Custom made Front RAM air intake

Printable Version

Dodge Forum >> Dodge SUVs >> Dodge Durango >> 1st Gen Durango >> Custom made Front RAM air intake

Page: [1] 2   next >   >>

Login Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>

Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/12/2007 5:11:41 PM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline I just finished building a custom ram air intake that works marvelously!   I really want to trump Mean Green's getto ram air setup!!!   !!!!   I want to show you guys what less than $10-$15 in sheet metal parts can do for your D.  Anyways, Here is a list of materials and tools you will need for this project.  All ducting from the OEM airbox is 4 inch ducting.  If possible I recommend to get the aluminum type so you won't have to worry about rusting.  I purchase these materials from my local Home Depot store. Materials: 1 - 90 degree adjustable elbow 1 - 4 inch spacer 1 - 8 to 10 inch tube 2-3 - 1/4 inch sheet metal screws Tools: Drill with 1/8 inch drill bit to drill pilot holes to screw the sheetmetal screws left/right sheetmetal cutters You will have to remove the factory plastic elbow and remove the plastic/rubber shroud cover that is on the passenger front of the durango.   You insert the 4 inch spacer along with the adjustable 90 degree elbow.  You will have to play with the adjustable elbow and swivel the elbow until you get the right pattern to get the elbow as close to the radiator and freon line as possible.  Then slide the 8-10 inch tube from the front of the durango until you hit your A/C line.  from here, you will have to cut a slot approximately 3-4 inches so the tube can continue to slide further until it meets the elbow and can go in an extra inch.  Once your tube is snugged nice and deep into the elbow, Use the drill to drill a couple of holes so you can screw in the sheetmetal screws to hold them in place.  Then use the sheetmetal cutters to trim off the front where it meets the top frame.  I think I am going to get a clip to support the front and screw it to the frame for stronger support on the front. If you are worried about water entering the duct when driving in the rain, no worry, the factory airbox has holes on the bottom of the air box for water to drain out.  You may drill a few extra holes in the airbox to ensure the water will drain throroughly if you play alot in wet areas.  Plus, the air dam on front of the durango provide enough protection to prevent large objects from entering the duct to prevent clogging. Thumbnail Image Thumbnail Image Thumbnail Image Attachment (3) < Message edited by hydrashocker -- 9/25/2007 3:08:00 PM > _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake Post #: 1

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/12/2007 10:49:48 PM    Mean Green Posts: 3188 Joined: 6/22/2006 From: Reno, NV Status: offline How do you like the throttle response and power gains? _____________________________ 2000 Durango 5.9L SLT+ Flowmaster 40 "Custom" Ram Air 31" BFG AT T/A KO's Bilstein Shocks Hidden Hitch Sirius Satelite Radio E-fan conversion Smittybilt brushguard SSU's (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 2

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/13/2007 6:11:39 AM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline This morning is my first test run with this home made ram air.  I tell ya, it is almost night and day.  My D did not want to slow down! haha, I almost have to completely let off the gas pedal to maintain highway speeds (60-70).  Knowing this, I cannot wait to see how my MPG may improve as the D is keeping me off the pedal. I know that highway acceleration big improvement using this homemade custom mod.  If you notice on my setup, the hole from front to the airbox is nearly unrestricted and the ducting I use, the walls are smooth so air flow is nice and smooth.  Plus, I was able to utilize the entire 4 inch diameter without having to shrink the opening. _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to Mean Green) Post #: 3

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/13/2007 10:01:55 PM    Mean Green Posts: 3188 Joined: 6/22/2006 From: Reno, NV Status: offline Yeah I was looking at that. I think I will take a look into it even though mine is doing fine. More air never hurts anything. _____________________________ 2000 Durango 5.9L SLT+ Flowmaster 40 "Custom" Ram Air 31" BFG AT T/A KO's Bilstein Shocks Hidden Hitch Sirius Satelite Radio E-fan conversion Smittybilt brushguard SSU's (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 4

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/14/2007 8:51:43 PM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline Because of water (driving in rain) possibly entering the ram tube, I would highly recommend a washable air filter type (K&N).  I think if you wet a paper disposable type air filter, it would be hard for air to get thru and actually can choke your engine. _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to Mean Green) Post #: 5

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/15/2007 6:13:39 PM    Mean Green Posts: 3188 Joined: 6/22/2006 From: Reno, NV Status: offline Yeah, one thing that might be nice is if you have a way to do a quick disconnect but since I live in Reno now I don't have that problem. I think the last time I saw rain was a month ago and before that I think was like 2-3 months. _____________________________ 2000 Durango 5.9L SLT+ Flowmaster 40 "Custom" Ram Air 31" BFG AT T/A KO's Bilstein Shocks Hidden Hitch Sirius Satelite Radio E-fan conversion Smittybilt brushguard SSU's (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 6

