14$ Ram Air

[Caldwell]

Hey Fella's

Im sure that I am not the first to do this, but I thought I would give it a try to see if there is any difference in AIT's / MPG gains at all. Plus it just gave me a reason to do something to my truck, and kill some time while working at the firehouse lol. I really don't want to spend 300+ $$$ on a S&B / Vararam ( not bashing ) just feel my money could be spent on other worth while mods to me. So for a grand total of 14$ spent I took a crack at it.


*** Pictures Below are not my exact work, this is what I used as the guide.

I had a K&N panel filter in my 2012, and swapped it into my 2013. I drilled a 3 inch hole into the bottom of the OEM Air Box ( Front Corner ). Went to the Hardware Store and bought some Flexible Aluminum Dryer Vent Ducting ( 4'' x 8' ).



Then I ran the ducting straight down along the inner fender molding ( I did trim some of the inner molding, not required just my preference. )



Then I routed the ducting to right behind were my tow hook would be located. Since I don't have any, I was ok and cut a section of the plastic grille thing and made it look similar to this.




I placed a dry rag over the hole in the air box, and used a leaf blower ( 3 feet away ) to see if I could get air moving in the box. I was able to get movement of the rag within the air box. Im sure the real world driving will be a little different, but it was worth the try.

Im taking a 200 mile round trip tonight / tomorrow so ill report if I see anykind of mpg gains ( if any ). So far my best trip in my 12' Express was 18.4 MPG. If I can break the 19 mark ill be happy lol.


I did disconnect the battery for 5 minutes to reset the pcm.

 

[HolyRamBatman]

Nice job at being inventive. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Chewy]

Did you close off the fender intake hole? If not, you'll want to.

Great job! I've done this in the past as well.


Sent from my iDevice using data nodes and algorithms.

 

[White Beauty]

the pics dont work, says im not logged into aol email.

 

[DatacomGuy]

Same here... No pics. Would love to see.

 

[audio1der]

I like this mod a lot.
Having bought a couple pieces myself I now believe people sometimes want to believe there is a noticeable gain so as to get their money's worth. My S&B gives a decent growl at WOT but I'd bet yours does too- nice work! Would also like to see the pics, if you could rehost them in photobucket etc for us?

 

[DatacomGuy]

Updates? Pics?

 

[Caldwell]

 

[PCA4208]

Sweet. Let us know if it helps while driving. I'm kinda tempted to do this for myself, just for fun really.

 

[Caldwell]

This is basically what my set up looks like. I took a 200 mile round trip Sunday night into Monday.

My Best Average MPG in my 12' Ram Express = 18.4 MPG

New Current Average MPG in my 13' Ram Express = 19.3 MPG

* Travel Conditions *

- Sunday 79 degrees / Monday 81 degrees ( Both Night Traveling ) No Rain.
- Windows up
- AC on Low / Max AC Temp
- Cruise Set @ 70 MPH
- Myself / Girlfriend / GF's Sister
- 263 Miles on Odometer @ start of trip.

Now I cant say for certain if the mod really made that much of a difference, or if its because my truck is brand new. I will hopefully be able to record another trip next month, and I will be well over the 1000 Mile Break In.


*** At one point during my trip I did hit an average of 20.0 MPG !!!! it lasted for about 5 minutes lol

 

[DatacomGuy]

Wow. I'm definitely interested in trying this out, to hold me over..

Are we allowed to link to the other site?

 

[Caldwell]

same write up I used, just didn't see it posted over here so I decided to share the OP's awesome innovation.

 

[DatacomGuy]

Agreed. I figured other members might benefit from the few years of feedback that thread has been getting.

I plan on doing this this weekend. It's awesome.

 

[Stephano]

Sounds *****'n !

 

[smiley]

Wow. I'm definitely interested in trying this out, to hold me over..

Are we allowed to link to the other site?

The answer is no please do not.


$miley

 

[DatacomGuy]

Did you close off the fender intake hole? If not, you'll want to.

Great job! I've done this in the past as well.


Sent from my iDevice using data nodes and algorithms.

Reading the other threads about this, looks like you want to keep it open. And some guys are upgrading the tube going to the fender with a 3" tube as well.

Reason being water intake.. if you drive through a puddle or in heavy rain, you won't have a water problem because the other opening is there. If you close off the other, you could possibly suck water up if the water is deep enough.

One guy was talking about making a flap that would open and close, but i dont see where he has done it yet.

 

[Chewy]

Reading the other threads about this, looks like you want to keep it open. And some guys are upgrading the tube going to the fender with a 3" tube as well.

Reason being water intake.. if you drive through a puddle or in heavy rain, you won't have a water problem because the other opening is there. If you close off the other, you could possibly suck water up if the water is deep enough.

One guy was talking about making a flap that would open and close, but i dont see where he has done it yet.

If you don't close it off, then this mod is mostly for not. Any ram air effect you may have gotten will be lost by it going right out the other inlet.

Sure, if you're one that's fording rivers or streams, this mod isn't for you, but if you're going to do it, you may as well do it right.

As for heavy rain... Your engine CAN ingest water and many high HP motors have water injection to cool the upper cylinder area. My G8 sucks air from right behind the grill and it's level with the plenum, and I guarantee you it's seen its fair share of rain and snow and I've NEVER had an issue. Large amounts of water is where the issue comes in.

Chris

 

[DatacomGuy]

If you don't close it off, then this mod is mostly for not. Any ram air effect you may have gotten will be lost by it going right out the other inlet.

Sure, if you're one that's fording rivers or streams, this mod isn't for you, but if you're going to do it, you may as well do it right.

As for heavy rain... Your engine CAN ingest water and many high HP motors have water injection to cool the upper cylinder area. My G8 sucks air from right behind the grill and it's level with the plenum, and I guarantee you it's seen its fair share of rain and snow and I've NEVER had an issue. Large amounts of water is where the issue comes in.

Chris

I don't think, for most people, it's so much a ram air, as just cooler air. Definitely understand what you're saying.. just interesting that no one has brought it up yet.

 

[Chewy]

I don't think, for most people, it's so much a ram air, as just cooler air. Definitely understand what you're saying.. just interesting that no one has brought it up yet.

Yeah, but the air coming from the inner fender is going to be pretty cool... At least compared to an open element intake like K&N's.

The more ram air effect you can get, the better the better. I'm sure this setup gets you little effect, but it doesn't hurt either.

 

[Caldwell]

I figured for how cheap it was, I would give it a shot. I know its not getting the full " Ram Air " effect that your talking about, but the main goal was to see if my air intake temps would drop just a little. As we all know the cooler the air charge the better the engine will perform.

I have cut open my airbox before just to get the awesome intake sound, but this time wanted to see if I could actually improve on the OEM design. If I don't notice a change then no harm really done I guess.