New custom airbox

[JohnnyBravo]

I recently got my car back from Joe Donovan at Performance by Joe in St. Louis.

He installed the T&D rockers on the car, installed a new clutch, front brakes and a few other miscellaneous items.

He also made for me a new custom airbox and a custom catch can (in addition to powder coating my valve covers.

The box seals off the filters from the rest of the motor to keep from sucking in underhood heat. It only draws air from the NACA duct and there is a scoop that funnels air up from the front facia.

He also relocated the air temp sensor to the middle of the box, so it receives more fresh air and is less likely to get hot and cause the ECU to start dumping fuel.

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

The tuning he did on the car is amazing. It's like a night and day difference between when I dropped it off and when I got it back. I'm VERY impressed with his work, not to mention what a super nice guy he is.

 

[D.K.]

Very impressive, do you have any higher resolution pics?

 

[JohnnyBravo]

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

 

[GTSnake]

What kind of filters are they? How would you get replacements?

 

[Shelby3]

Looking good Mark. Great idea picking up that extra air through the front fascia. How much boost are you running and what kind of numbers are you making?

 

[JohnnyBravo]

I believe they'e a standard K&N conical filter with a 3" outlet. I've had these types of filters on all of my other cars. I've never had to replace them. Rather, you just take them off, clean them and re-oil them. K&N makes a "filter charger" kit that comes with one can of cleaner which strips all the oil off (takes all the red out of the filter) and a can of oil (which re-lubricates the filter and turns it red again). I know that sounds elementary, but that's really all there is to it.

When Joe made the intake pipes, he went ahead and made them 3" so that I can easily upgrade to 70mm throttle bodies later by simply changing the silicone coupler between the intake pipes and the throttle bodies. Right now, I'm using a 3" to 2.5" reducer. Swap that out for a 3" in/out, and I'm good to go.

 

[2001ViperGTS]

Awesome setup, looks great! Joe is the man!

 

[jdoc7]

Lookin' good!

 

[viprvenm]

Cool looking Setup!

 

[JohnnyBravo]

Thanks guys. I'm very pleased with it. Between pulling in more cool air, having better flowing filters and relocating the intake air temp sensor (plus the upgraded piping for 3" throttle bodies down the road), I think it was a bargain. It also has the collateral benefit of hiding the supercharger. You can no longer look through the NACA duct and see it. All you see are the filters and the back of the air box.

The dyno Joe uses is notoriously low on any car over about 500 rwhp.

I'm running the 10 lb pulley and the car still made 610/665 on 92 octane and water/**** on his dyno.

The torque curve on this thing is sick. From the second he stomped on it at 2500 rmps on the dyno, it was making over 600 lb/ft. It doesn't fall below 600 lb/ft until around 5300 rpms.

It's a blast to drive, although traction is now an issue even with the Kumhos in the back.

 

[Shelby3]

What percent methanol are you running?

 

[JohnnyBravo]

I am using a 50/50 mix of pure methanol that I buy from a race shop and distilled water.

That's what Joe recommends. The car runs better and he was able to roll in more timing with it set up that way.

Truth be known, it's not much more expensive than washer fluid. I paid $2.50 gallon for the methanol and $1/gallon for the distilled water. So with a 50/50 mix, I'm in a gallon of water/**** for maybe $1.75. One gallon of washer fluid is about $1.50 anyway and doesn't have the same properties as using pure **** and mixing it yourself

 

[Shelby3]

Yup, that's what I'm running also. After running the washer fluid and looking inside a smooth tube at all the blue residue, I'm glad I made the switch.