Fitting an aftermarket air pod

[jet150]

Hi guys,
I have relocated the battery to the back of the car and I now want to fit an APEXI pod filter in it's place. The pod filter will have shrouds protecting it from hot engine air and I will install a pipe directing cold air to the pod.

I have heard about the MAF sensor but not in detail. Will the engine be ok with this setup?

 

[Kenneth]

Short answer is that you will loose power and fuel economy.

Try this thread: http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530

 

[snickells]

But really, who needs power and economy when your engine bay looks sweet-as?

Seriously though, Rob, get the panel filter, you know you want too

Oh and well done introducing yourself!

 

[frozen]

i thought with the heat shielding, and a pipe TO the MAF (at least a foot of straight pipe) and its perfectly fine.

 

[Guest]

But really, who needs power and economy when your engine bay looks sweet-as?

Seriously though, Rob, get the panel filter, you know you want too

Oh and well done introducing yourself!

I bought a K&N panel filter for mine and it worked superb

 

[steveP]

i ordered one of those K&N rampod filters (from a sponsor on here). basically a pod filter designed to work with the MAF sensor. since fitting car has run perfect. i pay close attention to fuel economy and have noticed no difference. been on the car a good 2 months too.

 

[jet150]

Short answer is that you will loose power and fuel economy.

Try this thread: http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530

How can the car loose power and fuel economy????
With a less restrictive air filter the engine will breathe much easier and having a good exhaust system will help to.
Yeah more air means more fuel but when the engine doesn't have to work as hard trying to breathe the engine will run better and fuel economy shouldn't be a problem.
Almost every Jap turbo car has a pod filter fitted to it to improve performance so whats so different about the Legnum.

RPW sells oval shaped pod filters made by K&N specially designed for the Mitsi MAF sensor. The filter is oval shape cos the MAF sensor on the car is oval shape thus not disturbing the air flow and tripping out the sensor.

 

[naughtika]

How can the car loose power and fuel economy????
With a less restrictive air filter the engine will breathe much easier and having a good exhaust system will help to.
Yeah more air means more fuel but when the engine doesn't have to work as hard trying to breathe the engine will run better and fuel economy shouldn't be a problem.
Almost every Jap turbo car has a pod filter fitted to it to improve performance so whats so different about the Legnum.

Rob, this has been covered before.. alot of owners here have also found out that having pod filters will not only give you crappy economy but also tend to lose power too..

Because the Pod Filter is very good at sucking the hot air from the engine bay rather than from the outside...

so unless you have a properly set up cold air intake.. then it'll definitely give you better performance and economy...

 

[bradc]

Yes, because most of those people are idiots.

Read the thread. Our MAF's are dependent on the shape of the air. Putting a pod on messes the shape up and causes the MAF to misread, which normally makes the car run rich, which in turn screws up power and fuel economy.

You are also sucking in extremely hot air from the engine bay rather than warmish air from the grill.

PODS ARE THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO TO A VR-4. Right up there with chrome spinning wheels.

 

[snickells]

Hey! I love crome man... its so cool, rite up there with head bands, 80's style.

 

[steveP]

seeing my post was ignored coz it doesnt go with the general consensus..

again.. this has been on my car a few months with me averaging 400kms a week. fuel economy did not get worst. if anything may be slight better.

u get induction noise and some flutter depending on rpm and what gear u are in, otherwise u get a woosh noise. i guess from the 2 turbo pressure waves colliding.

i kept the factory snorkle to keep air circulating in the engine bay. it may not be the best induction set up, but theres plenty of flow from outside air.

 

[bradc]

Did you dyno it before and after?

 

[Kenneth]

Haha, remember Erron's Super VR-4? Challenged me to see who would have the best dyno figures. Him with a cold air induction setup and me with standard. (we both had a couple of other mods, like intercoolers, the only real difference was the air filter though)

Me: 183.3 AWKW
Him: 130 AWKW

I have never seen a car perform better on the dyno with a pod filter (and standard MAF/ECU) than the equivilent setup car with standard intake.

In fact, I have yet to see a pod fliter reach 170AWKW (again, with standard MAF / ECU) despite having EBC.

 

[steveP]

^^^ what pod filter tho? if it was just a generic one not designed to work with the mitsubishi MAF sensor, then yeah of course the car is gona run like shit.

but the pod filter i fitted it actually designed to work with our cars. not just a 'close enough, it works ok' approach.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Steve as Kenneth said, we don't just have anecdotal evidence for better performance from the stock setup, there are cars that have been dyno'ed before and after and they're pulling higher figures with the panel filter. If you have the time and interest to do some testing of your own, by all means go right ahead - we strongly encourage people who are willing and able to improve our level of knowledge of these cars. However, the only way you'll convince anyone on this topic is to pony up with evidence from proper testing - there's just too much information that's piled up over the years showing time and again the stock setup is best UNLESS you upgrade the ECU and replace the MAF sensor unit.

 

[steveP]

i see what ur saying, but how many members have orderer the same pod i have from RPW. what feedback did they have?

 

[Guest]

WE have seen vehicles with the pod filters make more horsepower than factory airboxes, but usually this only occurs when you are running more boost and it has been refitted as a cold air feed, and has upgraded exhaust.

Sucking hot air from the engine bay makes the poor intercooler work twice as hard as it needs to and especially the stock intercooler which starts getting warm above 10 psi boost.

 

[Tom]

I have a Pod in an enclosure with a direct CAI running from the grill next to the foglight..

I didn't notice any lag, drop in power or anything.. I was hitting boost cut more but that was becuase my boost controller was too high, so it was spiking and freaking out.. Upon adjusting that more my car is running really nicely, no dramatic differences between set ups.

 

[bradc]

Dave, just to clarify, do you mean that you have to up the boost and put an exhaust in to get the power to go up?

Have you ever done a run with a stock setup, then a pod straight after each other on the same car and compared results? I'd love to see a graph

 

[Guest]

putting the pod filter in the car with a proper CAI kit will increase the power as long as its cold air, simply because it reduces the restriction in front of the turbo's and they can pull more air. When its in the engine bay, the hot air negates the improvement of the filter to a major degree as it ends up being double heated - hot air engine bay is hten re heated by the turbos and the intercooler does double the work.

I have done different vehicles mostly magnas with comparisons at different times and these are the results I normally see, the CAI kits improve the power by 2 - 3 kw on a n/a V6 compared to the filter in the engine bay. The galants with there turbos should see a 3 - 5kw advantage.