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/15/2007 6:28:03 PM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline Easy, takes less than a minute to disassemble this tube setup.  _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to Mean Green) Post #: 7

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/18/2007 7:13:17 AM    Digitoxin Posts: 211 Joined: 5/4/2005 Status: offline Nice Kensai. I would still save up for a ram air hood. Youll notice even more of a difference. More air and with a K&N cool air kit sealed to the hood. It doesnt get any better then that. < Message edited by Digitoxin -- 9/18/2007 7:23:24 AM > _____________________________ http://www.dodgeforum.com/albumphoto.asp?albumid=267&asortType=6&apage=7 (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 8

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/18/2007 9:30:55 AM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline Digi,     Slowly but surely!  I wanted a ram air hood more for the aggressive looks as well as functionality!  But that upgrade will be a long ways off as I now have a $4k bill to pay off for Fastman's bulletproof custom built tranny.   For now, I thought this homemade setup is as best i can get for RAM air for on the cheap.  At least being solid metal ducting vs flexible ducting it looks like, doesn't look too ghetto.  Maybe I will take the tubes off and paint them enamel black to make it look more OEM? haha _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to Digitoxin) Post #: 9

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/19/2007 4:34:55 PM    myns   Posts: 59 Joined: 1/8/2007 Status: offline i dont work on cars for a living but as a engineer in the construction field i deal with the material used and u should use some duct goop on those joints for better sealing (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 10

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/19/2007 6:52:03 PM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline I thought about that but in the end, it pretty tight, just the small openings where the refrigerant lines go thru.  I also like to keep the ducting easily detachable for cleaning or if I need to remove it to work around that area.  I don't think there is enough ram air entering the duct that would provide enough positive pressure that would require sealing up the duct.   I worked as a A/C install and repair tech for most of my younger days and switched careers for computer networking.  Makes as much or more money for next to nothing hard labor. < Message edited by Kensai -- 9/19/2007 7:00:18 PM > _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to myns) Post #: 11

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/20/2007 4:56:29 AM    HankL   Posts: 2719 Joined: 8/20/2005 Status: offline Why not take the next step and start measuring your IAT and MAP sensors to see whether there is an actual improvement with this modified air intake? The intake air temperature sensor and the manifold absolute pressure sensor tell you "the truth" about intake modifications. old posts that might be of interest: ===== Page 415 of the Bosch Automotive Handbook, 5th edition http://tinyurl.com/yplr3d has the two equations you need to see how horsepower and torque change when either temperature or pressure change. For temperature the offical equation used by Americans (SAE) Europeans (ISO) and Japanese (JIN) is: { Temperature Before + 460/Temperature After +460} raised to exponent 0.6 you need a scientific calculator to do this but there is one built into every Windows computer under Start...Accessories As an example, say that your re-locate your air inlet to a spot where the air temperature drops to 80 degrees when before the air coming in had been 100 degrees. {100 +460 divided by 80 + 460} raised to exponent 0.6 ={560/540} raised to exponent 0.6 = {1.037} raised to exponent 0.6 = 1.022 You mulitply this number times your horsepower or torque so if your engine. If your engine makes 230 hp at peak 1.022 times 230 = 235 horsepower with the 20 degree lower air temperature. You may have heard the 'Rule of Thumb' that each 10 degree F reduction in air temperature improves horsepower by 'about' 1% and the equation above is where that comes from, but is more accurate For corrections when the pressure changes the following equation is used: {absolute pressure after/absolute pressure before} raised to exponent 1.2 As an example say that the weather is changing where you live and one day the weatherman says the pressure is 29.5 inches of Mercury as a stormy "Low" passes over then the next day a clear sky "High Pressure Area" passes over and the pressure rises to 30 inches of Mercury {30/29.5} raised to exponent 1.2 {1.0169} raised to exponent 1.2 = 1.0204 It is important to realize that built right into your engine are IAT (intake air temperature) and MAP (manifold air pressure) sensors. Your IAT and MAP sensor outputs can tell you whether an aftermarket air intake has helped or hurt your power output.  You can read these sensors yourself by using an OBD-II scanner, or a cheap electrical multimeter. You are correct to suspect that most CAI's only make more noise and have flashy colored parts. Want confirmation about this from a CAI manufacturer? Well right now KN Filters is running an advertisement in the various hot rod magazine saying that a typical paper air filter from the factory creates a restriction of about 2.8 inches of water....and when this filter gets really dirty the restriction rises to about 12 inches of water restriction.  The KN advertisement has a dyno graph showing that this can cause about 11 hp power loss on a high horsepower engine. The pressure of the air around us is about 404 inches of water so KN Filter is saying that the pressure is changing from 404 - 2.8 = 401.2 to a new pressure of 404 - 12 = 392 inches of water Play around with the equations above and you can find out what the actual horsepower of the engine KN was using was....and then confirm it by looking at the dyno graph in the advertisement. ======= Heard of the 'Ram Air' effect where the speed of the air hitting the vehicle builds up pressure in a forward facing air duct and helps 'supercharge' your engine a bit. ? Well, at 'typical' street speeds the effect is very very small. The formula for that is: Inches of water pressure from Ram Air = (mph) times (mph) divided by 2025. So at 70 mph the ram air effect is: (70 mph) times (70 mph) divided by 2025 = 2.4 inches of water. So the very best possible air inlet tube designed for Ram Air would actually have a positive pressure of 2.4 inches of water. How much pressure is an inch of water ? One psi of pressure is equal to about 28 inches of water. You can get this by dividing the cubic inches in one cubic foot ( 12 x 12 x 12 ) by the weight of one cubic foot of water ( 62.4 lbs). The air pressure around us is averages about 14.5 psi at typical heights above sea level. So another way of looking at it is that the air pressure around us is about 400 inches of water. ( 14.5 x 28). So the best Ram Air system at 70 mph gives you a boost of about 2/400 or one half of one percent. Small. Ram air started in airplanes where it means more.  An airplane going 300 mph gets a boost of: 300 x 300 divided by 2025 = 44 inches This is a percentage boost of 44/400 or about 11% Want a challenge? Consider your tires. Some strange facts: At 70 mph the center of your tire is moving 70 mph. The bottom of your tire where it 'grabs' the pavement is moving at 0.1 mph The top of your tire is moving forward at 140 mph. If you could put a 'Ram Air' inlet right at the top of the tires (where it is horribly dirty and wet) you could get a significant air pressure boost..... (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 12

