Welded aluminum cold air intake any interest?

[Waspjr]

Hi, I am in the middle of fabing my cold air intake and just thought i would see if there is any interest. it will be sealed and use the factory air inlet in the grill.
Anyways just thought i would ask and see if its worth making templates or just a one off.
I was thinking under the 200.00 range trying for 150.00

Any demand for this

[gregory.fazekas]

why aluminum? Isn't the goal to shield the intake from heat, not conduct it?

[ZipMeUpJ]

why aluminum? Isn't the goal to shield the intake from heat, not conduct it?

this

[texasboy21]

It's an air filter oven, powered by Audi!

[Waspjr]

Lol ok well aluminum doesn't retain heat it disperses it very well and i will have a doubler on the inside with a air gap but if all i am getting is criticism then i guess keep my ideas to myself :(

[blitz2190]

I think this may actually work well, hit it with an ir gun on the inside after a little while of driving to test it if you can. Also if you do have temp gun you should also try it with the stock box and see what kind of temps that has. May prove your idea valid.

[Waspjr]

Yeah I will use my IR gun on it and see with a doubler and a decent stand off as a heat sink it will help

[rich045]

why aluminum? Isn't the goal to shield the intake from heat, not conduct it?

wait what??? since when does aluminum conduct heat?

so they make intercoolers, piping, turbo heatshields, exhaust shields, radiators and other cooling products out of aluminum and not steel because it conducts heat?

last thing i remember aluminum disperses heat, not conducts it.

[Waspjr]

wait what??? since when does aluminum conduct heat?

so they make intercoolers, piping, turbo heatshields, exhaust shields, radiators and other cooling products out of aluminum and not steel because it conducts heat?

last thing i remember aluminum disperses heat, not conducts it.

Yeah it does soak heat fast but disperses it quickly similar to magnesium. Hence why we have all the things you mentioned also you can add pistons in there ;) You have to love bubble wrap builders lol

[gregory.fazekas]

Fantastic for intercooler piping, seeing as the goal is to get all of the heat from INSIDE the piping OUTSIDE. Not fantastic for a cold air intake trying to keep the heat out. Yes, thermodynamics works both ways, but the flow of energy (heat in this case) will flow from high to low. So with your intercooler and piping and pistons, they act as heat sinks by conducting the heat away from that area to the surrounding particles, i.e. an intercooler pipe dispersing the heat to the air surrounding it, a piston dispersing the heat to the aluminum block which transfers the heat to the coolant. HOWEVER, for an air box, which is inserted into a very hot engine bay, the only thing the aluminum will accomplish is moving the heat from the engine bay into your intake. Because aluminum is such a good conductor, by the time you do a few pulls, pull over, pop the hood and get a heat gun reading on the inside, the heat will have been dispersed slightly. A better use of your time/skill would be designing a ram air intake made of Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (abs) plastic. That would have a much better heat shielding property then aluminum and will take significantly longer to heat soak. Organic chemistry major FTW

[Waspjr]

Fantastic for intercooler piping, seeing as the goal is to get all of the heat from INSIDE the piping OUTSIDE. Not fantastic for a cold air intake trying to keep the heat out. Yes, thermodynamics works both ways, but the flow of energy (heat in this case) will flow from high to low. So with your intercooler and piping and pistons, they act as heat sinks by conducting the heat away from that area to the surrounding particles, i.e. an intercooler pipe dispersing the heat to the air surrounding it, a piston dispersing the heat to the aluminum block which transfers the heat to the coolant. HOWEVER, for an air box, which is inserted into a very hot engine bay, the only thing the aluminum will accomplish is moving the heat from the engine bay into your intake. Because aluminum is such a good conductor, by the time you do a few pulls, pull over, pop the hood and get a heat gun reading on the inside, the heat will have been dispersed slightly. A better use of your time/skill would be designing a ram air intake made of Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (abs) plastic. That would have a much better heat shielding property then aluminum and will take significantly longer to heat soak. Organic chemistry major FTW

Fair enough and the point is to have steady airflow forced in via the factory way. Wich would cool the air box quickly seing how it is segregated from the heat via a heat sink plate and air gap, then the actual air box chamber And also i thought the use of aluminum for pistons was for dispersing heat so as to not have detonation like steel would and just so you are aware no engine block is straight aluminum and also my engine block is ferrous (alloy steel) usually cylinder walls are nikacel coated ,chrome or a straight metal bore(sleeve).
Also thanks for your input

[Luxus Panzer]

betcha stock air box outflows it and runs cooler.

