Project RAB Phase 2

I wouldn't call this the final product but it's as close as what I wanted it to look like. The pipings are made up of 2 pieces of 90deg silicon hose and joined together by an aluminium pipe. What I could not achieve was the angle of the opening to face the intake hole directly. Luckily, I kept the old funnel of an ITF foam filter. It sure came in useful in channelling air into the intake. The coolant tank has also be re-located to the front so that there is space for the pipings. I took into consideration that water ingress will be a major problem. So, the pipings are pointed downwards to allow water to drain off using sheer gravity. There is a little hole right at the bottom of the aluminium pipe. To test for water integrity, I actually filled the pipe with water to see if the water will really drain off. Eureka! The water did drain out from the hole and when I applied forced air using a blower, the rate of flow was even higher. I am not a scientist. So, don't ask me why it's like that. In fact, the stock air intake is really well designed by the Suzuki engineers. The reasonator has 3 large holes at the top to trap water and a smaller hole at the botton for drain-off. if that is not enough, the part where the air filter is slopes downwards so that any remaining water will flow down and out before it can actually enter the throttle body. So, if you count the number of fail-safe measures, there are at least 3. 300% redundancy is really a lot.

First impression of the set-up is that there is really no change to the low-end. I have purposely kept the piping length as close to original. Where noise is concerned, there is no change also. The fun is at higher revolutions. Where the stock intake will have problem sucking air, this set-up rams air into the air-box and keeps it pressurised. What you get is increased torque and better throttle response. Well, you won't need this for daily driving but my objective is obvious; B-roads drive and fast runs on the highways.

This has been a most satisfying project. If I were to do it all over again, there are a couple of things I would do:

1. Manufacture a one-piece piping using carbon fibre or aluminium.
2. Tight fit between the outlet of the air duct and opening of the intake so that there is literally no leak.
3. Black pipings instead of blue.

The best part about this whole mod is that I have kept the air intake system relatively stock. It looks neat and tidy. Maintenance is a breeze and cheap too because there is no open-pod filter, trunking, etc... to mess around with. Drive characteristics remains unchanged at leisure pace but when I need to open up the throttle, I know I have more air than needed.