Here's what we know: the intake system is a vacuum. The longer the hose on a vacuum, the weaker the suction becomes, and you can notice a difference in sound the vacuum becomes strained and trying to work harder to suck. Now, if you remove the hose completely, the suction is crazy strong and free, and you can hear the vacuum motor racing high speed because the load is easier and can perform more effortlessly. Now if we apply that same principal to to our car's vacuum then wow we get better performance and a happier engine

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1kby8uEGvGX

Guys you have to hear this this sucking air like one of those monster vacuums at the car service stops

 

i'll be honest...that's ghetto and looks and sounds like ****...also that scotch bright pad is doing **** all to keep sand and dust out of your engine....

 

Thanks for your honest opinion , and no offense taken bro. I still got it on there and I've forgotten already that's it's there lol. Just been driving my normal 40 mile trip to work and back and the car has been performing very well with no hickups so I haven't bothered with it. Remember I bought the Lancer without a filter on the intake. So this Scotch Brite makes the world of difference as far as protection. As I said before the car has so much cosmetic damage inside and out. The car is now driving great and so I want to focus on getting it looking neat and sporty inside and out as it is a daily driver, so this $3 DIY ghetto cold air intake is serving it's purpose for now bro . The car drives great and gets me to point a to point be as planned, and that gives me time to fix up the inside and outsides. High performance and style under the hood will come a ways later after some cosmetic upgrades. And with that being said, please have a look at my latest project! And yes, these are the original tail lights the same ones that were painted black. I used the same steel mesh that I used for the silencer. That and water until all the paint was removed. Then next I made a thick mixture of baking soda and water and used a towel to polish the lights and buff out the scares from the steel. I'm still in awe at the results . Next going to do the same for the headlights(baking soda and water) no need the steel because no paint, although I will use a Scotch Brite pad for the first buff, then next the baking soda mixture for the polishing stage

 

Before




After




After

 

Looks better...hey where are you located? Would you be interested in an OEM OZ Rally body kit? Bumpers are included, they need work, no spoiler. if shipping cost is reasonable, I can make you a really swell deal, tried to sell em' on here a while back, had one taker but I couldn't make it to the Evo/DSM shoot out that year, and we couldn't make the deal...wife wants rid of them. I was going to trick out my 03 ES for her when I bought my Ralliart...but she wanted a Mazda 5 for the kids...I'm still trying to convince her to let me turbo the Mazda 5, lol...

You should also find a proper intake, I don't know where you live but if you end up ever following another car on a dirt or dusty road, your engine will eat the dust quite literally...look and sound aside, you need to protect the engine intake better than that...sponge/foam would probably even be better...lots of small engines use them, they do the trick...but an automotive filter is best...also you're still drawing engine bay temp some what, remember you're getting mostly hot air coming through the rad, which is cooling the engine, so no matter what, a stock air box and snorkel that draws air from between the hood and upper rad support, or heat wrapped cold air intake would be best...increasing flow into a stock air box would do what a cold air intake does. It can yield good sound and performance while still protecting to motor from smaller debris...

 

Hey, I hate to burst your bubble Justin, but with the intake being so far back under the hood, it has to go over the engine, exhaust manifold, and/or the transmission before it gets to the intake. You were much better off in terms of a cold air intake when you were running your stock box. I haven't signed on in a while, but I've been keeping tabs on the thread. If you want to have an okay filter that's that far back, you'll have to use a short ram, which pulls as much air as possible rather than just pulling air a shorter distance. Hot air is bigger than cold air. When you increase vacuum hose length, decreasing diameter proportionally retains or improves the pull toward the intake. Shorter and wider pulls more air, longer and narrower pulls better air, making it a quantity over quality kind of thing. As far as that scotch-brite bit, you got the blue. The blue scotch-brite is plastic and has bigger holes in it. Get the green or (if you can find it) the dark red/brown. The weave and material is much finer than the stringy plastic and will do a much better job of keeping your car out of the junkyard.

On a brighter note, your taillights look immaculate. Did you strip them with soda or wth sandpaper and buffing compound to restore the original sheen?

 

Oh! I just looked at the picture of your MAF again and realized something: there's a honeycomb structure that is supposed to be in front of the sensor. On the 501-style MAF sensors, that honeycomb is necessary to keep the meter reading properly. The air has to be flowing straight over it. Whoever had the car before you was a nimrod. If you do get to performance modifications in the future, make a replacement MAF the first thing you touch. If the air isn't flowing over the resistor properly, and even if it is, most times, the mix runs way too lean. That can spell multiple incessant misfires for your poor engine, especially under load. Just a thought.

 

Hey guys , thanks so much for the feedback, and genuine comments, and the least bit of interest to keep up with this thread. I was just checking my email before I sleep and I saw you guys had left some posts . I will reply to all your messages tomorrow guys don't worry, I'm so sleepy lol. Ok cheers guys and have a good night, thanks