[gregory.fazekas]

betcha stock air box outflows it and runs cooler.

+1

[NathanGrayW]

wait what??? since when does aluminum conduct heat?

so they make intercoolers, piping, turbo heatshields, exhaust shields, radiators and other cooling products out of aluminum and not steel because it conducts heat?

last thing i remember aluminum disperses heat, not conducts it.

That's exactly why they make intercoolers, piping, heat shields and everything out of aluminum. Because it conducts heat better than most other 'common' metals.

Aluminum couldn't disperse heat if it didn't conduct it

[Waspjr]

Ok we will see i guess this is getting more and more typical on the zine shoot down the free thinker hey lol

[rich045]

Ok we will see i guess this is getting more and more typical on the zine shoot down the free thinker hey lol

nah bro go for it, i had an arc intake box in my subaru and it brought down the IAT from stock box with k&n and a injen intake.
If my aluminum welding (tig) was good i would try to make a shield over the turbo/downpipe and then some sort of box. (all i can make is aluminum pensil holders, lol)

[blitz2190]

Fantastic for intercooler piping, seeing as the goal is to get all of the heat from INSIDE the piping OUTSIDE. Not fantastic for a cold air intake trying to keep the heat out. Yes, thermodynamics works both ways, but the flow of energy (heat in this case) will flow from high to low. So with your intercooler and piping and pistons, they act as heat sinks by conducting the heat away from that area to the surrounding particles, i.e. an intercooler pipe dispersing the heat to the air surrounding it, a piston dispersing the heat to the aluminum block which transfers the heat to the coolant. HOWEVER, for an air box, which is inserted into a very hot engine bay, the only thing the aluminum will accomplish is moving the heat from the engine bay into your intake. Because aluminum is such a good conductor, by the time you do a few pulls, pull over, pop the hood and get a heat gun reading on the inside, the heat will have been dispersed slightly. A better use of your time/skill would be designing a ram air intake made of Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (abs) plastic. That would have a much better heat shielding property then aluminum and will take significantly longer to heat soak. Organic chemistry major FTW

i May have to fire up my printer when i get the chance a try and design a ram air intake for the 2.7 swap thanks for the idea, I always like an excuse to use that thing haha.

[drjonez]

Ok we will see i guess this is getting more and more typical on the zine shoot down the free thinker hey lol

Soldier on and do what you want. Take data to prove the morons wrong.

[DiertyEuroSpec]

Yea deff see how it goes, always fun to prove ppl wrong in the end. I'm rooting for you.

[Luxus Panzer]

Ok we will see i guess this is getting more and more typical on the zine shoot down the free thinker hey lol

Not at all, just trying to save you some time.

Do yourself a favor...take logs with stock air box..... then take logs with yours when done. You will see the light, or prove us all wrong.

[Audifurdasleben]

If you can make a clean setup, with proper insulation and air flow flow I bet this would work great. Just copy the APR cab intake imo. Its essentially a fancy heat shield that the MAF bolts too with an ultra fancy carbon fiber cover sealing it.

[WTFISAKSERIES]

Thats cool lol

[JBrookie]

Are you making it for 1.8s or 3.0s?

[Waspjr]

Sorry yeah it's for a 1.8t and i will be incorporating a heat shield with a air gap that has cooling fins that will have fresh air brought to them

[Moto369]

I don't see why everyone's hating on this. Cover it with something reflective or heat wrap and it'll actually work quite well.

