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Custom Cold Air Intake for Northstar


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Here is the pictorial Tim shared on Facebook. I will try to supply some context to each of the photos, but I may be showing my

ignorance along the way, so Tim and everyone who understands better please correct me.

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Tim can help explain this shot, but I think he is showing that he trims the tubing off even with the intake hole

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Once the intake hole and tubing are prepped he masked off to repaint the intake passage for streamlining and to make it look great.

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The Spectre air filter tubing attaches to the stock MAF

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This is the Lexan air box in progress. The light, insulating Lexan panels are joined at the edges to form the air box.

Maintaining cold outside air is key to performance.

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The finished product, with air flow up under the computer as before, and air flow in around the headlight, tightly protected by

the custom CCC Lexan Air box. The air flow in through a low-resistance Spectre filter to the Northstar.

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Side view

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front angle view

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The Lexan looks almost like glass, but is tougher, lighter, and less fragile.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

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This is the first Northstar cold air intake that looks like it might work. I would want to see before and after performance numbers on the same car, compensated for differences in barometric pressure and temperature, and with no drastic difference in humidity.

A problem that we had with looking at K&R air cleaners some years ago is that they didn't flow any better than the stock filter elements and they did not filter anywhere nearly as well. That may not be true today, however. I would want to look at that with whatever air cleaner element Tim uses; I would think that he understands this issue and his filter element at least matches the AC/Delco filter element across the board.

With the Lexan panels, you can check the air cleaner visually. It looks easy to change too.

How about PCM cooling? The stock arrangement routes air above the PCM along the fins in the top cover. I think I see it in the new air box at the bottom. If so, then PCM cooling is probably not affected much. This can be very important while cruising across the high desert in New Mexico in 115 F heat, a place where you don't want to have your PCM overheat. This is another area where Tim's cold air intake is head and shoulders above the old bolt-ons. I don't see the IAT sensor but I assume its in there somewhere.

Something not addressed in the photos above is the air flow from the front into the fender intake. For example, perhaps an air dam or some such around the hole in the radiator mount could help at some speeds.

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Just an FYI: There is a recent video on Tim's YouTube channel of his Cold Air Intake, installed into a 2008, DTS:

If an Admin would like to edit this post to embed the vid, please do so.

(Edit:Nevermind looks like this forum auto-embeds YouTube Clips)

Edit 2: Here is a short clip of the CAI:

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Hey everyone,

To answer Jim's questions? Yes the PCM must be kept cool! In this particular CAI series, below the PCM is a screened well, in other words, we drill a series of holes screening the well, then we use a series of rubber strips to sit the PCM on and we also wrap around it with rubber stripping to prevent any PCM to metal contact.

After assuring no grounding can take place, we secure the PCM with rubber strapping to hold it in down.

This particular PCM has raised cooling fins, which we have facing up, this -well- also has a series of holes in the area, in this case three large ones versus the single limited one that came stock in the plastic intake under the fender that I cut flush to the surface.

So the screened holes under the PCM allow for the bottom to be cooled, this cooling takes place whenever the car is in motion and when it is not just by the intake.

However, the cross flow of the well ports above it cools the fins on top, so in this CAI, the PCM is being much more cooled down then in the regular old box!

The Filter is adequate for this Cad, however, it has a much higher air flow then the OEM, it is easy to remove for cleaning, it is also fairly priced! So much so, that for myself, I just replace them, but I do include a cleaning kit for my clients!

Thanks for the inquiry!

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Carroll Custom Cadillac can be found here: http://www.carrollcustomcadillac.com/Pages/default.aspx with more info on how to get your Cadillac customized.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube

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