Air intake
 

i know its a newbie question, but i was wondering if anyone has seen or have an air intake for their svx. thanks

open element
 

I read somewhere, (I know longer remember the website). It was written by an svx owner. He said in some cases an open element filter, that sucks air from all directions can cut your power. His reasoning is that you are sucking engine temp. air from the engine bay rather then cool air from outside. Now I can see from the picture that the cone is placed directly infront of the intake hole so this might not be an issue. Anyone have any thoughts?

Paul Hampton
92 svx LS-L 106k

Re: open element
 

My thoughts are, that if an open filter element into the engine bay were better than a closed system, then, Subaru engineers (who had carte blanche with this car) would've built it that way. The way it stands, the system is developed to gather cold air from the grille, and funnel it into the area where the intake can best "grab" it and pull it through the intake. Personally, I would never use an open air filter in the engine bay -- although it is set "in front of" the hole, the lenghth of the filter extends too far into the engine bay for my comfort. I do use a K&N, but it's a drop in -- not a cone. But that's just *my* opinion.

My thoughts exactly
 

I completely agree Randy, unless you could create som sort of ram air induction (i.e hood) which would most likely look stupid and be very expensive I would stick with the factory setup. By the way my K&N should be arriving at my local NAPA today, and I can go pick up my car from the shop. :)

Paul Hampton
93 svx LS-L 106k

Re: Re: open element
 

I'll agree with Randy. The origical SVX FAQ was pretty convincing. Can you get more HP out of the engine with a cone filter? Sure, in the right conditions. Close the hood, though, and you're sucking in hotter air than outside (in most cases).

I have to say, Randy, that there were probably other considerations when Subaru decided on the air induction system in place. The SVX is a luxury touring car, and the stock intake probably helps to quiet engine noise - a big concern for the engineers.

The only change that I have done to the air intake system of the SVX is to replace the stock air filter element with a K&N element.
It has not made that much difference.

Larry III

What about putting a conal in the fender well where the baffle is (or was in my case) I don't know how much water gets in there though

Agreed. You need to create some type of heat shield to block the air coming from the engine. However then you are still sucking from the same place (the fender) as you would with your stock system. I did this upgrade on my Sunfire, and found it actually does hurt your power when the engine gets hot.

Although it does sound DAMN good though. :D

Ryan

Still on the hypothetical here....

if the concern in the fender is still hot air, then what about the lip right in front of the wheel well, you could cut (I know I hate the word too) out that put a sceen of some sort there to keep debris out, and force cold air into the fender well

The fender air should be ice cold. I never said that. I'm just saying, they hole from the engine bay to the fender would still be your inlet...thus you aren't gaining any incresed air flow.

The screen does work. However you are then limited to how much air will flow through the screen. It does remove the "large debris" but not the small stuff. Back to the Sunfire, I know quite a few people that have done the screen in the wheel well idea. It works fine until the first major rain. A LOT of rain water gets thrown up at the screen and esentially gets sucked into your filter. The dirt will get trapped from the filter, but still you are taking in a lot of water.

Mind you, you might save on engine cleaning additives that way. ;)

Ryan

I've heard some pros and cons on this mod. Mostly cons. Apparently, the belly pan and all that plastic understructure have been engineered to flow the air toward the air box. When you cut a hole in any of it, it screws things up (to put it simply). I just read something on this, I think, in another thread (was it cdig?). Plus, I'd still worry 'bout sucking water and ruining a perfectly good MAF (not an inexpensive replacement). It's enough to make me shy away (because I had once thougt about doing the same thing. :D )

Ya I think the water could become a problem, but I don't see how the plastic on the underbody is designed to move air into that "chamber" in any way. Maybe I just missed something

I have a MAF adapter with K&N filter for sale.
$25 plus shipping

Cone? Motorsportwarehouse/JC style? What do you mean by mass air adaptor? Maybe I'm interpretting MAF wrong.

Let me know I will probably get it from you if this is the case.

Ryan