Paid a visit to Ryan and Chris at RD Fabs yesterday.

Chris and I go way back with our j-body.org days, I previously had an RD Fabs CAI on my 2002 Cavalier.

Now, there are plenty of questions that I'll have to answer, but this is definately not done yet. Yesterday we just fabbed up what the intake may look like. Ryan still has to go through and take measurements of everything, weld up my intake, fab the MAFS mount and then we're having it sent out for powder coating. Typically, RD Fabs intakes are polished, but I'm picky and wanted it black. Then we can see how everything fits, and looks in my car.

I opted to have them leave the nipple for the valve cover return line off; however, they plan on putting it on all production intakes unless specific instructions dictate otherwise.

We should have pictures of the finished prototype intake on my car, including the install within the month, pending everything goes well. You can check out their work on their site in the meantime and send them e-mails with any inquiries. Chris is going to try an hop on here at some point to answer questions as well.

This is a full 3" intake from TB to Filter.












Big thanks to Ryan and Chris at RD Fabs for the slice of pizza yesterday, and something about an intake?

 

3' intake isn't going to do anything but bounce the air around everywhere. Since we don't have a TB that can accept 3' (I believe the TB is 2 1/2 in to 2 3/4 in in diameter) it would prove pointless but as always I'm happy to hear someone else coming out with something new.

I don't see where the MAF plugs into?

 

Ductape FTW

 

Actually, we measured the TB opening and it's 3". We didn't see any reason to taper it down. I'm not sure when Chris will be able to log on here, but he'll tackle his thoughts on that. The mount for the MAFS isn't fabbed up on there yet, Ryan is doing that in the near future and we'll have pictures up of how and where.

 

LOL!

Ricer intake? (I know they were fabbing it up, so J/K)

 

Yes, duct tape is sticky, it helps when fabbing. Don't worry, the final product will not include duct tape!

 

I love duct tape Everyone needs atleast one thing on there on there car duct taped or zip tied

P.S. When it is finished let me know so i can put on the SS/SC intake thread i made

 

That intake looks nice in the test and design stage. If it works out and fits better than my original Injen did, since someone else stole my replacement pipe, I'll order on of those. It not sitting on the bumper alone makes a huge difference!

 

I'll post the pics as soon as I can get them. Any additional questions until then can go to chris@rdfabs.com

 

Okay,

Got the schedule all figured out with RD Fabs today. I'm going to be picking the intake up and installing it (with pictures) October 28. It will be unfinished as we want to test it out and make sure there are no issues or changes that need to be made before I send it out to be powdercoated.

I will have it installed to show everyone that is going to the CT meet on November 4. And will be returning to have them take it out and get it coated the weekend of the 11th. Final pictures of the finished intake and install will be done over Thanksgiving. In the meantime, the pictures from the 28th and (hopefully) video from the 4th should give everyone a good idea of the intake. The finished product will be polished or you can elect to have it powdercoated for a fee.

 

Did you try closing the hood? That the big is problem I have noticed it that the Lifter mount on the Hood hits the intake.

 

When we first fabbed the intake we made sure the the hood could open and close without any clearence issues. I'll be sure to check again on the 28th when we install it.

 

We made our way back out to RD Fabs yesterday and got the intake put on. It's only scotch-brited right now because I have to take it back for the powdercoating. We just wanted to get it on for the New England Video meet so everyone could see it in person. It definately took a bit of patience, and 3" is definately the largest you could fit through there. It is one piece and fits perfectly in the engine bay. So without further adieu...










Soundclip of Intake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59deQheJffg

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be getting the finished, powdercoated intake put on over Thanksgiving weekend. You can always check out RD Fabs site to see what other finished products look like, and soon they should have links up with other pictures as well. Sorry there's no duct tape on the finished product...

 

Looks pretty damn good, but whats with where the MAF Sensor plugs into? Why isn't it inside the tube like the Injen or other intakes?

 

If you look at the MAF, the port for air into the sensor is at the bottom of the sensor. Other intakes seem to be mounting that lower in the intake. We have it centered in the 3" intake. Other intakes just have it mounted differently. The mount we used is custom fabricated and welded on there. The MAF is completely protected and the sensor is still completely functional. I drove over 70 miles yesterday with no CEL. It was wet out though so I basically couldn't get into it in first or second because I would just break loose. I'll keep you updated if anything changes.

 

It looks like a dynamite piece except for the maf mount. I understand the idea of centering the maf, and that's great, but the flat piece it bolts to looks so flimsy and cheap to me. As long as it doesn't throw a CEL though, nobody will notice what it looks like in the wheel well anyhow!

 

Trust me, that's not flimsy. That's completely welded on. I can understand your thought, but I guess you would just have to see it in person. I'm sure they could pretty it all up, but that sucker is competely functional and not going anywhere. If you look at the stock set-up, the mount is raised, and where the sensor sits inside the actual stock intake is very similar to where it sits in this intake. About the same amount of sensor exposed inside the tube. And I have to drive another 150 miles today, so we'll see if I get a CEL or not. I'll let you know.

Ryan from RD Fabs has some other pictures and some good close-ups of the sensor mount itself. I'll see if I can get those pictures from him and get them up here sometime soon.

 

Drove that 150 miles today...still goin strong, no CEL, and man is it nice...

 

is this the first 3 inch intake that dosnt buldge the fender liner/??

 

I haven't done a lot of research into other companies' intakes, but this intake is one piece, and is full 3" start to finish. I won't lie to you, it's a tight fit, but it's in there and fits very well. The only thing we had to do was take out one bolt that holds the clips for the ground wire that goes along behind the headlight. Took that off (wire still attatched, just more play) and now we don't have to worry about it scratching up my powdercoat when I get it done.

 

interesting....

 

The intake looks very clean. I like the look of it and black powerder coated would even look better. Very smooth. The big question is what type of gains do you get. Could we see a dyno from stock and then with the RD intake? I always like to have numbers to go along with what I'm buying...

 

That looks nice! But couple things....

It needs to have a mount attached to the body, dont let it flap around in there!
The MAf is weird, but if it works maybe make it a little more quality looking (roll the square ends or something)
If it gets coated stock colors, or Hi temp Coated or dare I say, Heat dissipating coated

And tell them NOT to cheap out and use AEM Dry Flow Filter for this intake!

Keep us apprised! Before and after dyno would be awesome!

This one might be the one that makes me sell my injen!

Nice work overall! Sweet Mandrel bends, BTW is this a SS tube or Mild steel?

 

price?

 

No mount needed, this thing holds itself in place. A mount to the body would actually be an issue. When you're getting in to it the engine rocks and the mount could actually pull the intake away from the TB.

We'll see what everything looks like when it gets powdercoated.

I am actually using a smaller K&N filter for this, but it's 2 1/2 inch so I have it stretching out on a three inch pipe right now.

Wish I could do the dyno, but I don't have that kind of money. Maybe one of their next customers could look into doing something like this.

The gains are going to be amazing with this. I'm not a big fan of the "butt dyno" but my car felt like it gained a some life after installing this.