So after *much* dithering -- JCW, Dinan, Craven, DDM -- I finally bit the bullet when I recently had the chance to pick up one of the vaunted "Dave.F" intakes via the NAM marketplace. (Hopefully it will arrive today or tomorrow )

These seem to be gaining quite the following in the UK, where Dave makes them, but I'm curious as to how many folks on this side of The Pond are using them, and if so what intake/airbox it replaced.

Mine will replace the OEM airbox -- given the advance billing, I can hardly wait!

 

I've sort of made my own...made an adapter to stuff a K&N cone filter into the stock intake box. I still need to open up the back of the intake box with a tube through the cowl. That's the harder part, but shouldn't be too bad.

Dave's is a nice piece.

 

Yeah; I saw your post on the modified airbox and gave some thought to giving it a go myself. Then my better sense prevailed!

The Dave.f airbox arrived in the mail today and looks pretty good. Not sure when I'll have a chance to actually put it in place, though. (Not soon enough!!)

 

I was tempted to buy it ... But I couldn't believe how much the seller wanted for it. I'm not knocking anyone or anything, I realize some people are more mechanically inclined than others, but it looks like anyone with a dremel tool, some flat sheet, a small length of pipe and a welder (or a muffler shop to go to) could make one out of their stock intake.

 

After a bit of trial and error I finally got the fitment issues resolved and put in the Dave F intake a couple of weekends ago!!

The solution proved to be fairly straightforward:

In order to bridge the ~3/4" gap between the end of the intake pipe and the cowl, I ended up using a 3" diameter Spectre Performance #8148 ABS intake duct mounting plate quite similar to what Dave uses for the airbox outlet:



(The actual product is a medium grey rather than the black plastic show in the above picture.)

I had to make some further modifications, however, as the flange on the 8148 is about 1.25" -- just a bit too deep to fit the space between the airbox and the cowl. I sanded down about 1/4" which resulted in a nice, snug fit.

The mounting plate itself is 3-3/4" high by 4" wide, but needed about 1/8" sanded off of the top edge in order to fit and get the airbox lid to sit properly.

Because the external diameter of the inlet tube is slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the 8148 -- and because the inlet tube was out-of-round -- I used a length of 3/16" foam weatherstrip tape around the end of the inlet tube to seal the gap.

The 8148 is held in tightly place against the cowl when the airbox lid is fitted.

In terms of installation, I found it took quite a while to determine the correct positioning for the cowl hole -- measure a bazillion times, cut once -- and quite a bit longer than expected to drill through the cowl with a hole saw. (I was taking it especially easy because of all of the tubes/wiring behind the cowl, and my power drill -- rather than a proper Dremel -- might have been slightly underpowered for the task.)

I'm not sure the hole I wound up with is perfectly round, but it seems to work just fine.

From a completely subjective standpoint the new airbox has definitely improved and smoothed out throttle reponse. The only "negative" is that there is a noticeable whistle -- as opposed to SC whine -- while under partial throttle. I'm not sure if this issue is common to the Dave F airbox, or whether it's due to something in my jerry-rigged installation.

Anyhow, I now proudly count myself among the Dave F owners' club!!!

(And at some point I'll try to get some pix up, in case anyone's interested.)

 

^ My cowl-less ebay intake had a whistle under partial-throttle, i attributed it to the included smooth intake pipe it had. Not noticeable in the passenger seat. It was annoying at first, then it either quieted down a little or i got used to it, now i miss it and make whistling noises when no one else is in the car.....

Thanks for the post and I look forward to the pictures. For my homemade one I still need to connect it through the cowl. I was thinking just cut a hole in the cowl and the end of the intake box and use some PVC pipe carefully fitted. I do have an extra intake top to mess with, but not an extra cowl.

- Andrew

 

Re: whistle -- FWIW, I've heard that this also happens with the Dinan airbox in some cases. Anywho, not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things -- my wife hasn't complained even after I pointed it out to her!

I'll try to get pix up sometime this weekend.

 

Finally some pix:





Nothing super-sexy, but you can see how the airbox fits with the 8148 connector.

 

Thanks! I'd really like an extra firewall piece to mess with.

 

Huh. I've been running numerous designs through my head on how to copy Dave's CAI. This seems to make the most sense so far.

Have you considered putting a velocity stack in the intake inlet?

Something like this seems like it may add a little power with a Samco silicone intake pipe.

 

I've been running mine for about a year now...love it I replaced the stock intake with it, what a difference. I have pics of the install here: http://www.motoringunderground.com/f...t=20243&page=2 This is a great mod.

 

Where did you get the intake? I tried searching for it, but it hard to see where I can order or sign up to get one.

 

You can make your own pretty easily... This was about two hours' work, including the How-to: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ir-intake.html

 

Thanks for the tip, but my lazyness sets in but at the same time, JCW one cost way too much.

 

What exactly does this mod do?

 

isnt something like this the same thing?

http://www.yourhotcar.com/product/hk...88/530565.html

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...GL/pics662.jpg

I had an adapter like this on a taurus, I wish I knew the specs because they are like 10 bucks on ebay

 

Start here, you can read about it and contact Dave if you want to order.

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f608...s-airbox-2826/

Hope this helps

 

Why not just get an Alta? Better design and cheaper

 

I ended up with the craven one. I was able to get one at a discount.

 

Cheaper yeah, but I don't think the Alta is a better design. The Dave.f intake I'm making for myself has been dirt cheap.

 

Likewise. Mine came in right at $80, with a K&N filter that was 30% more expensive than what I needed, and some additional tools for the fabrication. An Alta is, what, $200? And then there's the mess of getting it into Canada...

I don't know if mine is "better" than the Alta, but it's certainly better than the K&N it replaced - and the K&N CAIs are fairly well regarded.

 

Applesauce, thanks for the great writeup! I might try molding in a velocity stack into the intake opening ... But your "friction-fit" ABS elbow seems quite a bit easier.

 

As for the velocity stack, it looks quite a bit like a loudspeaker port tube from the DIY audio world (my other hobby). I'd definitely recommend trying out a cheap port from a loudspeaker supply (Parts Express, for instance) before a $30 off eBay! The other nice thing about loudspeaker ports is they're available in lots of different diameters.

 

The Alta has the complete cowl removed from the back of the air box. Lots better than a smaller hole.

And everyone knows foam is a better filter media than the cotton pleated ones.

 

Huh. I just so happen to have an 8" subwoofer enclosure from my high school "Fast and the Furious" days laying around the basement. Maybe I can scavenge the port off it.

Good idea though, it never occurred to me that a port and a velocity stack would be similar.