I ran a Hyperflow CAI for years with no problem. It's not rocket science - seal up the inner wing liner so no road crap gets in! I used bits of foam wedged into any gap that looked like it might allow anything through. Air for the filter is via the slot in the fog light cover (on the blob STi)
I now have the RCM induction fed with air via a cut down original intake and trunking from an inlet in the fog light cover (which I cover with a rubber 'flap' in wet weather. Of course, inlet temps climb rapidly when you stop but drop quickly once on the move.

JohnD

 

you guys must really go looking for puddles and issues lol

i ran this for a over a year..

RCM filter in foglight!



note. i was on syvecs ecu and when it rained i ran a foglight cover over it with a few holes drilled into it, and never had any issues and the car was used daily. before this i ran the filter in the wing and again no issues and that was with maf..

 

Well as we can see from all that, there are plenty of opinions!
As somebody stated, 130 odd degrees on the way out, so it hardly matters much what it is going in! I'd worry about CHARGE temp and little else.
From my point of view it's all very well telling me about what you might have got away with, but I wouldn't advise that anyone can safely run an air intake that has the potential to be immersed in water.
Don't forget we deal with stacks of Imprezas every day, which isn't the same as just having one carefully monitored one to worry about.

 

I'm running a kn typhoon that's wing mounted. My ecutek on board monitor tells me the engine bay temp and also temp coming in. All I can say is ther is a massive difference.

I think along with all other mods it's down to personnel preference. As far as I can see there s pro s and cons for which ever filter/mod you choose. For me personally I've had no probs with mine :-)

 

Its good to hear from people at the front line who come across all manner of issues & fixes, and take the time to share their experience.

I wish I had the time to faff about with bungs & sealants & flap etc.

Sticking with the original Subaru design for now - in case they had the right idea in the first place...

 

Havent had any probs with my K&N Typhoon under the bonnet . Have a duct from the fog cover , but after driving home from the mechanics i lifted the bonnet to have a nosey at what he had done and found this . . . .



The gritter lorries were out in force and it was windy as hell and it mush have blown the grit up the ducting. I have a bit of mesh behind the scoop on the bumper but might neet something finer to catch more dirt.

 

Hmm...........I refuse to believe anyone could not find a couple of hours for such tasks, if they really wanted to!


JohnD

 

I sure did.... inner wing inlet temps were cooler than an in the engine bay filter. I would also suggest that taking the time to "house" and "duct" the filter correctly has the benefit of the "ram" effect.

 

3ft deep potholes - behave Alan. Even if they were that deep, Mr Magoo could see them and avoid. TBH if they were that deep I'd be more worried about my suspension, wheels and tyres.

So that photo proves what exactly? Apart from the fact that I'd guess the air requirements for that turbo and engine would require a filter pretty big and I doubt that one would fit in the inner wing.

Let's take Mr Forrest who states:
"Our preferred solution is to ensure a direct cold air feed to the turbo at all times. One of the most effective ways to do this is by mounting the air filter in the void between inner and outer wings. This area is fed with cold air from the front bumper and is isolated from the hot area behind the radiator."

Both tuners could be seen as being at the top of their respective games.

I'm not one for hanging off of someone elses "advice" and prefer to test things for myself and draw my own conclusions..... as you say we all have differing opinions.

 

So the temp of the air entering the engine ( at the throttle body ) was noticeably lower when using an inner wing kit compared to a large cone in the bay ?
What readings did you get Shaun ?

 

I never measured the ACT's as I was on a OEM TMIC at the time. I know what you're going to say and from an evidence standpoint you'd be right in saying what I suspect you will say in response.

On warmer days I saw a sizeable (up to +10degs) increase in temps with the under bonnet kit at the MAF, over and above inner wing and OEM airbox. We all know that +/-10degs difference in ambient temps can make a substantial difference to how a forced induction car performs..... my abstract conclusion followed the same proviso.

It doesn't matter how good the intercooler is, the warmer the inlet air the higher the resultant ACT's will be.

 

Proving the point again. If a RCMs car thrashed around a track at nearly 800bhp doesn't require a CAIK, why does a road car at say 480bhp ?
Prudent owners will know not to thrash their car immediately after long periods of being stationary and will allow them to cool first before giving it the big one.

I have a pair of these in my car, one will monitor IAT, the other charge temp, when she's up and running I'll post my findings.

 

"Andy Forrest doesn't have inner wing mounted filters on his race car."

 

I dont want to sound disrespectful to you or your car but that looks a silly place to put the filter. Having it exposed like that will make it vulnerable to damage as well as get dirty very quickly. I cant see any benifit of having it there. Having the intake tube there is one thing but the filter??

 

Plus how did you wash the car with it in place , did u cover it ?

 

I think the original point Alan made has been lost a bit here.

The argument was not regarding which method of filtration was best, rather a warning that inner arch kits are more prone to getting soaked or dirtied than standard position induction cones. And the result of a wet filter equals wet maf and possible further damage there on.

Suppose if you had a weekend car that only saw good weather then that wouldn't be a worry, but a daily driver where you could encounter flash flooding puddles may not be such a good idea.

Just my 2ps

 

What and having the filter poking out the front bumper wouldn't cause the same issues ? I don't think the point has been lost at all. In fact i think its been highlighted.

 

Not for me I'm afraid. My mate had a cold air feed fitted to his supercharged civic type r where the filter sat in the inner arch and behind the front bumper and had a hydro bag fitted over the filter. The other day he went through a puddle and hydro locked the engine resulting in a bottom end rebuild!

 

Shaun, you could still of measured the air temp entering the engine even with the oe top mount. If like you say the inner wing kit reduces temps then regardless of what intercooler you use the temp will be lower at the throttle body.
I totally agree that air temp pre turbo will be much lower with the inner wing kit, my argument is that it wont be any different post intercooler regardless of filter setup.
I totally see where your coming from but I fear you have been taken in by the 'talk'. I'd love to see some readings of air temp post cooler with both filter setups, when I get chance I'll knock something up and see what results I get.

Where were your readings taken from ??

As i said earlier, a far better method is to concentrate on reducing air temp post intercooler. The easiest way to do this is by cooling the bay down as much as possible to help against heat soak in either the intercooler pipework or top mount. Heat wrapping the hottest parts and the intercooler pipework is best, and then things like turbo blanket etc are good. Also increasing engine bay air flow is a great idea.
I actually saw a large decrease in underbonnet temps by fitting a reverse scoop and a pair of bonnet raisers. I also added a front mount water sprayer for hot days which again, helped a great deal.

 

And another thing..

See this river?






It's the road outside my house. This happens all the time. Thankfully the house is well up out of it!
The place is seriously sneaky for passing numpties as it starts out real shallow, then just as you're convinced it's ok, it drops another six inches or so. The confident ones think "Ah, this'll be fine" then just before they get to the hump back bridge over the river where the water comes from it suddenly drops another couple of feet.
We've seen five write offs so far amongst the many we've helped haul out.
No Scoobies yet, but it's ok Shaun, I can wait!
And I'd like to see how "even Mr Magoo" can see a pothole under water?


PS, I've just stuck my head out, and it's flooding again!