Warm air intake, quick mod, ideas?

[eq1]

I'm thinking about doing a more extensive warm air intake mod, but in the meantime, I did a quick mod that seems to offer some relief. Lately, with the weather turning, it looks like my fuel economy might be taking a hit. Temperatures have dropped from the 60s and 70s to the 40s and 50s over the last month. I've noticed air intake temperature dropping. All else equal, I've lost maybe 2-4 mpg, perhaps...

I took the end snorkel off my intake and just flipped around the curved piece that attaches to the air box, so it draws air from the back of the engine instead of the front. The end is just under the battery box. I disconnected the tube to the resonance chamber and taped over the inlet.

I only drove a couple times, but it looks like just doing this flip makes a positive difference. Intake temperatures seem to be more stable, and about 10-20 degrees F warmer than before... Ambient this evening was something like 52F, while intake air temp was something like 70F. Normally it's about the same as ambient, maybe a little warmer, say 5 degrees. Lean burn seemed to be a little easier to trigger, popping on more often, for longer...

So, perhaps someone else can do this mod and report some results? Also, I didn't notice any difference in performance having the resonance chamber disconnected. I read what that was for somewhere - but I forget. What's it for, what does it do? Extra power at X RPMs or something like that? Is it necessary or worthwhile to duct the resonance chamber into any more extensive warm air intake mod?

Later:
Here's a link to a post that tests the impact of the resonator:
How to Build a Hot Air Intake

Apparently it adds power at very low rpms, in this test 1300...

[Bugone]

Temperatures here have plummeted in the last month, and my mpg has taken a hit with it.

I've just done a warm air mod. I used alumimium ducting, and tied it to the exhaust with a bit of wire from an old metal coat hanger.

Seems to do the job.

[uhtrinity]

[Bugone]

Originally Posted by uhtrinity

http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/attachments/modifications-technical-issues/3570d1347978265-my-turbo-build-turbo-3.jpg

I was going to say, that looks a bit excessive for a warm air intake.

When I was putting the ducting in, I did think there was a lot of room back there. Looks like an interesting setup you've got there.

I tried to so something similar with my Baja.

[uhtrinity]

Cool pics!!

Think of it as the ultimate hot air kit. My morning air temps run in the 70 - 80F range with outdoor temps @ 30F or lower. Add a short duration of boost and they climb over 100F. Makes lean burn much easier to achieve. Same with autostop. I might even experiment with insulating the charge and intakes pipes this winter. Late summer intake temps on the other hand have been between 120 - 150F (peak under 5 psi boost).

[AbCaRed00]

Here's mine shown with 4" silicon hose, very similar to Bugone's ducting, with an aluminum roast pan bent, pushed downwards and shaped as a shroud around the catalytic converter heat shield.
[Picture is from last year and the only additions are more duct tape at bends and recently now there's some pink fiberglass insulation stuffed around the roast pan from the top to trap more heat. It works ok in limited use thusfar..]
HONDA INSIGHT 2000 - Thrifty Warm Air Intake Modification picture by AbCaRed00 - Photobucket
A couple more pics of my setup can be seen in the photobucket image series by clicking 'previious' image.

[eq1]

I was just imagining doing that first design up there - an aluminum duct between the end of the stock snorkel and the cat area. It just doesn't look neat. I was going to route behind the engine, under the battery box, but it's more trouble; who knows whether the stock snorkel does something for smooth intake air flow?, and you can easily keep the resonance chamber in the loop, no change. I was thinking a loose air duct around the end might be good - wouldn't it be as close to stock as possible just with warmer air? It might keep the air flow at the end of the snorkel as similar to stock as possible...

[eq1]

I took the hose off of the resonance chamber and connected it to the end of the 180 degree intake pipe (flipped around, routed under the battery box). So now the intake path runs further under the battery box, then curves up. The inlet is just to the left of the battery. I wedged the inlet end between the two heater hoses, fits well.

Ambient was about 55 degrees today. Intake temperature was about 80-90 degrees F cruising on the highway after fully warmed up. In stop and go traffic it got up to as high as 120F. I have no under engine tray/shield, which would probably keep it warmer - if I had one... Lean burn seems to come on more, stay on longer, though I have no data. Lean burn AFR reported on the OBDIIC&C seems to be higher than I recall it being normally - like instead of 21.2 or so, it's usually 22.7 or so... The only problem with this setup is that it takes a while to heat up, and maybe it's a little too cool under normal conditions, and maybe a little too hot in the stop and go... Not sure whether this extended setup is any hotter than just the 180 degree bend intake pipe routed under the battery box. I didn't drive much with just that. Seemed like just the 180 degree pipe got hotter quicker. With the added resonance pipe, the inlet is higher, in a seemingly hotter location (heat rises). On the other hand, maybe there's some cool air coming in at the back of the hood, or simply more air flow around that location. Not sure...

[samwichse]

Can you post a picture of the routing in your flipped tube?

[eq1]

Here's a couple picts: