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Old 03-17-2007, 01:29 AM   #1
robcarync
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Default Modified Cosmo Cold Air Intake System

Introduction

When modifying cars, one of the most common modifications is a modification to the intake tract. Though performance gains are debatable, many people still like the idea of a cold air induction system for the intake sound, the look under the hood, or for any other reason they can think of. When interested in a possible intake, I searched the forums, checked out every company imaginable, and found many conflicting opinions regarding intakes and filter types.

I eventually chose to go with the Cosmo Racing intake from www.cosmoracing.com. It was the cheapest one I could find that still looked legit. I installed it, used it for about a year, became indecisive, took it out, and made a temporary short ram intake with a paper cone filter (from a 91 Prelude) until I decided which type of intake I wanted for good.

<Photo 1>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo1.jpg

Issues

The first issue I had to decide on was whether a cloth Cosmo Racing air filter (similar to K&N type construction) would adequately protect my engine. After doing several hours of internet research on filter types, I reached the conclusion for myself that yes, it would protect my engine sufficiently and it was safe to continue use. There are many conflicting opinions on this topic so you have to decide for yourself. Another benefit of the Cosmo filter is the size. It is much smaller than the Prelude paper filter and can fit under the hood a lot better.

The Cosmo intake was decent, but in my mind had a few flaws. Firstly, the filter was routed right behind the driver side fog light. Not a big problem, except for the brake duct is in the way. To install, you have to jack up your front tire and remove it. You have to take out the wheel well liner, and remove the brake duct, run the piping down, and attach the filter from the bottom. It is not terribly difficult, but very inconvenient when you need to clean your air filter or check it every so often. I want a system that can easily be removed from the engine bay without taking wheels off.

The Cosmo system was not very secure. It had a securing bracket, but the only place it could really go was off of the side of cruise control mount. Not hard to do, but essentially you are securing the top 3 inches of the intake while the last 20 inches of pipe rattle and shake around at the bottom. I want something a little more solid.

With the filter all the way down by the fog light, hydro locking your engine can be a concern. Though rare, if your splash guard isn’t working, you can leave your entire car stuck if you hit a deep puddle.

The Cosmo intake consists of two pipes which attach together with silicon sleeves and create a round-about S type curve. I am not an expert on fluid dynamics, but I like the idea of making the air travel the least distance. I wanted a straighter path for the air to flow with the least amount of curves.

<Photo 2>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo2.jpg

Materials

In the Cosmo racing kit, you have several parts:
1. Short elbow pipe
2. Long straight pipe with elbow at end
3. MAF adapter plate with hardware
4. Two mounting brackets with hardware
5. 2 silicon sleeves
6. 5 clamps
7. Air filter

For the modified Cosmo intake, you will only use
1. Long straight pipe with elbow at end
2. MAF adapter plate with hardware
3. &#189; mounting brackets with hardware
4. &#189; silicon sleeves
5. 3/5 clamps
6. Air filter

Notes

The instructions in this write up are based on the assumption that you already have an idea of how to install an intake. Chances are if you purchased this intake, you already have it installed when you are reading this, or you are merely reading this for fun and you don’t need full instructions anyway. The Cosmo Racing kit comes with full instructions that are easy to understand, which will be similar to the install of this intake. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me.

I have several photos of the intake set up, which help the words make sense a bit better. Use both.

My measurements were done specific to my car. Although they should be the same on an M44 and an M42, you may want to double check any cuts or drills to make sure. Better to measure twice and cut once then to have a pipe that you wish was longer.

My Solid Works models are not drawn to scale. They are just to help visualize what I am talking about.

Procedure

Start off by removing the air box and the associated plumbing. It isn’t hard to do. Pop some clips, loosen some nuts on the cruise control mounts, and you should be good. Go ahead and attach the MAF adapter plate to the MAF with the included hardware. The adapter plate looks like this.

<Photo 3>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo3.jpg

You will need to remove the two horns. I don’t remember where both of them originally mount to, but one is right above the brake duct. You may need to get it from underneath by removing the wheel well liner and brake duct. This is done by taking your front driver side wheel off and unscrewing the wheel well liner. Remove the horns from the wiring harness for now and you will remount them later. One horn has a longer wire, which is important for noticing later when you remount them. If you want, you can cut a small flap in the top of the brake duct. Be sure to pin the flap in place with some tacks or small screws so the flap doesn’t bend up or close. This will supposedly route cool air from the brake duct up to where the filter will be. I didn’t do it, but I don’t think it could hurt. Reinstall the brake duct, wheel well liner, and wheel.

Now you should have a pretty big empty space where your air box used to be, and you should see a triangular shaped hole by the radiator and behind the head light that goes down to the brake duct and behind the fog light area. The goal of this intake is to land the filter right inside that hole above the brake duct.

Right near that hole, there is a threaded spike that one of the horns was mounted to. It originally points down, which is the reason you had to remove the wheel to get the horn off. It is connected to the frame of the car by thin metal brackets which can be bent. Using clamping pliers of your choice, grab the spike and pull it so it is pointing straight up. It may be difficult to get the right angle on it, but it didn’t take me too long. Just get it close to the side of the hole so the filter has more room, and keep the threaded spike pointing up so you can easily mount a horn and secure the intake. I was able to do this with clamping pliers from above in the engine bay, but you may want to try it while the wheel is off if you think it may give you some trouble.

The next step is to start modifying the Cosmo kit. First, find the long intake pipe and cut 2 &#189; inches off of the straight end. Use a hacksaw. Try to make it as straight as possible, but due to silicon sleeves it is alright if it is a little off. Use a file to clean up the edges and get any loose particles of aluminum off the rim. You would hate to have solid aluminum particles sucked into your engine since it will be up stream of the filter.

<Photo 4>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo4.jpg

At this point, you want to modify the securing bracket. Find the bracket that has only one hole, and drill another hole about an inch down the bracket.

<Photo 5>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo5.jpg

You are now ready to install. Slide the filter on the curved end of the pipe with a clamp very loosely around it, with the securing bracket already hooked to the clamp. You want to slide the filter/clamp/bracket into the hole at a slight angle. Be careful not to bump the filter into the threaded spike, which is now pointing up wards. The straight end of the pipe should angle up right to the MAF adapter plate, which you will connect with two clamps and a silicon sleeve. Attach the securing bracket and the horn with the longer wire to the threaded spike that you bent to point up. Tighten up the clamp around the bracket and filter. Tighten up the clamps on the silicon sleeve. Tighten up the nut that goes to the threaded spike with the horn and securing bracket. Mount the horn with the short wire with a bolt and a nut on the cruise control mount. The cruise control is originally mounted on threaded spikes that stick out of the air box. The Cosmo kit should provide you with a bolt and a nut for each of the two cruise control mounting points, since the air box is being removed.

Make sure all the clamps, nuts, and bolts are tightened. You should now have an awesome intake with the filter right above the break duct, a solid steel securing bracket bracing the filter, and the horns mounted in a new location.
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Old 03-17-2007, 01:38 AM   #2
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Default Part 2

Final Product

Basic overhead shot of the final intake.

<Photo 6>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo6.jpg

Slightly angled shot.

<Photo 7>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo7.jpg

Securing bracket details.

<Photo 8>

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/data/753/photo8.jpg

Explanation

It is my opinion that this is the best cold air intake value for the 318ti. It is high enough to avoid hydro lock. It is low enough to get cold air. It is braced at the filter so the intake is completely solid with no vibrations. After the initial installation, the entire unit can be removed and installed from the engine bay within 5 minutes. The intake plumbing is direct without a fancy curve.

The location is identical to the Carbonio intake system, except there is no Carbonio intake for the M42. The Cosmo intake system is also much cheaper at $98.50, versus $279.99 for the Carbonio. The only difference is the Carbonio intake is made out of carbon fiber, versus aluminum for the Cosmo system.

Since the pipe is made of aluminum, some people claim it is a heat sink that will negate any benefit from the colder air. After doing some driving around town and 2 &#188; mile runs, I felt the pipe with my hands, and it was nearly ice cold. The outside temperature was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and the engine temperature was at top dead center. Though it is not hard data such as temperature measurements, this intake did add 5 horsepower compared to my short ram intake. I do not have any comparisons to the stock air box. I have a Dinan engine chip, so the gains may be helped by the chip, but either way it appears the material of the plumbing does not drastically reduce potential gains.

My horsepower measurements were made with my G-Tech GT2 timer. My previous high was 147 horsepower, which I reached several times. After removing the short ram intake with the paper filter and installing this new intake, I reached 152 horsepower on my first two runs. No settings on the GT2 were changed from my short ram run to my cold air run. Both sets of runs were done on the same road, one run going one way, the other run coming back.
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Old 03-17-2007, 03:14 AM   #3
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Yea, i have to figure out how im going to modify my cosmo intake to fit with the new 3 inch MAF, ima need a bigger Air Filter, and how im going to find room and everything to go wtih since the throttle body is sticking out more cuz of the dasc. I feel like running the pipe to the floor again but i will have to be careful with the puddles, lol.

Ill read that when i have time, its way to long for me. I hate reading.
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Old 03-17-2007, 03:30 AM   #4
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the cosmo pipe is 3 inches in diameter....just so you know.

yeah its long....click on the pictures towards the end to see the intake....the rest is mainly for how to do it if you want to
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Old 03-17-2007, 03:33 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robcarync View Post
the cosmo pipe is 3 inches in diameter....just so you know.

yeah its long....click on the pictures towards the end to see the intake....the rest is mainly for how to do it if you want to
yea i know its 3 inches. It fits right into the new MAF. Im just saying though, starting from where the MAF goes, i hardly have room from there (in engine bay). So i either have to cut the longer one smaller or something. I need and i cant find, the smaller piece of the intake where i can put that sensor inside. Thats the part i want the most. Maybe ill just use the small elbow tube with that thing sticking out of it for the sensor, and an air filter from there. But if i do want to run it long, the longer tube will have to be cut a little smaller. Ill figure that out when i send out my ECU. Or maybe i will remove the small elbow that was provided by DASC and shorten that just a little. Another thing is that i will not be using the check valve (or the pipe that goes from the injectors to the intake) anymore, so i dont know where to seal the whole where that tube would go through, or just take that off completely. But The thing im confused is how to modify that so the 3inch will fit because the throttle body isnt a 3 inch opening where i can just adapt the MAF from there.
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Old 03-17-2007, 03:38 AM   #6
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This should take care of any concerns about radiant heat. In a hotter environment I could see where this could be needed.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...50869_-1_10261

Or for a little more money.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...52483_-1_10261
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Old 03-17-2007, 05:00 AM   #7
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oh wow that is definently a possibility...only thing is that in my current auto cross class you cant wrap an intake tube in any material...but definently an opportunity if you dont plan to auto cross or dont care about what class you are in

though i still dont think the air would actually be in the tube long enough to be substantially warmed up to the point where you are losing productivity
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Old 03-18-2007, 01:41 AM   #8
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excellent write up Rob! much prefer your version to the original cosmo setup

i think the original setup u had with the prelude filter looks pretty trick too

nice job fella
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Old 03-18-2007, 05:07 PM   #9
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the prelude filter set up was decent. it was a lot more secure but the paper filter was huge and i had to pull the rubber boot around the MAF back a bit so it was under constant stress to get the filter in. it also didnt do much for 'cold' air. as i said, the new cold air version had a 5hp increase over the prelude filter version.

the modifed cosmo version is pretty much identical to the carbonio except the material, and costs nearly 200 dollars less....

i like to call my intake the 'Cosmonio'

i love how solid it is....i cant wiggle that bad boy at all even if i try to with my hands...man i love it when a plan comes together!
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Old 03-18-2007, 09:49 PM   #10
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Is that box/plug the cruise control?

Are you going to wrap the metal in something to make it less of a heat sink.

but the final question: Is it sexxxy...I think it's Sexxxy.

props on a good kit-bash jorb. Def something to think about.
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Old 03-18-2007, 09:50 PM   #11
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NM, I see Mo, got you on the heat-wrap.
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Old 03-18-2007, 09:51 PM   #12
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you know if you wanted to you could make a kit of that, and sell them on ebay for some spare change.
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Old 03-19-2007, 03:06 AM   #13
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wouldnt be a bad idea. i think overall it is a sexy set up and not a bad price. if i had a good place to get alluminum pipes like that i could think about making it a kit and selling it but i dont want to order cosmo kits and have to hack at em to sell them and have left over parts from their kit.

i think it is a solid enough design that it could be manufactured and sold, but im not going to be the one to make em lol

anyway, yes it is SEXXXY

and yes, the black plug on the right side of the engine bay pic is the cruise control...right behind the headlight/on the side where you see a horn mounted....thats it
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Old 03-19-2007, 03:23 AM   #14
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no cruise for me.

2 for 2 now with the 318tis and lack of cruise. not that I would use it.
2 for 2 now and no OBC too.
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Old 03-19-2007, 03:24 AM   #15
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are you going to do a heatshield for that corner?
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