Chrysler 300 CAI Short Ram Intake

20110412

I purchased a carbon fiber short ram cold air intake (CAI) kit from LegMakerIntakes (LMI) which currently does not have a store front, but can be found on the various car forums. The kit consists of a carbon fiber tube, a silicon elbow, a SB R0862 air filter, hose clamps, and an oil breather filter. This is not a true CAI as the filter resides in the engine bay as opposed to having the filter outside of the engine bay. With the filter outside of the engine bay, installation would require cutting a 4in hole in the engine bay and also, the filter will be more exposed to the elements which will require more frequent cleanings. I opted for the short-ram style because of this and the small performance gains between the two.

Here is a picture of the stock air-box and hose going to the throttle body:



First step of the installation is to remove the stock air-box. The air-box is held into place with a single 10mm screw and a hose clamp to the intake hose. Once everything is loosened, go ahead and pull the air-box. Note the amount of crud at the bottom of the air-box.



With the air-box removed, the next step is removing the intake hose. The intake hose has a air temperature sensor (IAT) installed that will be transferred to the LMI silicon elbow. Before removing the sensor from the hose, unplug the sensor and remove the hose from the throttle body, which is held in place with another hose clamp. I had a heck of a time removing the IAT sensor from the intake hose, so be careful not to damage the sensor.



Here is a picture of the sensor removed. It was pretty dirty, so I cleaned it up a bit using air and gently wiping the sensor. The sensor installs easily into the LMI silicon elbow. Secure the elbow to the throttle body using the appropriate hose clamp and plug the sensor in.



Using the remaining clamps to secure the fiber carbon tube and filter to the elbow. I got ahead of myself and did not take a picture, so here is the finished picture of how everything fits together:



Since the valve cover equalizes air pressure using a small hose going back to the OEM air box, the LMI kit provides a breather filter. This involves just removing the existing breather hose and putting on the breather filter. As you can see in the final picture, the breather is kinda of wedged due to the angle that the breather exits out of the valve cover. I am not a big fan of this setup and will be working on a solution to clean this up.



I double checked all of the hose clamps to make sure everything is tight and clean up. Here is the before and after (again) shots of the CAI short ram install.



20110413

On my drive into work this morning, I did notice that the throttle response was much better with this bolt on. Supposedly there is a 5+ gain in HP with this bolt on. The butt dyno can definitely tell the difference. I will probably go ahead and install a 89 tune this afternoon with my Diablo tuner.

20110423

Finally had some time to work on the fix for the breather. I ran to the hardware store last night and picked up a 1.5in x .5in diameter steel sleeve spacer and some small hose clamps. Then I stopped over to PepBoys and picked up some 5/8in heater/PCV hose. Unfortunately, PepBoys only has 6ft lengths in stock. Overall, I spent under $10.00.



I used a marker to mark the middle point on the spacer and then attached the spacer to 3in of the PCV hose, securing it with a hose clamp. Then I secured the breather to the other half of the metal spacer.



Finally, mount the breather/hose to the engine. It was pouring down rain when I mounted the breather, so at some point I may trim down the hose about 1/2in or so to flush it up to the valve cover.



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