Air Cleaner Notes for Posterity [Long]

[Jon Pennington]

Okay, so I've had my '01 SE 2.0 since August of 2001 (that's a little over
two years for y'all that aren't capable of doing math at this point in
your day).  With less than 500 miles on the clock, Brad Woodworth helped
me advance my ignition timing.  With less than 2000 miles, at the '01 KC
October Geekout, a swarm of SE-R geeks did the Ghetto Airbox mod.

For a number of months (like, over a year), I've been using a $30 paper
APC conical air filter, directly bolted to my MAF sensor.  This was
*meant* to be a temporary measure, but turned out to be less temporary
than ideal.  I had dissected my upper airbox assembly beyond repair, and I
"misplaced" my lower airbox assembly entirely.  Not having $120-ish for a
JWT POP charger, the APC filter stayed in place (and was even replaced a
couple of times).

One of the problems with doing this rice-rack mod is that there is no
velocity stack of any significance inside the filter.  A JWT POP or
Stillen Power Flow, conversely, is ALL velocity stack, with a filter
strapped to it.  The stock upper airbox has a small (1/8" wide?)
stamped-potmetal velocity stack riveted to it.  I noticed after a few
months that I had a torque dip at 5200-ish RPM, and it only worsened with
time.  Last month, I started hearing and watching this dip occur on the
tach needle; disturbing to say the least.

Even with the APC air filter, though, one big improvement to the intake
tract was realized when I borrowed Brad Woodworth's B14 Hot Shot CAI
midpipe (just the section between the MAF and the TB) for a few weeks.  It
really smoothed out power delivery and improved throttle response.  I
think it'd be really cool if somebody would make an injection-molded
plastic replacement for the stock midpipe, but I'm not going to hold my
breath for a B15/SR application.  There's some Honda tuner that does this
for other cars...maybe I'll call 'em up, since I have a spare factory
midpipe to give.

A local fellow B15/SR owner recently upgraded to an AEM CAI and donated
his airbox assembly to me (thanks, Jeff Kimmel).  I sliced the crap out of
the lower airbox with a Dremel cutoff wheel, removed the snorkel to the
under-bumper resonator, left the IAT sensor zip-tied to the wire loom,
dropped in an Accel Kool Blue air filter, and went for a drive.  The
torque dip is now gone, and as a neat benefit, it sounds better, too. :)

The moral?  Do it right (JWT POP), or don't do it at all.  The Ghetto Box
with a tray filter works better, sounds better, and doesn't do funky
things to your torque curve.  Some day, I'll get a real CAI, but for now,
I'm rockin' the Ghetto Box with a Kool Blue.

--
-=|JP|=-        "Stays Fresh Longer!"

'01 B15 SE/PP  |   http://members.cardomain.com/cowboydren/   |  <//><
'95 SL2 Auto   |         cowboydren @ b15sentra . net         |