I did this as a part of chasing an overall high temp, poor AC performance remediation effort. I helped, but was also a part of a few other things. For this mod, you will need your standard tools and some form of hole saw, jig saw, or saws all. I will say this several times, you need to remove the air box shelf FROM THE CAR, do not attempt to do this with the shelf in the car.

1) Remove the air box by your favorite method. If you are new to this, pull the tower brace, pull the air hose, pull the air box. Or, search this list for the procedure you are most comfortable with. There are several. If you have been working on your 8 for awhile, get it how whoever you want.

2) Remove the air box shelf. There are two bolts at the bottom, and 2 nuts at the top. Remember, do not try the mod with the air box installed.

3) The idea is to not cut any areas that may support the actual air box, but to allow air to flow through the radiator with less restriction. We want the hot air as far from the radiator as possible. Mine looks like this afterward. I only cut the areas that had the grid pattern on them, none of the raised areas. The fans do not seem to blow much air through the holes on low, but a lot comes through on high. My believe is also that at highway speeds, a lot more air will flow as well without the fan even being on.



4) This is an easy time to look around the edges of most of the radiator and insert some foam to block the engine compartment air from getting back in front of the radiator. I used 1/2 inch pipe insulation. It filled the voids nicely. I also was able to put some around the oil cooler lines as well where they go through the panel beside the radiator.

5) Put it all back together.

Happy, and hopefully cooler, motoring.

 

so you're blowing hot air from the radiator right into your airbox?

 

Id rather warp some heat resistive material around it.

 

now that you mention it, some hrp reflective film would probably be good.

 

Not into, will hit the bottom though. Reflective tape is a great idea though, or even better the reflective material on 1/8th inch foam tape for AC insulation. Next time the box is out.

Great idea.

 

i think i see what you are saying now. i haven't had a stock air box in so long i can't remember how it is. i removed that panel completely on mine anyways. i'm also thinking about adding a lower profile battery so i get more radiator air flow.

 

Yeah, I need the panel to support the air box.

You are looking for more radiator flow. Are you running hot?

 

not running at all ATM, but thats another story. mine is turbo, so i have a custom intake. i tried to remove as much unnecessary parts out of my engine bay as possible.

 

The post that started this was part of trying to collect the first mods to do. Most of them dealt with cooling. I am NA, but was overheating in Florida. The link in my sig points to what I did. Together they all made a huge difference. I do not know if any of it will help in your situation, but it sure made a dramatic difference for me.

Good luck.

 

no cooling issues with mine. i have an AT with dual oil coolers, BHR radiator, Mazmart water pump, and Mishimoto cooling fans.

 

I'd call this the 'Air Box Intake Heater Mod' - Yikes!

 

Ah, but not when I get around to adding stick on insulating tape to the bottom...

 

Excellent post,
Nice post i really like this , p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Right air ventilation helps to enhance the indoor air quality. It controls the airborne contaminants and indoor humidity and keeps people healthy and the room airy.
Thanks for this great sharing.

 

what a useless idea.

 

How dramatic??????????

 

Replacing the stock battery with an Odyssey 925 MJT and removing the battery box opens up airflow a lot, while saving 20-25 lbs of dead weight in the nose of the car.

 

I started down this path when car got so hot in traffic that AC basically quit working (heat soaked) on a 95 degree day and the temp gauge started to climb. I had to pull over.

After, I sat in a line of cars, waiting to pick up kid, in the sun, 101 degrees on outside temp, 52 degree air blowing out of vents, temp gauge never moved.

It was not just he air box though. This thread is a part of several cooling tweaks that make up the First $100 thread in my sig.

 

I know this is an old post but thought I'd share, I bought this and its amazing. Only about fifty five if you find it on ebay:


http://www.thermotec.com/products/14...at-shield.html

 

if im reading correctly you cut into your air box support tray to get better airflow to your radiator via the fans but kept your stock airbox?

you realize the airbox covers the hole you cut and your only moving like 2% of the air right?
this would work with a aem style intake and removing tray all together

 

The tray is there for a reason. It is there to direct airflow (not ideal at all) and as a heat barrier between the hot rad air and your air box/MAF. On a turbo setup like mine, removing the barrier between the rad and maf pipe increases IAT's dramatically, especially with aluminum pipe. A tray or some type of barrier is needed.

The OEM composite material is much better at dealing with heat. The stock intake system or Revi is about as good as it gets if you are NA.

 

I insulated the bottom of the air box. and made a pretty big set of openings... I realize it is a minor improvement, but I can idle in traffic, in 95 degree heat, with the AC on. Would I do it again, not sure.

 

you should buy oil cooler fans

 

Oil cooler fans are useless and do nothing to lower overall oil temps. We have tested it locally using high flowing Spal fans. My guess is at speed the restrict flow thru the cooler. But either way, the temps are not affected by the fan in any significant way. Actually Houstonrx8er still has a fan on his, he has not removed it yet. And before anyone asks, yes the vents behind the coolers are opened up as well.

 

thnx 4 that 9k never actually saw any data on the fans and i was going that route. saved me a bundle. did u guys mount fans infront of the coolers or like the radiator setup mount them behind? think itd make a difference?

 

They were mounted behind. Initially he had bought a set from a place who I will not name, but when he received them and saw that the fans were cheap crap, and the rest of the kit was as well, he returned the kit and spent some good money on a setup from Spal.

I don't think mounting the fan on front would help but I can probably get him to try it out, . I also have a another kit here from that same vendor that a friend bought for his RX8 and never used after seeing the results. We could test that kit as well. I am in a time crunch right now to get some mods done but maybe Houstonrx8er can do it if he has time and feels like it.