Reason for this mod:
K&N (and some cheap ebay ones) have a weak elbow, and collapses at high boost, which cuts off the air flow.
Look how easily I can squish it. Think of what the turbo does to this thing when its sucking in all that air!!!
Note: I use all Spectre parts because I could not find a nice 90deg. elbow anywhere locally (if you can find a nice 90 deg. pipe that will work, great). So I went to my local AutoZone and Checkers and came out with these parts. I took it on about 10 hards runs back to back and the new pipe was not hot at all and was able to get my power back after 5k. Came to about 20 something dollars. You could ultimatly sell your K&N intake and buy one that doesnt have a rubber hose like show above, but I didnt want to go through the trouble of selling it and buying a new one. Yes, I could of stuck the stock air box back in.. but I like my room in my engine bay for my IC Sprayer tank and Catch Can.
Items Needed (also lettered for better part reference)
A. Spectre 90 deg. elbow (3" diameter) #8698
B. Spectre Straight Extension (3" diamter) #8708
C. Spectre 3" to 2 1/2 "Coupler Kit" #8771
D. Spectre 3" to 3 or 2 1/2 "Coupler Kit" (this has an insert so you can use it either as a 3" or a 2 1/2" coupler) #8731
E. Flat Head Screw Driver
F. Hand Saw
1. Remove your rubber 90 hose off of K&N or other brand intake.
2. Connect your 90 deg. elbow (a) to your 3" to 3" / 2 1/2" coupler (d). This will be what connects to your turbo.
3. Now connect the extension (b) to your 90 deg. elbow (a). Instruction on how to connect them properly are included with both pipes. Make sure to use the rubber ring for air tight seal.
4. Now you may or may not have to remove about 1" of plastic pipe from your extension, but I had to with the K&N intake (so measure first and see what and if you need to cut this off)
5. Now make sure not to over tighten your clamps (it says dont over tighten on the package also)
Side Note: I checked the worm clamps provided and I couldnt get them to stay tightened. So I bought some TBolt clamps. I didnt tighten them very hard over the spectre intake part. Because you can def. be able to break something with those clamps. Still works great and I LOOOOOOVE the stolen power.
sounds good. i just put my stock air box back in because of that pos kn elbow. i will have to do this tonight or this weekend. thanks for the great idea
Thank you so much! I did mine today and it works great!
Edit-I will note though...I had to take about 1 inch off of the turbo side of the plastic pipe(on the small bend side) and also I used a 3 to 2.5" coupler rather than the straight 3" coupler that has the 2.5 piece on the inside. For that coupler to fit I had to cut about 1 cm off each side of it. I also had to move the battery over a little bit...with all that together...I now have boost again! I painted those pieces black to match the rest of my 3" intake(custom). I will see about taking some pics later on.
Last edited by endlessheart666 : 06-23-2007 at 10:14 PM.
Nice... I might have to do this with my K&N. I am just not a fan of going from 2 clamps to 4. So all of this can be found at Autozone? And it all came under $20?
cost me $38 dollars. for everything, but i had to trim the shit outa the elbow that goes to the turbo, trimmed the plastic pipe and the rubber coupler, still cant get my K&N intake tube to bolt back down. i havent ran it since tho. question tho, inside my old K&N elbow i found oil. anybody put a little filter on the valve side thats connected?
Heh, my whole Perrin SRI is made out of that elbow material. I've been suspect of that thing since I got it but don't really have any way to test it and most posts about it on here state it as a myth rather than fact.
Perrin SRI ftl?
__________________
Quote: Originally Posted by 05redsrt4(Az)
Im 17 but i can drive stick probably better than most racers.
think of it like this. take a raw egg and squeeze all sides equally and its hard to break it. squeeze on side more then another and it breaks easily. same thing with your elbow. air is sucked in and pressure is equal. when your squeezing it with your hand your putting pressure on only two sides (per say) and it collapses. long story short in my opinion the elbow from k & N should be fine and not collapse since pressure is equal on all sides.
All ideas aside...the k&n DOES collapse due to it's 2-ply design. Mine personally did it when I was stock turbo so at the time I did this setup and it fixed it. The same thing can happen with the flexible hotside intercooler piping.
The only issue I had was the 3 to 2.5 inch
coupler. It is a little off. I figure, since its a
3 going into 2.5 it shouldn't matter. Maybe its
because the red couplers are a little longer.
(They have custom colors now)
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How-To: K&N Weak Rubber Elbow Solution
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