BTR Cones vs Smooth Tubes & Stock Box

[John Stuttle]

I have read allot about smooth tubes, K&N filters and a stock air box but nothing about the cone conversion as offered by BTR. Is anyone running this setup or know anything about it? if so what do you think? They sure look good!

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[SRTim]

I have the K&N setup. Both kits are similar in effectiveness and price. I highly reccomend Tom to anyone-he's a great help and his customer service is excellent.

Tim

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[John Stuttle]

Tim - is that air box a unit you bought from BTR or is it a custom made unit? I did not see that type of system on their website, but it looks like it would solve the ram air question. - john

 

[SRTim]

John,

This kit is made by K&N. I ordered it from my local auto parts dealer by getting the parts number from K&N.

Tim

 

[Jack B]

A couple of thoughts. I have the K&N cone filters and chrome tubes that are shown in the pic. They were purchased from BTR. They definitely improve the looks. The cones end up about 1/3 of the cross section above the radiator core. The front part of the air box on my 94 was retained, therefore, they are getting outside air. I'm going to make a rod/cross bracket and try to raise them as much as possible.

It would make sense to change the tube angle and try to get a more direct flow of outside air from the retained forward part of the factory air intake. Maybe Tom Welsh can investigate this. One last thing for anyone installing this system. Once the rear part of the airbox is remove the front half is not rigidly fixed to the radiator cross member. Merely put a small bead of silicone caulk under the rear-most remaining part of the air box and it will hold it in place.

 

[Matt M PA]

I would have to agree that this set-up looks great! But, I wonder what effect this has on the existing NACA scoop on later cars. It would seem to me that this setup would cause the car to breath hotter underhood air...not outside air as "rammed-in" with the factory scoop.

 

[RECOIL]

What's the official word on driving in the rain? I rarely drive in it but there is the occasional time when it's necessary.

I love the looks of that first photo!

Steve

 

[ACR Joe]

I cut out the water deflector in the front air box and crafted a flat cover from aluminum sheet. It looks totally OEM except when you look into the NACA duct and see the K&N's starring out. I haven't made any precise measurements (ala dyno), but seat of the pants feel suggests a definite improvement. It seems pretty fundamental, straighten the air flow and increase the velocity. The intake sound is much more pronounced as well. Should I get caught in heavy rain, I'll temporarily plug the duct.

 

[pauls]

The NACA scoop on our cars is worthless! More air is sucked out of it than in. Cones picked up my car dramatically over any of the air boxes, and (see above message) no filters on TBs works the best. Now you can't drive everyday with no filters or even at a track event, but at the drags, no filters is worth your effort. PS build a velocity stack or put your girlfriends old hose over the TBs to protect from debris.

 

[treynor]

Does anyone have dyno results for a non-OEM airbox mod? All of the designs I see in this post have the potential to increase airflow into the engine, but unless there's a bottleneck there to begin with, you won't see any substantive improvement over K&Ns & smooth tubes.

I am currently of the belief that, for stock engines, the bottlenecks are (in order) air filters & stock tubes, mufflers, catalytic converters, headers, and cylinder heads.

 

[pauls]

The bottleneck is when you seal the induction system to the hood you starve the engine for air.

 

[Tom Welch]

John,

All the testing that we have done has showed horsepower gains over other smooth tubes. As a matter of fact there was a viper dyno day event out in Kansas last weekend that I donated an intake kit for testing and it produced i believe 10 more hp and more torque than any of the other smooth tubes that they tested that day. Please look up the string of posts that was started by Y2KGTS(chris marshall).

This is not advertisment on my behalf, we shipped the kit out and they did the installation, testing and posted the results. I believe that they speak for themselves.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Bill/APEX Motorsports]

We did extensive dyno testing on air filter/airbox combinations about six months ago. (This was all performed on the same '97 GTS on the same day, with comparable coolant temperatures.) The K&N carbon fiber airbox lost 5hp, hood up or down, compared to the stock, unmodified airbox with our K&N filter/smooth tube combination. The Hennessey airbox gained 5hp over the stock airbox/K&N filter setup, but only from 5k rpm on up.
Air doesn't like to change direction, and the K&N airbox's curved plastic tubes just don't make a straight shot into the throttle bodies. Plus, the filters aren't open at the end, which doesn't help things. And so you know, the NACA duct isn't a "ram air" device. It's simply an opening for air. There's about a 4" boundary layer at speed between the hood and the airstream, so it's not really ramming air in at all. (Hence why ProStock hoods have their scoops so high off the hood. Oh, and to also clear the big blowers underneath!)
The Hennessey airbox made about 5hp more than the stock airbox/K&N filters/smooth tubes, but for the money, it's a bit more suited to a higher-hp motor. For looks, though, you can't beat it. It's simply a spectacular looking airbox.
These are our findings on this particular car. Other people may have dynoed parts differently. But for the money, it's hard to beat the stock airbox with K&N filter and smooth tubes...

 

[John Myrick]

K&N airbox was good for +20 rear wheel horsepower (424) for an otherwise stock 97 GTS with ~5,000 miles...

 

[Nadine UK GTS]

I have K&N's in in the OE box, but have carefully cut the rain baffle out of the top of the box by hand with a blade from a hacksaw. I then made 2 aluminum plates to cover the top of the box. One has the plastic rain baffle piece riveted to the underside (leave an edge around the baffle when you cut it out for riveting). The plates can be changed over in seconds for wet / dry conditions. I have 4 D-ring, half turn, lock screws (common used for motorcycle panel fixings) these hold it secure. A thin bit of house-hold draft-excluder foam tape around the aluminum plate edges, ensures a tight seal to the air box.

(FART...Fresh Air Ram Technology!)

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