DIY: Fang Vents: Forced fresh air to your airbox
 

Lots of us have looked at the block off plates by the fangs and wondered why. They are a perfect high pressure area to tap for some cooling. It's not hard, takes about $75 in parts and a few hours of your time. Why run fresh air to your airbox? For one reason, the cooler the air and the lower the IAT's (Intake air temps which are sampled at the MAf), the more timing advance the ecu will allow and more performance will result. Notice how your car feels sluggish when it's hot? That's because, on a 90 degree day, sitting at a redlight for a few minutes, your IAT's may rise to 150 degrees or more. The hotter the air the greater tendency for detonation so the ECU dials things back. Forcing some cool air in there brings temps down quickly and effectively. Here's how to do it:

Remove the front bumper
Remove the blanking plates:
http://images109.fotki.com/v1537/pho...MG_1878-vi.jpg

Mount 1 pair of 2.5" aluminum flanges over the holes:
http://images50.fotki.com/v1528/phot...MG_1881-vi.jpg

Mount a second pair of flanges to the Airbox pass through:
http://images114.fotki.com/v648/phot...MG_1887-vi.jpg

You can see my custom airbox through the pass throughs:
http://images53.fotki.com/v443/photo...MG_1884-vi.jpg

Route your hoses on bothe sides:
http://images44.fotki.com/v1535/phot...MG_1885-vi.jpg

Hook the flanges together with your hose:
http://images50.fotki.com/v1514/phot...MG_1894-vi.jpg

http://images19.fotki.com/v285/photo...MG_2344-vi.jpg

Bolt it all back together. I need to tidy up the hoses a bit but you get the idea!:
http://images115.fotki.com/v688/phot...MG_1897-vi.jpg

http://images50.fotki.com/v1514/phot...MG_1896-vi.jpg


Results: I've noticed as it gets hotter this summer, it is more difficult to keep the IAT's down. They typically run 15-20 degrees hotter than ambient in average driving at this time of the year. With the forced air set-up I'm seeing pretty consistant 6-10 degrees over ambient for a solid 10 degree improvement. It will probably be better in cooler weather and come very close to ambient. IAT's also cool down within seconds of the car starting to move after sitting in traffic. I've always maintained, cool is good. Today on average, my car ran at 180 degrees water, 195 degrees Oil, and 92 degrees IAT's on an 86 degree day. Not to shabby. I also have an oil cooler as well as a sump cooler in place..She's a COOL cucumber...

This mod will be particularly helpful for those of you running an open element filter (Tanabe, Nismo, Stillen G2 etc) as the filter will be bathed in forced outside air. Stock airboxes will get a direct shot, and Stillen G3 guys can re-rout the feed hoses a bit to point at the filters.

BTW, I use a Scangauge for all this data reporting (more on that in my albums). Showing here, Horsepower, Long term fuel trims, Intake temps and water temps. A Very handy tool!
http://images44.fotki.com/v1471/phot...MG_1438-vi.jpg

There is a parts list in the Fang vent album as well as more pics for those interested. Throw me a rep point if you found this helpful!

More pics of this, part numbers and sources in the Fang Vent album : Here!

Nice work!

Mod, shouldn't you put a filter or something in front of that? Is it safe to just leave that open?

filter isn't necessary. i've done this in the past with many cars. water will never make it up there. at the rate of speed that will actually pose a threat, bugs and other debris will get caught in the bends and not make it up to the engine bay as well. great diy btw!

??Why? all a filter or screen will do is restrict flow. Your airflter is still in place. You will just have to clean it a little more frequently as air down low coming off the road is a little dirtier......

Good job mate. You would really have to stare to know that isn't something that came stock.

Thats crazy

This might also work for those wanting to get some more air to the brakes. Is there an easy way to run these to the brakes without getting caught in the wheel/suspension linkages?

That seems pretty easy to do, in my head anyway.

That might be a little difficult with the routing clearances and plastic/metal in the way, but here are some other ideas that would work for a track setup using the same hoses and flanges and a few Shop vac parts...:tup:: These were installed on my Audi TT but the concept would be similar..

http://images112.fotki.com/v580/phot...SCF0131-vi.jpg

http://images112.fotki.com/v586/phot...SCF0064-vi.jpg

http://images25.fotki.com/v948/photo...SCF0061-vi.jpg

very neat idea..... +1 to this

Mod, I actually might be using this concept in the future. Thank you for the DIY!

That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking of:tup:

I think this would be a great cheap mod for track rats. Especially if you already have a Stillen GIII
But like you said. clearances and routing will be the biggest problem.

This is a great DIY :tup: rep points are coming your way!!

great great write up!


"The hotter the air the greater tendency for detonation so the ECU dials things back. Forcing some cool air in there brings temps down quickly and effectively."

however, i think the reason for the detonation of colder air is better since its denser, not to cool the engine (although its a good side affect). In hot air, molecules tend to be excited and loosely packed (as in vibrating and bumping into each other, leaving spaces in between the molecules), while colder air leaves molecules tightly formed. This means denser and richer air, which ultimately means more fuel will be allowed to burn.

I think you meant to say
"Hotter" there, but yes, I agree. It's about the ability to use denser air that will combust in the proper A/F range. Leaner = hotter. When a MAF IAT sensor detects overly hot air, the timing maps are rolled back along with performance. Cooler is always better..:tup:

just to clarify, cooler air (denser) will make the A/F go leaner, and hotter air will make the car run richer.