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/20/2007 8:58:23 AM    Kensai Posts: 1652 Joined: 12/30/2003 From: United States Status: offline Man, I love you geek engineers!  I am a geek at that stuff myself and now you got my mind all pondering over this techno stuff. _____________________________ Black 2000 Durango 5.9 R/T Fastman 52mm ThrottleBody Fastman custom built Tranny Castrol Full Syntec OEM K&N Air filter Monroe Reflexes BFG Comp T/A''s Champion IR Truck Plugs 180 Stat Hypertech III (87 oct) Custom Made Ram Air Intake (in reply to HankL) Post #: 13

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/25/2007 1:24:55 PM    myns   Posts: 59 Joined: 1/8/2007 Status: offline I have decided to build an intake for my self and i hope to have a pic up soon no money will be spared (in reply to Kensai) Post #: 14

RE: Custom made Front RAM air intake - 9/25/2007 3:02:29 PM    hydrashocker Posts: 1767 Joined: 6/12/2005 Status: offline I did the same thing (all most) I love the power gain. I run a drop in K&N and find I have to clean it about every 2 oil changes. A lot of crap gets on the filter. I havn't had the air filter plug up with water or snow yet. I would be more wery about the snow tho. _____________________________ 1998 Durango, 5.9L Built Motor Bored 20 Over P&P Heads, K&N Ram Air CAI MSD Ignition, 52MM Fastman TB, Built T-Case Custom Built Trans, Air Bags Magna Flow 3" Cat Back Exhaust Too Much To List! (in reply to myns) Post #: 15

Today's Posts
Most Active Topics
Make A Donation
Forum Rules & FAQ
RSS Feeds
SRT Forums
Race News

Dodge Prices

Dodge Trucks & SUVs
Ram Dakota
Durango Nitro

Dodge Cars
Avenger Intrepid
Caliber Magnum
Challenger Neon
Charger Stealth
Daytona Stratus
Dodge Viper

Featured Sponsors

Poll
Now that you've seen the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT-8, what do you think?
	I Love It, Its Perfect
	I love the looks, but hate the transmission
	I like it, but I want the concept interior
	I like it, but I want the exact concept exterior
	Its ok, but the concept was far better
	Thanks, but I look forward to some changes on the 2009 models.
Poll Results Previous Polls

Top 10 Posters
dustyloins 21040 badstratrt 20755 midnight 17497 vipergts 14475 dodgegirl19 13072 ramfan5.9 12435 steve05ram36 11346 nickoman01 10864 drew 10116 casper 9606

New Vendors
Truxedo
Airaid
Mopar Biz
ATI ProCharger
Motor City Auto Parts
Sonic Electronix
Buy Auto Truck Accessories
Buy Car Floor Mats
Edge Products
AMSOIL - Performance Oil Technology