There is a small hose that plugs into your stock air filter housing - I beleive it is a fuel pressure or crank case vent hose that vents gas back into the intake to be burned. Since the new filter housing (and my old one as well) did not have a connector for it, I just picked up a small filter at Autozone for $4 to connect to it.
Besides acting as a filter, it just looks cool.

 

I thought that hose was the air intake for the air pump that forces air into the exhaust manifolds... supposed to help warm up cats (an emmisions thing). My '96 Impala had that system as well including the hose connecting to the air intake box. The PCV and connections are, i think, what feed gases back into the intake for combustion. The filter for the AIR intake is to keep grime out of the pump and cats.

 

The other hose does indeed feed the air pump. The air pump is on the left part of the bumper beam under the facia. The injects air into the manifolds ahead of the cats at startup to help them fire off quicker and obtain better cold start emissions. That is all. I have removed mine, run Kooks headers w/o air tubes, and have had the PCM codes tuned out.

 

I wonder if a regular 4" coupling for PVC plumbing pipe would work from Home Depot? That would be really cheap.

 

No offense DERJ, as your design looks sharp and the price is right, but just asking questions for the fellow that asked about the potential cons of a homemade CAI or any CAI for that matter,

How much noisier is this setup than the stock airbox?

Does the z06 have a provision for an IAT (Intake air temperature sensor) in the airbox? If so, how were the readings calibrated? Resistor/pcm flash?

How much closer would you say that the air intake is to the ground as far as the risk of picking up water/debris?

How often do you have to clean/oil that filter? a clean paper filter will outflow a dirty K&N 9 times out of 10.

Sometimes if the overall effective length of your intake setup (not just manifold runners) is too short you will end up losing low end power for a trade in greater power at an rpm which your engine is no longer effective with the stock heads, intake, cam, or rev-limit. Do you notice any sort of low-end loss? Any dyno results before/after?

Also, don't get me wrong I definitely am not one of the aftermaket bandwagon boys as I believe in a modified k.i.s.s. rule (keep it stock stupid), after VERY highly modifying several cars myself, in my experiences, there are mods out there that only cost the pocket book but they are rare.

 

This should work about as well as the Halltech Stinger, Kn&n and SLP blackwing, but will fall well short of any true CAI like the Vararam or my favorite, the Callaway Honker. Cut a hole in the radiator shroud and add some wire mesh and you might get closer. This is a very cost-effective alternative, but it will never be as effective as an engineered cold air intake. Just my 0.02.

 

No offense taken and glad for the extra questions (good for thought...)
It's no louder (as I could tell) than a WCC Hurricane.
The IAT is not mounted in the porton of the air box that has been replaced so remains untouched.
How often to clean? About as often as a Blackwing... (Can't compare to stock filter as I never had one in the Vette...)
This setup is actually longer than the WCC Hurricane that was previously installed - based on looks (not exact measurements) it is about the same length as a Blackwing or Raptor.
Honestly, I noticed no performance gain or lose over the WCC Hurricane previously installed. Besides the size of the filter, I can't find any difference between this and the Blackwing besides the air pump connection (and the price...)

I'll continue using it and report back on anything I find.

 

Actually I have often read & seen some tests that state just the opposite. The dirty KN flows more than the clean paper.

Anyone else seen this?

 

If anyone wants to buy that K&N filter(RP-5135), Amazon.com has a few of them left for $87.04 with free shipping.

 

I ma pretty new to this, but do want to do somehting in the lines of a CAI. Does everyone agree or disagree that this setup is not as good as a Vararam? I did see one comment on it, but since I do not know much about this, I would like to hear more. If this setup is as good as Vararam, I am all about saving the money!

 

^ Ram Air is complete bull**** in anything under 200 MPH. The air simply does not pressurize. Do a google search and read some.

Vararam is a good cold air intake, but it is not ram air. On a Z06 the fresh air screens in the bumper send cold outside air directly to the filter location.

 

So you think that Vararam or this setup does nothing at all for you in a stock Z06? If you do think it helps at all, I was wondering if this setup is as good as an aftermarket setup such as Vararam.

 

No... any aftermarket air intake helps... many are misinformed and believe the Vararam somehow rams air into the intake creating a pressurized air charge like a supercharger etc.

 

ok, I got it now. Now that I have that staight, how much better or worse would this setup be compared to VaraRam? I know you cannot give me a concrete answer not testing both, but this is so much cheaper to do, but at the same time, I want to do the right thing. Thanks in advance again.....

 

I suppose the same result (but not as sexy looking) is the zip tie mod.

 

Sitting still or on a dyno, it would probably work as good or better than the Vararam. The Vararam relies on the car moving to force air into the fromt bumper grill openings into thin airtubes and the airbox. It is important to note that one of the biggest restrictions on the intake side of things from the factory is the Mass Air Sensor location forward of the radiator. The Callaway Honker has a completely redesigned sealed airbox that uses a giant hole in the radiator shroud to suck, or force air from the radiator cavity under the nose of the car. The Callaway also relocates the Mass Air Sensor well up the airstream right in front of the Throttle Body. This reduces restriction and greatly improves throttle response. GM took notice of Callaway's engineering, as they made this change right from the factory on the new C6.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E7H41W


http://store.knfilters.com/search/pr...x?Prod=57-3052

 

installed mine last week, along with the carbon fiber halltech cobra intake, its like a perfect match