Yeah, sorry..That is correct, but the 02 sensors downstream are always correcting for that. It's the timing that imposes the performance hit..

Yes, the ECU gets a hot Intake temperature it cuts fuel to keep the A/F ration in place, which robs performance.

With cooler Intake temperatures it doesn't do that.

Ever notice your car running good on a cold day...its the ECU giving more fuel to burn with the denser air.

Well....Close but......

Fuel is always being adjusted no matter what the temperature. This is handled downstream by the 02 sensors which are constantly making minor corrections to A/F based on Measured data from both sampling, and the MAF flow information. They don't care what the Intake temps are, they are just concerned with keeping things in line. There are Short term trims (imediate minor changes happening all the time), and long term trims, (that build up a reference map based on the overall conditions). Heat and IAT temps largely affect timing maps in most modern ECU's...They dial back timing as a protective measure.. The performance loss you experience is largely this adjustment. Fuel continues to be held at or around stochiometric (14.7:1 A/F) as long as you're in Closed loop mode (not WOT Open loop which uses pre-built Fuel maps and ignores 02 input). Here's an IAT and timing adjustment chart from an '08 Corvette. Notice how, at temps, over a mere 86 degrees, a timing retard starts being implemented...As a reference, it is not unusual to see the IAT's on the Z exceed 150 degrees when sitting in traffic. On the Vette chart, that's an average -6 to -8 degree timing pullback

http://images38.fotki.com/v1212/phot...586/iat-vi.jpg

Looks good Steve. Perhaps I can check out your latest creation this weekend.

Yup! Lets get together!

Nice work...maybe you can become a manufacturer of high-performance parts a la Stillen, HKS, etc.

Modshack,

I installed your cai ventilation system last night and all went smoothly. I do have a one question. Does a 2.5" tube allow enough air to enter the filter area - I noticed after my installation that you trimmed the aluminum flanges. Was that to allow more air in off the sides or just to make it fit? Also, were you able to route the tubes so they can't be seen from the front - haven't been able to do that yet. Thanks.

Where did you get the hose and the circular parts?

Follow thr link in my Sig to the photo album. It's all there..

Cool!

The front flanges were trimmed to fit better (bring the bottom of the flange up flush with the Fang opening) , the back flanges were ones I had leftover from another project and were already cut. You should be able to get plenty of air through there regardless..

On the tubes, I got the drivers side out of sight. The Passenger side still shows a little, but I went in from the top with a long Zip tie and snugged it toward the top a bit. You really need to look for it now to see it..

It doesn't say where you got the hose from just the alum piece.

Ummm...Everything was listed at the top of the album page:

(4) 2.5" aluminum flanges P/N 10350-10
(6) foot Aeroduct hose P/N 05-29810
(4) Stainless clamps

From: Http://www.aircraftspruce.com

Thanks for the info. I'll be doing this this week.

Any pictures from further away, just to see if it looks completely silly or not :P

Thanks for the info. As I mentioned it is not on your page. Here is all that was mentioned.

"Brake cooling project in the works. Cost $16 per side using a shop vac nozzle, 2 1/2 flanges from Pilot Supplies, Avionics, and Homebuilt Aircraft Parts from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co. (part # 10350-10 $6.80) and some 2 1/2 hose.

Testing resulted in a 10-12% reduction in rotor temps under normal driving conditions (stops to measure temps with an IR thermometer)"

Ah...OK...Didn't realize you were referring to the Brake Mod (since this thread didn't start out that way), but the parts for the Fang vents are the same Plus a few shop vac nozzles from Home Depot. You won't need as much hose either, but I'd buy that much anyway.....

You should always have a filter to clean the air before it goes into your engine

My plan is to run it from my area of the grill like you did but to the brakes as I have the Injen CAIs which has the filters down there already. I just have to figure out a way to mount the hose and adapter to the bumper in that area as it isn't flat like yours is.

Huh?...All this stuff is pre-filter. Doesn't matter what you have..Stock or otherwise. It's simply a means to get outside (and cooler) air to the filter inlet..

Don't know why people keep faling to realize this setup is NOT in place of filters... :icon14:

Awesome write-up Mod. Definitely will be doing this once I get my next Z.

+rep to you sir.

Why wouldn't I do the same setup for Stillen Gen 3 long tube as was done for the brake? Actually asking about using the Shop vac aimed at the filter. That Shop vac bit was brilliant. I had been contemplating adding some vents in the nose until I saw this thread.

Very nice writeup. I too would be interested in routing the hose to the brakes. I have been told by more than one race shop that when doing ducting for any car, they only recommend routing air to the center of the rotor, so that it can blow from the inside out through the cooling vanes. Blowing air directly on the inside of the rotor will result in only that side being cooler, which puts uneven heat/stress on both rotors and pads.

Here is one example of a kit for BMW M3:
Turner Motorsport - Item# TMSBRAKE46 - TMS E46 Racing Brake Duct Kit - E46

I wonder if there is enough room to come up with a similar solution for the 370Z?

Just had the Modshack mods done for the Fang vents for the Stillen Gen 3. Just want to say thanks for the concept to Modshack. Kudos.

that would definitely be nice~!