Spikey's New Intake Setup
Make Your V6 Fly, doing this mod!
I wanted to do this addition to my LeBaron right when I found out that it
was a possibility. Hearing that it was 25-35 dollars I ran right out to
the bone yards and looked around for one. People said they could find
them anywhere, yeah right. Maybe where they live! Here, I couldn't find
jack! After about a month I finally found one, it was on a Caravan that
the engine was torn out of. All that was left in the engine compartment
was the intake manifold, plenum, the throttle body and a few hoses that
were all in a tangled mess.
I went to the yard office and asked the guy if he would take $25 for it.
He laughed and typed up somethings in his dated computer and came back
with a price of $75! Then one week I got a fat check and I went down
there and showed him $50 and he gave it to me. It probably wasn't
worth $50 but I was tired of waiting.
Immediatly I took it home and sprayed it down with a can and a half of
carb cleaner... I didn't think I'd need two (that's what I kept hearing
online) but I sure did! Here are some pictures of before and after
cleaning, it cleaned up real nice!
After cleaning it, I showed it to Rachael's dad. He had a buffer and some
rouge (stuff used for polishing up metal). He showed me how I could use it
to polish up the throttle body and he let me go at it. I cleaned up that
thing so nice it almost looked like new!
I looked around a while for a good filter, I knew that I wanted a K&N but
everyone seemed to give me different part numbers and some people's K&Ns
looked way too big for what I wanted to do. I wanted a cone filter but I
didn't know which one to buy. I finally went to AutoZone and asked the
guy behind the counter if he could fix me up with a good filter for the
throttle body.
There are a few things you need to know before buying a K&N air filter...
The flange is the plastic/rubber piece that mounts to whatever your
mounting it to. The outside diameter is the diameter of the filter
element. The length is the length of the filter, not including the length
of the flange.
Everywhere I looked online I found that people told me that I wouldn't be
able to find a K&N for less than $40. Well, the one I got cost me
$28.99 from AutoZone. I was stoked! Anyway the dimentions are:
Part #: RU-3030
- Mounting Flange Inside Diameter: 2 7/16" (62mm)
- Filter Outside Diameter: 3 1/2" (89mm)
- Filter Length: 6" (152mm)
- Flange Length: 1 1/8"
I was expecting to get a cone filter when I ordered it. When it came in I
was sort of disappointed to see that I had gotten a cylindrical one but
after I took it out and realized what a PERFECT FIT is was on the throttle
body and in the engine compartment, I was glad I had gotten the 3030. Here is
the perfect fit.
I ordered this filter because it has such a big mounting flange, I am glad I did
because the flange butts right up to the lip on the TB and the filter starts
right where it should. Had I gotten one with a smaller flange it wouldn't have
worked out as well! Here's a shot from the side, you can really see how well the
big flange holds on to the throttle body.
And this is what my engine looks like now! It isn't much more noisy than it
was with all the duct work. The only time I can hear it is when I have the
top down and I am going under 25mph, it makes a sort of whistle. The engine
now revs up much quicker than it used to. And it used to pudder when letting
off the gas and coasting just like it was gasping for air. I don't notice
that anymore either.
Here's the K&N and the box it came in, for off-road use only eh? Hmmmm...
Here are the coparision pictures of the stock vs. caravan throttle bodies.
The 52mm one looks a little too shiny cause I buffed it up.
Spikey's ThrottleBody page has been hit 546 times since January 22, 2001.
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