Anyone tinker with their air intake on an XJS? Remove filter cover on stock air boxes? Installed Growler Kit...etc????

Just curious whether there was any noticeable pick up after any mods.

 

The Growler makes more noise for sure, but only under load. At idle and light throttle it's no more noisy than the standard set up. It also looks cool. To be honest, I haven't noticed any increase in performance, but I don't drive the car hard anyway (I use my 06 XJ Super V8 if I need to make rapid progress)

 

I've read about removing the covers from the stock air boxes as well. Bad idea?

I jump in my Benz when I don't want to worry about something not working either...carefree driving. When I wanna look cool.....the Jag is a must!

 

I haven't changed mine yet, but have plans to in the near future. Rather than spending the money on an expensive Growler kit, I'll be making my own. I have some steel stock and just have to cut out the pattern and weld in pipes and have it powder-coated.

If nothing else, it should make more room under the "bonnet" and allow more air to circulate around the engine.

 

you would have to be CRAZY, a theif, or a showcar owner to run a growler.

 

Oh I dunno about that. There are a hefty percentage of owners who have limited knowledge and/or ability to make modifications but want whatever performance/sound changes they can get. The Growler is a decent set up and pretty much bolts in without any real thinking to it.

If you have more money than time, it isn't a bad option. I'm more of a fabricator myself, so I don't mind doing it.

I might be willing to make an extra set and ship it if someone is interested though. I haven't figured out what it will cost yet.

 

Why is that?

 

@ Jamey

I like shiny things, what can I say !

I agree with you, it is a nice fabrication project if you have the time and the skill :-)

I was pretty impressed with the Growler fabrication. It had all of the attachments and cutouts to reattach all of the stuff that was on the original intakes, ie intake temp sensor, oil breathers, etc, etc. I have the fuel injection diagnostic system on my 92 (FF codes show up on the trip computer when the check engine light comes on) and I'm glad to report I've not had any issues as a result of installing the Growlers.

I have seen a few owners who keep the original air boxes but increase the size of the intake tubes and route them through some flexi tubing out to the front of the car, ie Bernard Embden...... Installing Cold Air Intake System I think this is a really elegant solution, just not shiny enough for me. I'd be interested to see what you do with yours.

 

because my last supercharger was cheaper than that growler kit?

 

Just cut the air horns off the stock boxes. Sounds growlier. Doesn't matter what you do to air intake, on these engines you won't see any noticeable performance difference other than noise. I cut the front panel off a spare set of stock boxes, redrilled a hole for the IATS and mounted it with a nut and it sounds nice and oddly looks a little better too. Those trumpets look goofy.

 

i always liked the way the trumpets looked, but the sound of an unrestricted inlet is just awesome. Blower whine is the only thing that comes close.

 

based on this link, Engine Modifications, cutting off the horns sound like the easiest way to do this. Did you guys just take a Dremel to it and cut the horns off? Any pics? You surely get a nice growl now.

 

I installed the Growler K&N kit, and got rid of 2 mufflers, 2 resonators, and ALL 4 catalytic converters, the car runs great, had it out yesterday and had it up to 160 kilometers an hour, not for long since I didn't want the cops busting me and towing my car away to an impound.
I 've had lots of other work done as well, I also got rid of the air rails that pump air into the exhaust into the catalytic converters, no converters no need for an air pump and rails. I can hear the unburned fuel popping and burning in the exhaust pipes....lol....
It is a fun car to drive with no mufflers....lol...it's not even as loud as a V8 with mufflers..

 

you can cut the air horns off with a saws-all.

once youve done the other modifications, such as Jetlag has, you will see a significant difference. 20+ year old converters are not gonna flow very well. certain aftermarket converters arent good either, such as Flowmaster high flow converters, which have NO bottom end torque to speak of. since the engine is basically a huge air pump capable of displacing ~600 cubic feey per minute, that means that if you cant get air out of the exhaust quick enough, you could supercharge that engine and not see any gains, let alone a cold air intake system. such was the case with my last engine swap.

air rails, smog, etc are gonna choke things up as well. (edited for greg)

once youve done these mods, you can advance your ignition timing a few degrees for even more power.

Heres the highest flowing cat that money can buy, from frozen boost.



High Flow Cat

 

@M90

The air pump and air rails have nothing to do with combustion. It does not raise mixture temps as you say. It puts air into the exhaust stream to light off the catalytic converters faster. This only happens for a short time. The air pump turns all the time so there is a slight drag on the engine. This is why new vehicles use an electric pump for secondary air.

BTW your high flow "converter" is nothing more than a device to fool the visual inspection done in some states. 3 inch is way too big for this engine. Read Roger Bywaters site for some info on exhaust.

 

My guess is that an air injection pump in good condition.....that is, not beginning to seize up....will draw maybe 2 horsepower. In my time I've removed a few of them....never felt any difference. <shrug>

In fact I can list a slew of so-called improvements that I've tried where I didn't feel any difference. :-)

Either there WAS no difference or it was too small to feel.

Cheers
DD

 

LOL. like i really needed you to tell me that it wasnt a real converter

which is why they make it in 2", 2.25", 2.5", 2.75", & 3".

 

I just used a sawzall on the stock boxes and got a roll of that door-edge trim to put on the cut-off edge. If you were to do all the mods listed above the extra air will help, but not if its the only thing you do.

 

good idea Darel.

you could do a CAI such as this TWR clone.




BTW, an easy way to tell a clone from a TWR is that the clone owners dont have the time, money, or resources to run filterless.

(also, i saw this car listed in the classifieds as a clone )

 

Doug,

I agree very little power is robbed by the air pump. It is amazing to see what people will buy and add to their car because the add says it is good. K&N filters are a great example. On a vehicle with MAF I see so many go fast kids install a K&N and over oil it. Now the MAF is no good because of the oil and it also gets sand blasted. The customer gets real upset when warranty is denied because of the modification. Slick 50 adds power too.