The air box and air scoop on the 2008 lancer has important functional design. I have been looking at getting a RRM Intake but have some doubts on its overall effectiveness.

There are some upsides and downsides to swapping out the air intake with a shorty.

The most obvious downside is the constant droning, cabin noise and rice sound a short air intake gives off. For a daily driver its not the most performance sounding piece of equipment and could give the impression that you are really trying to compensate for a lack of real power.

Next downside is the design of the current short air intakes. Facing the back of the motor the intake is inherently sucking up some of the hottest air in the engine bay which completely heads in the opposite direction of performance. At a stand still the engine is getting the worst air available to launch / take off with. On the upside, It can be argued that once the car is rolling cooler air being pressed into the engine bay via the front grill allows the short air intake to really gulp some cooler air. But there is a snag. The factory black plastic overlay on top of the hood latch only allows for a very small portion of that cooler air pressure to slip past the radiator and flow up and over the motor captured by the underside of the hood.

The Compromise:
Leave the factory air intake in place but remove the plastic trim over the hood latch. Its a simple mod that keeps the best of both worlds. Removing the plastic allows cooler air from the front of the car to A) be available whether the car is stopped or not. B) forces cooler air into the air intake without ever being warmed by the engine. C) Keeps the factory parts intact so no worry of warranty breach. D) does not create any droning, additional cabin noise or any rice calling cards. E) it costs nothing to do and can be replaced to original factory status in 1 minute.

Take a look at the factory plastic piece over the hood latch. It has just tiny slits cut into it to let the air flow up into the intake pipe. I find it hard to believe that's enough air for the engine to operate with. Take a look closer to how the hood seals around the air intake pipe blocking any other air to sneak around. Removing the hood latch plastic trim allows the stock air intake to breath the coldest air available from the entire front of the car. Further more, if you did install a short air intake and didn't remove the plastic hood latch trim, you are forcing the intake to suck air from basically the super hot exhaust manifold.

The Ideal situation would be to have a true cold air intake mounted somewhere close to the middle of the grill, center and upfront. For now that's a DIY fabricated part with some experimentation to consider.

Suggestion for those that have the short air intake and don't like the rice aftereffect.

http://www.noisekiller.co.uk/sound_proofing.php
http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/hoodliner.htm

On a personal note. I'm trying to get maximum power without an increase in noise from the engine bay. Id like to have that power realized in a nice deep exhaust tone.

 

This is a great idea. I never thought of it. I was actually thinking of cutting the black cover to vent more air to the rrm intake. That shows how smart I am. I will look into this in the morning.

 

One other point to consider. The purpose of the plastic hood latch covering is to not allow air to slip past the radiator and instead have to pass through to cool the radiator. Without any type of testing tools, its hard to say how much less air is being allowed to not cool the radiator and how much of an affect, if any, its having. I thought about this and took an 40min drive the other day with the temp monitor on. There was no change in the meter, with or without the plastic hood latch cover.

**This is only an opinion** At the early stages of modifications I believe its a safe practice to allow more air to flow to the intake and let some air slip past the radiator. If you look closely at the seal under the hood, even after you remove the plastic hood latch there is still a rubber seal that makes some contact with the front engine bay frame thus limiting what actually slips past over the motor. Removing the plastic allows air to create pressure on the front of the stock intake pipe from the flow of air from the front of the grill, but does not let much slip past over the motor. Another indication that the Ram Air is really at a supply disadvantage.

Overall this approach is not to be considered better than a Cold Air Intake that was designed to work with the factory installed motor. With little to no documented reports and HP / TQ gains, spending the money for a Ram Intake compared to removing the restrictive plastic might just make more sense to some.

Comments, questions, Ideas and documentation are welcome.

 

Okay, here's my testimonial:

I have a factory airbox. Originally I tried pulling the scoop off. It felt okay, but I didn't quite like the drone.

So then elpoole posted this, and I did it. I put on the scoop and took off the latch cover. I think this has netted me a little more power, mainly in the low end torque area. Launches are quicker and power seems a bit more smoother throughout the entire RPM range.

However my test may not be the best. Prior to converting, it was 85 degree days. The day I converted it hit 58 and has been that way pretty much since.

 

pics please!

I think the most tangible result would be the fuel economy, it should be better at the same driving conditions..

 

Any chance that by doing this mod, water can get in? Bear with me, I'm a newbie

 

Highly doubtful. That piece that you're taking off is pretty high up, and the hood is sealed very well. Here's a crappy pic.


Note how there is no change in factory setup except the hood latch area shroud is missing. That's all there is to it.

 

I'd bet the gains are all in your head. But I don't really want to start a fight.

 

i did this to my car and it has a little bit of a deeper sound now

and i know cause i tested it both with and without the cover on and my friend heard the difference too

 

Itested this on mine as well, and just my like we got a bad rain storm. After 10 minutes of freeway driving I had quite a bit of water being sucked in... Be careful, it can be dangerous... I came home and put it back on...

 

I wouldn't doubt it. Any gains are negligible if any at all. And butt dynos mean nothing.

But it did seem smoother than with the scoop off though...

 

Because your subconscious wanted it to.

(Yes, the Bachelors in Psychology is rearing it's head. )

 

i actually think it did i ve asked about 4 or 5 of my friends if they noticed anything different about the sound and they said it sounded a little bit deeper

 

engineering by complete guess and wild assumptions - it's what's for dinner?

but on a more serious note... if you really care then buy a temp. sensor and drill a hole and stick it in the factory airbox. then drive around in both modes and see what temps are being read off. You can't "force more air into the motor" but you can try to feed cooler air and avoid heat soak also you can free up restriction that was added to make the car quieter. In reality you'll probably just get more dirt to the filter and motor.

 

no one has been able to note an improvement in gas mileage... i have the RRM SRI and was able to see a significant difference in fuel economy... approximately +3mpg... i dont see how this mod can make any significant difference. the same size scoop is able to pull in the same amount of air to the same size airbox.... just now there is more air being wasted in swirling around in the engine compartment instead of being directed through the radiator for proper cooling of the engine. Now if the radiator isnt cooling properly, then the electric fan is running more than necessary, draining more amps then necessary and depriving the engine of optimal spark at higher RPMs. all speculation of course.

my butt dyno lies to me every once in a while, and i swear my car is faster, but the only proof i have that my SRI is working is that i am getting better mpg.