[Waspjr]

I agree i thought it was obvious it would work and be efficient i appreciate the POSITIVE input and why would anyone build something out of plastic it dries out cracks melts and doesn't look good just looks cheesy. Although it might have good characteristics tell that to all the dodge neon owners or some chevy engine, owners with leaky plastic intakes.
I like metal what can i say
Anyways i will try and do some logs and i will make some templates give me a lil bit and i will post some data

[Waspjr]

nah bro go for it, i had an arc intake box in my subaru and it brought down the IAT from stock box with k&n and a injen intake.
If my aluminum welding (tig) was good i would try to make a shield over the turbo/downpipe and then some sort of box. (all i can make is aluminum pensil holders, lol)

Practise makes perfect lol what are you running and there is another welding forum i am on that has awesome ppl on it my father is aircraft structures welder who has shed some much needed help for me a good product is alumaprep it cleans the metal without contaminating it

[rich045]

Practise makes perfect lol what are you running and there is another welding forum i am on that has awesome ppl on it my father is aircraft structures welder who has shed some much needed help for me a good product is alumaprep it cleans the metal without contaminating it

Ohhhh nice, my friend owns a fabrication shop. I should snap some pics of the stuff they make there. I get to use a miller tig, well they have 2, a portable one and a big one. I think it might be dynasty something. I've watched some tutorials online and done what others told me but basically everyone tells me to keep at it.


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[charlie2981]

Go for it bro. Do some logs if you can, but I think you should definitely give it a shot.

[xetura]

It would be interesting if you put a couple layers of aluminum on the hot side with insulation in-between. I have access to ceramic insulation and will be doing something with that in the future, but you could use the stuff they sell for firewalls and sandwich that between the aluminum.

[blitz2190]

How are you at electronics? A really good test would be toss an arduino mini with a thermistor and SD card in the stock box and log while driving then repeat with yours.

[Waspjr]

Yes that would work i am going to put the air box and then on the turbo side a doubler with a air gap that will be fed fresh air. I take the insulation into consideration thanks

[Waspjr]

How are you at electronics? A really good test would be toss an arduino mini with a thermistor and SD card in the stock box and log while driving then repeat with yours.

I actually had something else up my sleeve. I was thinking of putting the ambient air temp sensor in there then you would have a steady data stream and it would also work somewhat for ambient i mean i never use it anyways.

[Spike00513]

What is that perforated thing in the background? Looks like aluminum?

OP, have you thought about developing a dry-sump oil-lubrication set-up for the B6 A4 (if there isn't such a set-up out there already)? I assume your knowledge, ability/skill, and resources, will help greatly.

A few benefits to doing this that I can think of, are a lower-mounted engine (dry-sump allows you to get rid of or shrink the oil pan required with the stock wet-sump setup) for better handling and more room for stuff under the hood. Not sure if this would be possible to do on the B6, since lowering of the engine would require lowering of the trans, which I assume would necessitate modification/fabrication elswhere.
Plus, external oil reservoir that holds the volume of your liking, and better engine lubrication under high G cornering forces which especially matters on a track, where such forces are constant

[Waspjr]

Its a magnesium compressor case
half it has stators in it for axial compressor rotors and a big centrifugal rotor like in our k03's cold side just a lil bigger

[Waspjr]

Thanks again for the input i am still cutting and bending

[Charles.waite]

wait what??? since when does aluminum conduct heat?

so they make intercoolers, piping, turbo heatshields, exhaust shields, radiators and other cooling products out of aluminum and not steel because it conducts heat?

last thing i remember aluminum disperses heat, not conducts it.

Learn science and then get back to us.

[Charles.waite]

That's exactly why they make intercoolers, piping, heat shields and everything out of aluminum. Because it conducts heat better than most other 'common' metals.

Aluminum couldn't disperse heat if it didn't conduct it

Its also why the stock airbox is made of ABS plastic. Conductivity....

[Waspjr]

Well plastic is cheesy and i like metal, there is no need to be rude
And any mechanic will tell you about plastic intakes sure its heat characteristics might be good but when it dries up and cracks or a seam splits its a real pain. That's not science, just real life
Sorry if i am coming across negative i have read your comments and i agree but its not the route i am taking

[evo_ski]

1. Design cheese intake
2. Exhaust spits out flaming hot cheetos
3. ?????
4. Profit