact other tests have shown this longer tube actually causes a siphon effect such as that of a liquid.
The benefits of cold air vs. engine heat is even larger and undisputed.

The cobra head really isn't restrictive.

No dyno but I'd bet $$$ on a 5+hp bump based on previous dynos of similar setups I've done including a couple in the fender wells behind the headlights of 3.8s in Bonnevilles both NA and boosted. The wheel and fender liner had to be removed to install it.

Now granted the stock didn't suck much in the way of hot air compared to some of these short intakes but it was extremely restrictive in the opening and the pleated filter. The accordion section causes unwanted turbulence and then there's that silencer that's not a good thing. It also has just about the same amount of bends. It bends sideways, mine bends down. The only severe bend is the 90° that they both have and mine is a very smooth walled start to finish. There's two 45°s then more than adequately straightens out well before the MAF sensor. There's also no doubt as to much cooler air with no engine heat. That's huge. Cooler air is way denser and carries much more oxygen. That's just a given. Any intake that ends under the hood will inevitably be overcome by engine heat.

The short, hot air intake from Mina on the otherhand has 2 areas of concern. One, its short and has a cone filter right after the MAF sensor and two, it's sucking engine heat. Those plastic shields aren't shielding it all that much. It's sucking hot air. That intake is lucky to be gaining much if anything at all.

I do have a diffuser if I think it's necessary but my initial butt dyno says it is not. I don't feel it's running rich due to miscaculating air in. Now if my MAF sensor was right after a bend or right after the air filter like the Mina is, I would most likely need a diffuser to keep a proper flow into the sensor and avoid it miscaculating the amount of air one way or the other.

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/im...e-air-intakes/