Kamikazi

What intake did you use to make your custom short ram with? Is it a Camry or Corolla one? Also, how did you get the MAF into that piece?

Looks awesome man! Good work! I plan on getting the AEM when it comes out, but want to make my own short ram for the time being... I bet your car sounds awesome?!?

 

No check engine light, and Yes I reset the ECU by disconnecting the batt for an hour.

 

Yes, it sounds really good, I was happy about that. the intake really opened the car up. I did not use any type of intake I made it from a lot of misc. parts. The 3" piping is from Versus motorsports, they have a huge bin of piping of all shapes and sizes, and I found a couple that I could use, but they had to be cut to make the shapes that you see in the pics. Second, that MAF sensor 3" housing is from an old Nissan Frotier that I modified, to make my MAF sensor fit into it. They the filter is just a universal 3" high flow intake filter that was like $16.

 

Heh. Good thing people realize that paying $200 for a weapon-r is a waste of money... Intakes in general don't have that much of a gain, especially on a tC (c'mon - K&N got 6hp out of a CAI...), so cheap short ram just for cool sound and maybe a tad better throttle response makes more sense. I got an '03 Corolla intake off eBay for $26, cut the pipe, and put it instead of the stock airbox. When I get sick of the sound I put the airbox back on - takes 5 minutes (vs. close to an hour to uninstall a full CAI). Does not look like a factory thing, but it's just for fun... http://zoltiz.com/cars/tc/intake/

And the guys talking about "drastic temperature increase" with short ram vs. CAI - have you actually measured the intake air temp with both intake types? How about on a moving car? It's not "drastic", and intakes on the tC are just for show and some noise - 6hp with a CAI is not a real performance enhancement...

 

also since the density of the air charge is measured from absolute zero you are looking at a temp change from 360 degrees to 365 degrees so it really ain't a big deal Sure we all agree I would not put the intake right over the exhaust pipe, but CAI is more hype then reality. I'd take low restriction / smooth transitions every time.

 

looks good zoltiz.

 

So where can someone pick up one of those sensor adapters???

Mine is rigged pretty poorly.

 

Can be made out of other toyota intakes - like I mentioned - eBay has plenty of cheap noname corolla intakes - MAFs are the same as in our cars.

 

I went with a 3" MAF out of a Frontier and modified it to house my Sensor. Works very well, you just have to take the time to do it.

 

im thinkin about customizing my own. what exactly is the arrow pointing to in the picture? i know they dont get disconnected, but the one connector is connected to the piping; i just dont know if its attached for security purposes or if there is anything passing through. i see that in kamikazi's intake pic, he just tied them securly. how is it connected, and what does it do? thanks for helping a newbie out.

 

It's a VSV (vacuum switching valve). It is connected to a nipple on the stock intake pipe - you disconnect it or plug it up and you got yourself a CEL and possibly a nice decrease in performance. It is connected pretty securely to the stock pipe, so I did not bother zip-tieing it to anything.

 

so how did kamikazi get around this with his custom intake. in his picture, it just looks like it was unplugged, and zip tied to a harness.

 

He probably routed the hose to a nipple further down the pipe.

 

All I did was push it to the side, once detached from a little rubber notch holding it on the intake pipe, it has enough hose to move it around into a different location.

 

but zoltiz stated that disconnecting it from the stock pipe might throw a CEL. you just disconnected it from the stock pipe?

 

Hey, go out and pop your hood and look closely at it, it doesnt have anything to do with the intake pipe, it's there because that was Toyota's convienant location to mount it. you can get it off with one hand, there is only a rubber piece holding it there, you dont disconnect anything, just pull it out of the rubber piece and your done, just dont disconnect any of the hoses going to it, but none of them go to the intake, so I dont know what your worried about.

 

yeah thats what i thought, but i saw that it was fastened by a rubber/plastic clip type thing. i didnt think it actually went to anything. but it never hurts to ask. thanks.

 

hey, no problem at all

 

just to add to the discussion.. why not just "DROP IN" a performance filter.. such as the TRD or K&N filter ... you get less retriction and you get the cooler air from the outside..

yes i know all the arguments for smoother transitions and all.. but here is an argument that i have posted on other sites when this comes up..

has anyone checked to see what the engines breaths.. in CFM.. and "actually" see what the flow is on the the factory box with a performance filter.. putting in a 4" pipe.. with a filter that can breath 3000cfm of air may do nothing for you if the engine at it's best can only take in 300 to 400 cfm.. PLUS.. you have the MAF.. again.. putting in somthing that can breath 3000cfm.. and the MAF is where your restriction is , again you dropped $$$ for nothing.. everyone assumes that factory aribox is a source of restriction... but most do nto consider the filter.. or the MAF...

 

^^^ This is a great questions for those who dropped $180-280 on Weapon-R short ram and the likes...

I did my "custom" short ram just for the heck of it - I'm driving around with the stock airbox/trd drop-in right now. Every once in a while when I feel like making a growl, I swap in the cone filter (takes 5 minutes anyway), and give it a whirl.